I can guarantee you that if he is acquitted and not left to go free, the left Islamic world will explode. Obama is not ready for the backlash from this incredibly stupid decision.

Johnnyreb on November 18, 2009 at 1:43 PM

FIFY

One might think that Holder would have more respect for a man with a lot more experience at handling the prosecution of terrorists than Holder himself has.

But Holder has a lot more experience defending them.

Holder: I picked criminal court because … I’m really smart
9/11 mom confronts Holder: Why are you doing this?

Graham grills Holder: Does Bin Laden need to be given his Miranda rights?

Video: Obama prejudges KSM’s trial,……

Michelle Malkin “goes off” on the Culture of Corruption that the Democrats and the democrats in drag drag around with them.
…

I say, bring on the Show!

a conviction is not a certainty.

It pretty much is. The whole “acquittal” issue is a red herring.

crr6 on November 18, 2009 at 3:34 PM

Ok, that’s two dishonest little trolls now. There’s no way you can claim that a conviction is a certainty, unless you really want to prove the point about it being a show trial.

Show trials are conducted by despots and dictators to give only a thin veneer of legality to political detentions and executions.

So we should just skip the trial part and get right on with the detentions and the executions?

That’s totally NOT what despots and dictators do.

e-pirate on November 18, 2009 at 1:45 PM

Sure. That must be the point he was making. After all, it’s not like anyone might be referring to the military tribunals that were in motion before Obama suddenly decided to make it a civilian trial instead.

But you already knew that. Which makes you a dishonest little troll.

Now, though, KSM and his co-defendants will enjoy the benefits and rights that the US Constitution accords to US citizens and resident aliens—including the right to demand that the government produce in open court all witnesses and accusers, including intelligence operatives, and all of the information that it has on them, and how they got it.

Trying KSM in civilian court will be an intelligence bonanza for al Qaeda and all hostile nations that will view the U.S. intelligence methods and sources that such a trial will reveal. Prosecutors will be forced to reveal U.S. intelligence on KSM, the methods and sources for acquiring its information, and his relationships to fellow al Qaeda operatives. The information will enable al Qaeda to drop plans and personnel whose cover is blown. It will enable it to detect our means of intelligence-gathering, and to push forward into areas we know nothing about yet which endangers all people world-wide.

This is not hypothetical. This is fact. During the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (aka the “blind Sheikh”), standard civilian criminal trial rules required the government to turn over to the defendants a list of 200 possible co-conspirators.

In essence, that list was a sketch of American intelligence on al Qaeda. It was delivered to Osama bin Laden in Sudan on a silver platter within days of its production as a court exhibit. Bin Laden, who was on the list, could immediately see who was compromised. He also could get a jump-start figuring out how American intelligence had learned its information and anticipate what our future moves were likely to be at that time.

Hence, the civilian trial of “the blind Sheikh” most definitely later resulted in assisting Osama Bin Laden, KSM, and their co-conspirators to plan and execute the successful attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 that resulted in the deaths of thousands of American citizens, American military personnel, and the destruction of two skyscrapers and part of the Pentagon. If not for the selfless sacrificial bravery of the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93, the destruction of our nation’s capital, or even the White House, would have been assured as well.

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have to know this. How can they not know these things? But they are going forward with the civilian trial of KSM and his co-defendants in a civilian court in the USA anyways. They co-conspire to do this despite the grave danger of further death and destruction at the hands of terrorist’s and jihadist’s that the civilian trial will bring to American citizens, and the United States of America itself. Not to mention the judicial precedents and resulting case law that will tie up our courts and judges for years, and shred our Constitution, if KSM’s successful prosecution is already a ‘forgone conclusion’.

By going forward with this civilian trial of the mastermind of the most diabolical attack on America and American citizens at the hands of foreign enemies in history, they are directly responsible for all of the damage to our hard earned intelligence and our means of intelligence gathering that has, and currently still does, prevent further terrorist attacks in the US and abroad. The sacrifices of countless people whom have suffered and even died to keep America and our allies safe from further terrorist attacks since 9/11 will be for nothing.

