Dem senator: Americans who don’t want KSM tried in civilian court can “go somewhere else”

A new one from CNS featuring Kent Conrad, who’ll be spared a “worst person in the world” award on Olbermann’s show for this bit o’ demagoguery solely by virtue of his party affiliation. Consider this a sequel to Lindsey Graham’s grilling of Holder last week: In both cases, we’ve got a Democrat who’s (a) absolutely confident that civilian trials are the way to go and (b) plainly unprepared to address the rather significant constitutional implications of his preference. The search warrant question here is bait but the underlying point isn’t:

FrumForum interviewed former FBI and CIA agents to get their views on the Obama administration’s explanation on why a federal trial should be held…

Unless Holder and Obama have a crystal ball, they cannot predict how the judge will rule on evidentiary or constitutional issues. In fact, a former CIA official was sure that the defense attorneys will try to change the focus of the trial from KSM’s atrocities to his confession coerced by the harsh interrogation techniques. He and others interviewed used the phrase “the fruit of the poisonous tree,” referring to the doctrine whereby some evidence may be declared inadmissible. He further declared that “I am worried about a civilian judge because if that confession is thrown out the rest of the evidence will be as well. Will the judge allow this nonsense into the courtroom?”

Is it possible, as Holder has stated, that “classified evidence can be protected?” Unanimously, all felt that revealing classified evidence will put America’s national security at greater risk. A CIA operative was very emphatic that “we were able to track and eventually kill the bad guys through means that have not yet been revealed and we’d like to keep it that way. Additionally, we need to ensure that our joint operations with other services around the world isn’t made public.” Richard Marquise, an FBI agent who headed up the Pan Am Flight 103 investigation, said that during the Lockerbie trials, some of the documents turned over by the CIA were put into the defense’s hands and some evidence can get lost.” A former CIA official concurs and frustratingly told FrumForum that during the trial of one of the 9/11 terrorists, the CIA provided recanted documents to the defense. Unfortunately, the true identity of an operative was accidentally left in, showing that “there is always the possibility that classified information will be turned over.”

Remind me, who was that wingnut who opted not to “go somewhere else” three years ago but instead praised the idea of a military tribunal for KSM on the Senate floor? Oh, right.

• Bobby Jindal: Paternalistic, big-government liberalism is the biggest loser here
• Chris Christie: “I’ll be here to welcome” Obama when he comes to tour the NJ coast again next week
• MSNBC consensus: Obama’s speech was historic, amazing, “one of the best of his presidency”

Blowback