Posted by
Roxanna M. on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 1:36:30 PM
Back in November 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder bragged about how the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of 9/11, in a civilian trial in New York City was his and his alone, didn't even consult with Obama. Just a year ago, he said that the civilian trial of KSM was "the defining event of my time as Attorney General."
Before I continue, a little background is in order. Prior to this decision, KSM and his fellow miscreants were prepared to plead guilty and be sentenced by a military tribunal. Holder wiped all that out in order to have a big show trial in NYC, just a few blocks away from the slaughter of 9/11. And make no mistake about it, it was going to be a show trial.
After making his unilateral decision, Holder was summoned before the Senate Judiciary Committee and asked about what would happen in the event of an acquittal. Mr. Holder pooh-poohed the notion and said: "What I told the prosecutors and what I will tell you is that failure is not an option. These are cases that have to be won. I don't expect that we will have a contrary result."
The senators continued to press him for an answer, to which he responded, "Under the regime we are contemplating . . . the ability to detain under laws of war, we would retain that ability . . . we have the capacity to make sure that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is not released into the United States."
In other words, Mr. Holder was going to give KSM a "fair" trial and if all didn't go as expected, then we would continue to hold him anyway. Then what would be the point of the trial and the millions upon millions it would have cost?
Fast forward to today. The first civilian trial of a Gitmo prisoner, Ahmed Ghailani, ended with an acquittal on all but one count - out of a total of 281. He was convicted of conspiracy to destroy U.S. buildings and property in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania - but not of the murder of the 224 people that died in those bombings.
The judge in charge of the proceedings barred a key witness from testifying because his name came up while Ghailani was held at a CIA camp where suspects were allegedly tortured.
Just this week, Holder had to announce that the "defining event" of his AG career is, alas, not to be. KSM and his cohorts will indeed be tried by a military tribunal at Gitmo.
Why? Because, Barack Obama is running for re-election. You think this decision announced the same day as Obama's re-election bid is a coincidence?
There was no way in the universe that a civilian trial of the masterminds of 9/11 was going to be allowed during The One's re-election campaign . . . especially with the specter of an acquittal shimmering on the horizon. If a federal judge can prevent the testimony of a key witness because of alleged torture, he/she could do plenty with the fact that KSM was waterboarded.
Mr. Holder was very unhappy about having to walk back his grand notion and said, "The prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators should never have been about settling ideological arguments or scoring political points."
Fact is, it was always about politics. Obama and Holder were going to put on a gaudy show for the world, never once thinking about the consequences because, "failure is not an option."
Failure is always an option, Mr. Holder. Especially when you don't know what you're doing.