By doing this, with knowledge aforethought and with specific intent, President Barack Hussein Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are directly endangering untold numbers of Americans on American soil, and abroad, and have also therefore declared themselves enemys of the state in the process.

As a law abiding tax paying American citizen, I now demand the arrest and incarceration of Attorney General Eric Holder and the impeachment and prosecution of President Barack Hussein Obama as co-conspirators and enemys of the state.

Maybe Barry is overreaching too soon?

As for Holder, the only thing he’s good for is getting pardons.

Why is this article accompanied by an upside down picture of Don King?LibTired on November 18, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Needed the lol.

“Hey, remember when Holder said KSM wouldn’t be released even if he got off on a technicality? He lied!!!”

Does this simple short scenario sound at all familiar? Well of course it does. We can’t try KSM because we’ve already denied him due process (which he was never entitled to in the first place). So when we start whining over how someone else in the obama administration lied to us yet again, it will have exactly the same effect it always does. None.

Bush will get the blame for denying that due process (which, again, KSM was never entitled to, but it won’t matter) and republicans will pay the political price for a terrorist being released back on the world, whether in America or not.

Think this is far fetched? Really? Were you even watching last November???

A symptom of stupidity? In a meeting with the press in China, President Obama said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be “convicted” and had “the death penalty applied to him” . . . and then said he wasn’t “pre-judging” the……

But since you ask, Holder has already publicly stated that KSM will be convicted. He’s also publicly stated that he could go free. He’s stated that KSM will never be released from jail, but also said he might be-but would never be released in the US.

Del Dolemonte on November 18, 2009 at 3:46 PM

Del, do you have some links to those statements? I need some ammo for an argument I’m having with a few turds who think trying KSM in federal court is a triumph for our system of justice.

Del Dolemonte on November 18, 2009 at 3:46 PM

What’s your legal resume?

Did Holder make any follow up remarks, or did he ever specifically state what would happen if KSM is acquitted? Please update if you find out anymore. Thanks.

Erich66 on November 18, 2009 at 3:43 PM

All I heard Eric say was that KSM would never be released “in the US”. Whatever that means.

crr6 on November 18, 2009 at 3:34 PM

Translation: PAY ATTENTION TO ME, NOT BLEEDS BLUE!

Mission Accomplished.

I don’t need to explain my objections, as others have more than sufficiently cited my concerns.

But since you ask, Holder has already publicly stated that KSM will be convicted. He’s also publicly stated that he could go free. He’s stated that KSM will never be released from jail, but also said he might be-but would never be released in the US.

I’ll leave it to the others here to provide all the cites showing how this flies in the face of all previous AQ terror trials by military tribunals, or how the Mossauai (sp?) civil trial turned into a show trial and circus.

Now back to work. The blackboards there at Moe Howard University Law School need cleaning, and then you have the lady’s room to clean.

And hurry up, after all, you want to watch your favorite cartoon show, “Wolfie and Hack Cafferty”, and they start in 15 minutes…

Did Holder make any follow up remarks, or did he ever specifically state what would happen if KSM is acquitted? Please update if you find out anymore. Thanks.

At this moment, Bleeds Blue is desperately searching the Law School Library at Moe Howard University for legal precedent to spin this one…

Del Dolemonte on November 18, 2009 at 1:52 PM

The point is that there’s really very little to no legal precedent for this type of event. The War on Terror has presented unique problems for our civil and military legal systems.

That said, I think there are very solid grounds for disagreeing with Holder’s decision, but naturally I haven’t seen our excitable little friend Dolemonte argue any of them.

a conviction is not a certainty.

It pretty much is. The whole “acquittal” issue is a red herring.

I prefer the term farce. Semantics perhaps, but show trials generally involve innocent people coerced by totalitarian regimes to confess to imaginary crimes. KSM is most definitely guilty.
Mike Honcho on November 18, 2009 at 1:44 PM

Except in 21st century America you’re charged with a set of legal definitions, and if the facts don’t fit the charge, you must be acquitted. Yezhov, the MKVD head butcher, got his own show trial; he was clearly not innocent, but he was also clearly railroaded. Fitzroy MacClean reported that Yezhov several times had to tell Vishinzky to stop demanding straight answers to dangerous questions…though not in those words.