9/11 Mastermind Gets Gitmo Military Trial

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This is a shame. We have tried literally hundreds of defendants on terrorism charges in our courts with a 91% conviction rate (523 convictions according to the NYU Center on Law and Security, ranging from what they call the “smallest terrorism-related passport violation to the case against Sept 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui”). We are elevating these criminals to the status of "soldiers," and trying them in courts designed for soldiers. They are NOT "soldiers" ... no matter WHAT they call themselves ... they are 'CRIMINALS" ... criminals who have committed outrageous and historically heinous crimes but criminals nonetheless. WE should be defining their status, not them. We have posted notice to the world that we don't trust our own court system to reach fair and accurate verdicts, that we must create "special courts" for some people. These criminals should be treated as just what they are ... criminals ... and they should be hauled before a court ... in public ... and they should be tried in the system they've attacked ... in public ... and if they are convicted in open court they should be sentenced according to the laws of the country they have attacked. And … They should NOT be sentenced to death, even as fitting and emotionally satisfying as that might be. If they are executed they will become "martyrs," celebrated in the extremists' recruiting and useful as incentive for others to follow suit. If they are convicted, and overwhelming evidence says they will be, they should be sentenced to life without parole in OUR prisons, under OUR control for the rest of their lives. That's MUCH less appealing to prospective recruits than martyrdom. Secret trial by military process and execution when convicted creates martyrs. For prospective recruits seeing that, if they are apprehended, they will be hauled as a common criminal in front of a criminal court, tried as a common criminal and sentenced and imprisoned for the rest of their lives AS common criminals is MUCH less attractive than "martyrdom." We have lost an opportunity to show the world that the system these people attacked can apprehend them, try them and punish them fairly and in public, just like any other common criminal in our country.

Decisive leadership in action. "I will close Gitmo. KSM will be tried in civilian courts."

Is that a picture of KSM or Janet Napilitano....I can never tell those two apart