The Trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I am. Maybe the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York won’t paint a big bulls-eye on the city that Al Qaeda hates the most. But, what if it does?

---

Maybe in won’t occur to any Jihadists that KSM would love to be a martyr (whether KSM feels that way or not), and so they use truck bombs or some other type of destructive device to make a statement. But, what if it does? Maybe KSM’s lawyers won’t make KSM into a victim who was traumatized by the mean old USA, thereby whipping up support for Jihadist causes all over the world. But, what it they do? Maybe this trial won’t expose even more US secrets to Al Qaeda and other terror networks, thereby giving them better ways to prepare to fight us. But, what if it does? Maybe this trial won’t become a media circus worse that OJ, making a mockery of our judicial system. But what if it does? Maybe this trial won’t become a rallying cry for terror networks the world over. But with if it does? Maybe this trial won’t further emasculate the CIA. But what if it does? Maybe this trial won’t become a platform for KSM and others to spew out anti American sentiments in open court. But what if it does? If security is too tight for jihadists to blow up the court building, maybe they won’t take it out on other cities, or embassies, or other US interests overseas. But what if they do? And horror of horrors, what if KSM is somehow acquitted on a technicality, and is allowed to go free. What then? If even one of these things happen, will it have been worth it to make a political statement by putting KSM on trial in New York City. Is it that important to show the world that an enemy combatant captured overseas by the military is granted the same right as a US citizen who was apprehended by the police? Being a non uniformed combatant, he is not even entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention. Modern laws of war regarding conduct during war, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions, provide that it is unlawful for belligerents to engage in combat without meeting certain requirements, among them the wearing of a distinctive uniform or other distinctive signs visible at a distance. Modern laws of war also say that the deliberate harming of noncombatants (as opposed to the unintentional harming of noncombatants due to the fact of belligerents hiding behind human shields) is a war crime. The Geneva Convention specifically spells out that parties who do not adhere to the convention will not be protected by it. Remember Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg? I know that someone out there is thinking, that since we water boarded KSM, that our guys cannot expect Geneva Convention protection if captured. But with this foe, our guys never had that Geneva Convention protection in the first place. Pouring a little water up someone’s nose, in a controlled environment, with medical personnel on hand to make sure that nothing goes wrong, is not the same thing as what they do to our guys. They saw heads off with rusty blades, while the victim is alive and aware. They flay the skin off of soldiers, and civilians. They burn soldiers and civilians eyes out with cigarettes. They draw and quarter our guys, and drag their body parts through town square. There are fraternity hazing rituals that are more dangerous and more uncomfortable than what we did to three of their guys. I say, anyone who uses the word “torture” in connection with water boarding (the way we do it, not the way they do it), without clarifying the difference between what we do and REAL torture, is someone who just wants the US to fail in our quest to rid the world of terrorism. The health care reforms taken that the President is trying to undertake may or may not be his Waterloo, but, if even ONE of the things I started this essay out with happens, this trial will the end of his political career, and maybe even the end of his party as he knows it. President Obama, you are giving the terrorist exactly what they want. A global stage in the heart of New York from which to articulate their perceived grievances. Why in the world would you want to do them a favor like that? That’s the way I see it.