Category Archives: Torture

9/11 Defendants

Five 9/11 bad guys, including Sheik Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were arraigned in a military court at Gitmo over the weekend. One of the defense attorneys wore an abaya and requested that women on the prosecution side do likewise to help her clients might avoid the occasion of sin. Another defense lawyer asked that his clients not be subject to strip search before entering the courtroom. The judge is thinking it over. As for the clients themselves? They prayed, refused to speak, and passed around a copy of The Economist magazine.

Hit Man Holder

Political cartoon depicting civilian trials for foreign terrorists

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AG Eric Holder announced, that under certain conditions, it would be quite all right to kill American citizens overseas.

Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic picked up on this, but why do I think if Bush had said it the legacy media would have given it considerably more attention? True, the WSJ likes the policy. But where’s the outrage we heard concerning mere electronic spying on mere non-American citizens who happened to call or email Americans?

 

Obama Enigma

Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes.

Under President Obama’s orders to go mano a mano, Navy Seals shot and killed the Evil One in cold blood. His Miranda rights were not read and he won’t be tried in a civilian court. His corpse was thrown on a helicopter and flown to a ship in the Arabian Sea where it was dumped overboard. All well and good.

But hard to square with a president who wanted Gitmo closed, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried in Manhattan, and considered prosecuting CIA interrogators to show the superiority of American justice. On the other hand, Obama has blown over 1500 terror suspects to smithereens.

In a display of respect, bin Laden’s body was washed and prepared for burial according to Islamic custom. His demise will not be verified by photos because “that’s not who we are… we don’t trot out this stuff as trophies”.

That won’t wash with the Muslim world.

Show Trial

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Marc Thiessan makes the case, in the Washington Post, that the best way to protect the U.S. legal system is to keep trials for enemy combatants out of it.

A Stone’s Throw from Civilization

100823bokloresThe wisdom of the voters is hard to comprehend when the local electorate is busy stoning young couples. To their elected leader’s credit, President Karzai condemned the act of Sharia Law.