Do you think that Terrorists should be put in front of a Military tribunal?

[MobBoss]

I can see the sense to military tribunals for a subset of such captures, but not for some random guy that a warlord sold to the U.S.

Well, then lets be a bit more specific.

What about KSM himself? Not arrested on US soil. Not mirandized. Picked up by a combined Pakistan/CIA strike team. Certainly not some random guy sold to us by some warlord.

He qualifies quite well as someone who a military tribunal would be a good venue for.

Would you agree that he could be a candidate for a military tribunal?

Since the U.S. eventually released most of those random guys (even under Bush), I will concede the system is kind of working (if you consider holding a purchased detainee in law-away for several years as kind of working), though I question the wisdom of Gitmo when you have detainment facilities in the country of capture.

As there had been several attacks to facilitate break outs at some prisons, it was a legitimate security measure to move them out of country.

I think once you have taken someone out of the country of capture (in a war-on-a-concept scenario), the case for that person becoming subject to the legal protections of your homeland government becomes stronger and from a foreign relations standpoint, you are better off giving them such protections.

Well, you need to remember that German/Itallian POWs werent kept in their respective country of capture either. Many of them were indeed brought to the USA for detainment until wars end. So there is precedent there as well to remove them out of country.

But overall, I am actually surprised and encouraged by your comments here. Thanks.

 

[JollyRoger]

Well, then lets be a bit more specific.

What about KSM himself? Not arrested on US soil. Not mirandized. Picked up by a combined Pakistan/CIA strike team. Certainly not some random guy sold to us by some warlord.

He qualifies quite well as someone who a military tribunal would be a good venue for.

Would you agree that he could be a candidate for a military tribunal?

Yes, but assuming we can get a guilty verdict, he would also make a great candidate for a civil trial. He is internationally high profile and was known to have been the subject of some fairly controversial interrogation techniques. If the DOJ can nail a conviction in a more open forum, it is a victory for the U.S. in that we have demonstrated that we are not terrorized into treating him any different than a common criminal so far as prosecution goes (we can't put the enhanced interrogation genie back in the bottle, but we have at least had regime change since then). A more closed forum for KSM would hang a darker cloud over any guilt verdict than is necessary.

 

[MobBoss]

Yes, but assuming we can get a guilty verdict, he would also make a great candidate for a civil trial. He is internationally high profile and was known to have been the subject of some fairly controversial interrogation techniques. If the DOJ can nail a conviction in a more open forum, it is a victory for the U.S. in that we have demonstrated that we are not terrorized into treating him any different than a common criminal so far as prosecution goes (we can't put the enhanced interrogation genie back in the bottle, but we have at least had regime change since then). A more closed forum for KSM would hang a darker cloud over any guilt verdict than is necessary.

And what happens if we go civil trial and he is either found not guilty or the prosecution messes it up? Giving him the same rights as a US citizen help him out more than a little whereas a tribunal would be more open and shut.

 

[JollyRoger]

And what happens if we go civil trial and he is either found not guilty or the prosecution messes it up? Giving him the same rights as a US citizen help him out more than a little whereas a tribunal would be more open and shut.

Would it? How about those tribunals that got shut down before they got started over the prosecution's failure to convince the Judge on the unlawful combatant designation? I have confidence that the career prosecutors at the DOJ will be able to secure a conviction here. It's not like John Adams will be KSM's defense lawyer.