Enemy Combatant or U.s. Criminal

            I was recently reading in the Staten Island Advance about the confusion over where to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, either in U.S. criminal court or in a military tribunal.

            First of all the guy is an enemy combatant. Why? He helped plan 9/11. He is not a citizen of the United States. And finally he worked for a terrorist organization which attacked the U.S. and continues to plan or attack the U.S.

            If he was a U.S. criminal he would be a citizen of the U.S. and thus tried as a U.S. citizen. But because he a citizen of another country he should not be tried by U.S. Civil Court.

            And that is my main argument. If you can’t be classified as a solider of another country that has attacked you and then held to Geneva Convention rules you are then an enemy combatant.

            It is a new world we live in where the enemy does not ware distinguishable clothing and you never know if you got on a bus or a subway what will happen. I am starting to understand how Israeli’s feel. They hardly take the bus out of fear of suicide bombers and make sure there is more than one way out of a public place. This is the sad world we live in.

Oh sure time goes by and we feel comfortable to do what we did before and then you hear about another attack on Americans. Bin Laden’s name floats up as being responsible, and you just have to wonder, is this the way our lives will always be, in fear of never ending attacks.

            It’s understandable that the Obama administration wants to put on a big show of convicting Al-Qaida members to make people feel safe again because; it’s not enough to kill them in Afghanistan or Pakistan. In the papers they come up as a small blip where you hardly know the person. Instead they have to a try these enemy combatants where all the facts come out. My thinking is part of the trial is to bore Mohammed to death. After all he knows all the information. Now he has to sit through it all over again!

            So, I don’t know why the Obama administration is so confused over how to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other enemy combatants, instead, wanting to try him in civil court. On another note this is also a very bad idea because he would get a really public trial and would once again inspire other terrorists.
            And second don’t even get me started on the fact that trying him in New York City of all places is such a great idea! (Sarcasm) I mean couldn’t you see Bin Laden planning an attack on the court house?

 Bringing any of these enemy combatants to the U.S. is a bad idea. We don’t need to give them our liberties after they killed innocent people over our liberties.

 Let them sweat it out at Guantanamo.