Hominid Views

Ever since Attorney General Eric Holder demanded that American Justice prevail upon terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), Republicans, representing the incompetent fringe of American embarassement have been campaigning steadfastly for us to take on the dumbest, most inane of options, reminescent of high school “loser” ideology: Do what’s most likely to result in setting terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammad free.

Apparently, it’s their revenge for the rest of us not not having elected the burn-out loser to the high school Prom Court back in the 80’s.

I’m not sure I understand why it’s supposedly ridiculous for the Obama administration to try 9/11 terrorists in civilian court now vs. when it was heralded as a triumphant victory when the Cheney/Bush administration tried 9/11 terrorists in civilian courts? I don’t get it. Why do the neoconzis have their grundies all in a bundle about this year’s proposal to try a few more 9/11 terrorists in civilian court? I’m probably just ignorant and dull, so I would appreciate any help with understanding this…

On December 11, 2001, Zacarias Moussaoui, was indicted by a federal grand jury in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on six felony charges: conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy, conspiracy to destroy aircraft, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to murder United States employees, and conspiracy to destroy property. As a result of his conviction, he is serving a life sentence without parole at the Federal ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

On July 15, 2002, John Walker Lindh entered a plea of guilty to serving in the Taliban army and carrying weapons. The judge asked Lindh to say, in his own words, what he was admitting to. Lindh’s allocution went as follows: “I plead guilty”, he said. “I provided my services as a soldier to the Taliban last year from about August to December. In the course of doing so, I carried a rifle and two grenades. I did so knowingly and willingly knowing that it was illegal.” On October 4, 2002, Judge T.S. Ellis, III formally imposed the sentence: 20 years without parole. In January 2003, Lindh was sent to a medium-security prison in Victorville, northeast of Los Angeles. On March 3, 2003, Lindh was tackled by inmate Richard Dale Morrison, who assaulted Lindh as he knelt in prayer and then ran away; Lindh was left with bruises on his forehead. On July 2, 2003, Morrison was charged with a misdemeanor count of assault. Lindh was held at ADMAX in Florence, Colorado, the federal Supermax facility for a short time. He is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute at Terre Haute, Indiana

In January 2003, Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber,” pleaded guilty to terrorism charges at a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts. During the sentencing hearing, he stated that he was an Islamic fundamentalist and declared himself an enemy of the United States and in league with Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. He was sentenced by Judge William G. Young to life imprisonment on each of the three charges, 20 years imprisonment on four other charges, and 30 years on four other counts, to be served consecutively, followed by five years of supervised release. Eight fines of $250,000, restitution of $298.17, and $5,784,800 special assessment were imposed. There is no parole in the federal prison system. He is serving his sentences in the ADX Florence, a Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

On January 3, 2006, José Padilla, the “dirty bomber” was transferred to a Miami, Florida jail to face criminal conspiracy charges. On August 16, 2007, he was found guilty, by a federal jury, of charges against him that he conspired to kill people in an overseas jihad and to fund and support overseas terrorism. On January 22, 2008, Padilla was sentenced by Judge Marcia G. Cooke of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to 17 years and four months in prison. His co-defendants received 15 year, eight month and 12 year, eight month sentences respectively. Padilla’s sentence is currently being served at ADX Florence “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado.

I guess the fact that we tried these folks in civilian court, according to the founding principles of this great nation, as written into the Constitution and adopted by the Founding Fathers over 200 years ago, is the reason why we’ve suffered so many additional terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Yes, indeed!—Convicting terrorists is the cause of terrorism! Um wait… Oh, gee… No, that’s not right… We haven’t suffered any more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since convicting these terrorists… Nevermind.

Since the the Republican right-wing is into maligning The United States, American justice, and American citizens in general, let’s take a look at how well their Stalinist gulag-style approach stacks up:

By comparison, using the military tribunal, we have a total of three candidates since 9/11:

David Hicks: Convicted by military tribunal, served nine months of a seven-year suspended sentence, most of which was spent in his home country. He is now a free man.

Salim Hamdan: Osama bin Laden’s former driver. Convicted by military tribunal. Hamdan was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months imprisonment, but was granted 61 months’ credit (That’s 5 years and 1 month) for time served. He is now free in his native Yemen.

Ali Hamza al-Bahlul: bin Laden’s self-proclaimed media secretary. Al-Bahlul was sentenced to life in prison after refusing to mount a defense. The same life sentence for a “no contest” defense would attach in a Federal District Court as well.

Yeah, let’s do what the Republicans want and let KSM go free.

I guess I just can’t hate centuries-old traditional American principles the way Noecon Republicans do. But then again, I’m a patriotic American, not a self-absorbed Republican bigot.

Insisting on the use of military tribunals in Cuba because we just can’t handle the truth here in the U.S.—which is an insult to the citizens of the United States, not to mention the principles upon which this mighty Nation was founded—is only consistent with Republican sniveling insistence on having socialism for themselves and capitalism for everyone else. Only now, the Republican propaganda piles it on by insisting on retaining due process for Republicans, but not for others. I don’t know if Republicans belive in Christian principles (It certainly doesn’t sound like they do), but supposing their patronizing of the Christian right for political gain is simply a symptom of their self-righteous hypocracy and they are, in fact, beholden to Christian principles… just very poorly so; I wonder how they feel about:

Therefore all things you would that men should do unto you, do you even so to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets

-Matthew 7:12

…or does scripture just not matter when it comes to Republican ambition?

Besides the 9/11 terrorists already tried in civilian court and serving their sentences in the United States, there are plenty more, such as the “blind sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, mastermind behind the 1993 WTC bombing attempt, who is serving his civilian court sentence in Missouri; Ramzi Yousef, also a mastermind behind the 1993 WTC bombing attempt, convicted in a U.S. District Court in New York city and now serving his sentence at the high-security Supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado; Ahmed Ressam, of the Dec. 31, 1999, Los Angeles airport millennium attack plots; Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, conspirator in several plots, including one to assassinate President George W. Bush; and Wadih el-Hage, convicted of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya. The list goes on.

And then there’s this:

Bush Justice officials support trying terror suspects in civilian court

…Maybe they’re just not spending enough time listening to and reading fantastic right-wing idiot-rants these days?