Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
FWIW - I disagree. KSM and company were foreign citizens who committed crimes against American citizens which fall under federal law and - therefore - are to be tried under federal law in a federal court in New York - the most notable site of those crimes.
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Here's the thing
Using this logic one could argue that George Bush, Dick Cheney, et al are foreign citizens who committed crimes against Syrian/Iranian/Saudi/Palestinian/Afghani/Iraqi/?istan citizens which fall under [insert country of your choice federal or equivalent] law and - therefore - are to be tried under [insert here] law in a [insert here] court in [insert here].
Unless I missed something (and I'm pretty sure I didn't and the Pakistanis just handed them over upon capture) these men were not extradited for trial in our country via normal, internationally accepted means. We snatched them in conjunction with the Pakistanis as war criminals. They are war criminals in GWOT. Therefore, we're basically saying - "Hey, come snatch our dudes! It's cool! Then try them in YOUR country according to YOUR laws if you think our guys may have broken one of your laws! It doesn't need to be a war criminal thing anymore - it's totally open season! We think that's how it goes." We've effectively removed the whole war criminal / war crimes element by taking it out of war tribunal and putting it in to Federal court without regular extradition.
And under these circumstances a Federal judge could look at the defendants and easily say....
"Hey, you know... we don't legally have these guys in our custody! Too bad so sad! They go free."
It astounds me that so many people in this country - the Obama administration included - seem to believe that for years the Bush administration just sat on their hands and didn't try these guys at Gitmo because they didn't feel like it. When really, there are incredibly complex legal issues happening here, the likes of which have NEVER been contemplated before in the history of the world. The closest we've come is Nuremburg. The Bush administration went slow and methodical and were extremely circumspect to the point of being frozen. The Obama administration seems hell bent on going headlong into a potential disaster.