'To Me, It's a Sign of Maturity, Strength and Intellect'

To me this entire exercise has been a sign if immaturity, weakness and stupidity, but hey, I'm just some guy with a blog and not a renowned expert.

The trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed won't be held in lower Manhattan and could take place in a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, sources said last night.

Administration officials said that no final decision had been made but that officials of the Department of Justice and the White House were working feverishly to find a venue that would be less expensive and less of a security risk than New York City.

The back-to-the-future Gitmo option was reported yesterday by Fox News and was not disputed by White House officials.

Such a move would likely bring howls of protest from liberals already frustrated that President Obama has failed to meet his deadline for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Let them howl all they want. Those of us in the New York area should be the ones Obama is listening to, not some whiny, self-serving bunch of babies more concerned with the rights of killers than innocent civilians.

It would also indicate that after years of attacking the Bush administration for its handling of the war on terror, Obama officials are embracing one of the most controversial aspects of it.

The administration is likely considering Gitmo because Congress is moving to cut off funding for holding the expensive trials in civilians courts.

Rep. Peter King (R-LI) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds to try Guantanamo detainees in federal civilian courts, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he would introduce a similar bill in the Senate next week.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports that wherever the terror trials are eventually held, it is virtually certain that they will not take place in New York City.
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Bloomberg said yesterday that he would not brand Obama a flip-flopper over his turnabout.

"To me, it's a sign of maturity, strength and intellect," Bloomberg said on WOR radio yesterday.

Way to kiss Obama's tush, Mikey. If this towering intellect was so brilliant, he'd have seen what a firestorm this idiotic decision would have caused.

Naturally, some "experts" don't see it that way.

There are limits to where the U.S. can try the self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind outside of New York City - especially if murder is in the mix, experts say.

Bowing to critics who want the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed out of Foley Square, the Department of Justice Friday appeared close to abandoning plans to bring the case in lower Manhattan.

If the attacks had taken place outside the U.S., prosecutors could bring the case in any federal court in America.

Because the crime occurred in the U.S., the trial has to happen where at least one part of the conspiracy took place.

"The trial has to occur in the venue where the crime was committed," said James Benjamin Jr., a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who handled the appeal of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef.

Complicating matters is that prosecutors would likely want to bring murder charges against Mohammed and his four co-defendants for the deaths of 3,000-plus.

That, experts said, would restrict the location to the three places where blood was shed: the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia or the Western District of Pennsylvania.

OK, then how about trying them at the Pentagon?