Republican Party and Fox News Challenges Department of Justice Decision To Begin Guantanamo Bay Trials in the United States District Court for the Southern Judicial District of New York (Criminal)
The poster child of Muslim terrorism, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the American 9/11 holocaust, is to be tried in the Southern Judicial District of New York , which includes Manhattan. Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi will all be transferred to the U.S. The trial will be held in a Manhattan court complex that is walking distance from the site of the crime, possibly within visual range. The alleged plotters and participants in the mass murder of 9/11 are to be prosecuted by a special team of prosecutors, from the very same prosecution office that, with surgical precision, convicted the 1993 Trade Tower bombers. The new Special Prosecution team is yet to be publicized, though it has likely already been formed to some extent. Informed speculation is that the lead prosecutor will be newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara.
The Republican Party, through its various political and elected spokespersons, has positioned itself aggressively against the decision, which creates a open civilian court proceeding, subject to the criminal law of the United States and the procedural criminal law of New York State. Fox News is well regarded as a politically conservative, even far right wing conservative, national cable TV news network, with successful related websites, foxnews.com and foxnation.com. The network is demonstrably in a symbiotic relationship with the Republican Party. As Fox News dominates the cable news channel viewer ratings in prime time, it is highly influential in setting the national media tone on political and social issues. It is a highly capable and highly willing media conduit for the Republican Party. The immediate response of the Republican Party, headlined and intellectually supported by Fox News, is to vehemently condemn the choice of venue decision of the Department of Justice, as announced by Attorney General Eric Holder.
The Republican Party and Fox News is wrongly and dangerously on the silly side of the debate, in the wake of the Fort Hood holocaust, and the recent massive seizure of suspected proceeds of terrorist crime. Engaging in a cynical, nonconstructive and ultimately shameful position of dissent will only open old national emotional wounds and create a climate of trepidation, if not fear. It is nonconstructive to create a fear of recrimination by unseen shadows. The decision to prosecute in New York has been made. It is time to move on to the successful prosecution and sentencing of the suspects, not to engage in impotent and potentially unsafe rhetoric, tinged not only with fear, but of racism. When Justice is done in this matter, do not forget that it will be done in the near literal shadows of the scene of the crime.
This decision by Attorney General Holder is a critical step on the road to victory for not only the concept of due process, but more importantly, for the Rule of Law. The Republican Party and Fox News, in its current rabid and confused resistance to the Rule of Law, by all kinds of far-fetched fears, misunderstandings, misinformation, and unique to Fox News, confuse-formation, is on the wrong side. Do not forget it was the same Rule of Law that caused the Supreme Court of the United States to twice reject the structure of proposed military tribunals, as proposed under President George W. Bush.
The Rule of Law takes no sides. There is no arguing with the Rule of Law. In the context of criminal law, the development of the principals of criminal law to the present day represents one of the great intellectual endeavors of mankind. Arguably an intellectual exercise to rival that of physical space exploration. Criminal law is, through written words, mankind’s attempt at the regulation of human behavior and morals. Only the major religions have dared to embark on such a bold enterprise.
As much as one might argue about the day to day application of criminal law and procedure, in its purest form, with the best prosecution opposed by the best defense, with an impartial and competent jurist, the criminal law is capable of delivering godly justice on Earth. No doubt there are imperfections, which do little to negate the fact that America has one of the finest judicial systems in the world.
In the current prosecution, this journey towards Justice will take place in the literal shadow of the crime site, where the Twin Towers once stood. A fundamental, though not absolute concept in British based criminal law is that the trial of the crime must take place in the territorial jurisdiction where the crime took place. Reasons include the availability and comfort of witnesses, examination of the crime scene and availability of local resources in general. Perhaps the best reason fro this general legal principal is best summarized by Kristen Breitweiser, as quoted in the CNN article, whose husband was killed on 9/11, (who) said she welcomed the trial.
“Some would say New York would now be a target by allowing his [Mohammed's] trial to take place in New York, but I disagree,” she told CNN. Breitweiser still lives in the New York area. “It would give many of us access to attend the hearings.”
She also said that for some who lost loved ones on 9/11, “this will be our opportunity to see justice served and have our day in court. “Our ability to prosecute terrorists successfully in open courtrooms has less to do with the our judicial process and more to do with Bush’s policy on torture that will make these prosecutions more difficult,” she said. This view was also echoed by Lori Van Auken, whose husband Kenneth was killed in the World Trade Center attacks.
Breitweiser and Van Auken should be very much reassured and made more confident in the results of the trials by the reputation and actual competency of the prosecutors who will now be in charge of the most important criminal trial since Scopes.
More than 300 suspected Islamic extremists have been arrested in Spain since the Madrid commuter train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 on March 11, 2004. Moreover, there have been hundreds of successful prosecutions, with near 2000 convictions of terrorism related charges in the United States in years after 9/11, aside from the World Trade prosecutions. Terrorism crimes have been successfully begun and completed on these numerous occasions with none of the right wing concerns now so voraciously raised. Although the New York prosecutions are clearly more important than past prosecutions since 9/11 the legal framework is near identical, just on a larger stage.
Does America have less faith in its criminal justice system than Spain has in its system? Or is America just more afraid of the shadows? America has nothing to fear. America should instead be fearless in its upholding of the Rule of Law and obtaining Justice and may look to Spain as an example of such justice and fearlessness.
The Republican Party and Fox News needs to reflect on its dissent, on the basis of either opposition to the Rule of Law, desire for a special military tribunal, or on the basis of a perceived Democratic political expediency. They need to recognize that this is not the application of political expediency, it is the application of the Rule of Law. How much easier would it have been to hold semi-secret trials in a semi-autonomous territory with semi-competent prosecutors and defense? The nation has little to lose and a great deal to gain in upholding to ourselves, and in holding up to the world, the application of the American Rule of Law.
There may be many shadows cast before this trial is over, but there can be little doubt that what will emerge from any darkness, triumphant, will be Lady Justice.
UPDATE: True to form and overall agenda, foxnation.com, little sister to foxnews.com, has published a page on this matter with several links to other articles. The published page has several links to articles that are all vehemently against the Holder decision:
http://www.thefoxnation.com/911/2009/11/13/coming-nyc-stand-trial
