The Obama administra- tion’s obdurate refusal to accept the reality of Islam ist terrorism was underscored yet again yesterday when Attorney General Eric Holder announced that 9/11 architect Khalid Sheik Mohammed will be brought to New York to be tried as a common criminal.
What an outrage.
Mohammed not only admits his role in the worst terrorist attack in American history but actually boasts about it. He should have been stood up in front of a wall and shot years ago.
VIDEO: 9/11 SUSPECTS TO BE TRIED IN NY
Never mind that the trial of Mohammed and four terrorist associates is certain to devolve into a propaganda circus.
Their acts were committed in furtherance of a perverted holy war against the United States; they are not American citizens — and thus they have no legitimate claim to the constitutional protections this country affords accused criminals. Indeed, KSM and his co-terrorists — Ramzi Binalshibh, Waleed bin Attash, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi — all offered to plead guilty last year before a military commission and accept execution.
No, the fundamental question is whether such a proceeding will make America safer, or place her at greater risk.
Or, as former Attorney General Michael Mukasey put it: “Those moving this process forward should consider whether the main purpose is to protect the citizens of this country or to showcase the country’s criminal-justice system — which has been done before and which failed to impress Khalid Sheik Mohammed.”
Certainly, the decision represents a return to pre-9/11 sensibilities, when terrorism was seen as a law-enforcement issue, to be fought in the courtroom — not on the battlefield.
That approach yielded, among other bloody acts, the attacks on USS Cole, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon — and, quite frankly, last week’s slaughter at Fort Hood.
They were acts of war, plain and simple, whether or not President Obama and Holder want to accept it.
It makes no more sense to try those responsible in a civilian court than it would have been to hold a trial for the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor.
On a purely self-interested note, New Yorkers must be wondering whether it makes sense for their city — still a high-priority terrorist target — to have another bull’s-eye painted on its buildings.
Of course it doesn’t.
But bringing the world’s most notorious terrorists to New York for criminal trials will do just that.
Alas, that’s the reality of it.
So here’s hoping that Holder really has his heart in it — that he will secure convictions across the board, and that he presses hard and successfully for the death penalty he’s promising to seek.
KSM and his crew deserve to be executed — not as glorious martyrs, but as murderous thugs — and the sooner, the better.
Certainly America would be the safer for it.