First the good news: Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a spokesman for al Qaeda and the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden has been captured in the Middle East. He is in American custody.
Now the bad news: the geniuses in Washington have brought the prisoner to New York where he is to be arraigned in Federal Court and subsequently tried. This is an idiotic move on so many different levels. First of all, the prisoner is not a common criminal, but rather an enemy combatant who has been at war with America. He should not get a criminal trial with all the rights available to Americans. He should be held as a prisoner of war in Guantanamo. You remember Guantanamo; it is the base that president Obama said he would close by the end of 2009 but has left open. There are military tribunals which could deal with Abu Ghaith in Cuba. There is no reason for this guy to get American rights.
Second, it is insane to bring the prisoner to New York. Even if Obama wanted to have a civilian trial, which is incredibly stupid, that trial could easily have been held somewhere remote, somewhere other than New York. I hear that Fargo, North Dakota is lovely this time of year; they could have brought Abu Ghaith there for arraignment. After all, if one considers the prisoner to have committed a crime rather than acts of war, they all happened outside the USA. That means that he could be tried in any federal district court across America. When Obama wanted to try Khalid Sheik Muhammed in New York, the estimate was that security for the trial would cost (drum roll please).......two hundred million dollars. That's right, trying Muhammed in Manhattan would result in one-fifth of a billion dollars spent on security. Assuming that the Abu Ghaith trial will be shorter, let's suppose that security will only cost half as much or one hundred million dollars. For what it is worth, just that security cost is more than it would cost to hold the civilian tours of the White House for the next forty years. Meanwhile, holding the trial in an isolated courthouse rather than one in downtown Manhattan would reduce security costs dramatically.
I understand from some news articles that the view of the government is that the trial of Abu Ghaith will not be as high profile as the one of Khalid Sheik Muhammed would have been. That does not make it appropriate to put a clear target for terrorists activity in downtown Manhattan. After all, the guy is married to the daughter of Osama bin Laden.
If this decision was made by Obama and his new national security team of Hagel, Kerry et al., then maybe it is time for the president to get some new advisors. Maybe it would help if he found one with some common sense.
Now the bad news: the geniuses in Washington have brought the prisoner to New York where he is to be arraigned in Federal Court and subsequently tried. This is an idiotic move on so many different levels. First of all, the prisoner is not a common criminal, but rather an enemy combatant who has been at war with America. He should not get a criminal trial with all the rights available to Americans. He should be held as a prisoner of war in Guantanamo. You remember Guantanamo; it is the base that president Obama said he would close by the end of 2009 but has left open. There are military tribunals which could deal with Abu Ghaith in Cuba. There is no reason for this guy to get American rights.
Second, it is insane to bring the prisoner to New York. Even if Obama wanted to have a civilian trial, which is incredibly stupid, that trial could easily have been held somewhere remote, somewhere other than New York. I hear that Fargo, North Dakota is lovely this time of year; they could have brought Abu Ghaith there for arraignment. After all, if one considers the prisoner to have committed a crime rather than acts of war, they all happened outside the USA. That means that he could be tried in any federal district court across America. When Obama wanted to try Khalid Sheik Muhammed in New York, the estimate was that security for the trial would cost (drum roll please).......two hundred million dollars. That's right, trying Muhammed in Manhattan would result in one-fifth of a billion dollars spent on security. Assuming that the Abu Ghaith trial will be shorter, let's suppose that security will only cost half as much or one hundred million dollars. For what it is worth, just that security cost is more than it would cost to hold the civilian tours of the White House for the next forty years. Meanwhile, holding the trial in an isolated courthouse rather than one in downtown Manhattan would reduce security costs dramatically.
I understand from some news articles that the view of the government is that the trial of Abu Ghaith will not be as high profile as the one of Khalid Sheik Muhammed would have been. That does not make it appropriate to put a clear target for terrorists activity in downtown Manhattan. After all, the guy is married to the daughter of Osama bin Laden.
If this decision was made by Obama and his new national security team of Hagel, Kerry et al., then maybe it is time for the president to get some new advisors. Maybe it would help if he found one with some common sense.
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