Friday, October 8, 2010

Why Jihadi Terrorism Trials Don't Belong in Civilian Court

From an editorial in the New York Post:
Judge Lewis Kaplan yesterday delivered strong evidence of why terrorist trials don't belong in civilian court. He brought the federal trial of accused al Qaeda bomber Ahmed Ghailani to a halt on its opening day by barring the testimony of the government's key witness.
Ghailani faces life in prison for his role in the 1998 bombings of three US embassies in Africa. The witness, Hussein Abebe, sold Ghailani the TNT used in the deadly bombings, and prosecutors say his testimony is critical to their case.

But Kaplan ruled that, because the government only learned about Abebe from Ghailani himself during CIA questioning, he can't be allowed to testify.
Kaplan ruled that Abebe's testimony would be unconstitutional, and that the Constitution must be followed "not only when it is convenient, but when fear and danger beckon in a different direction."

That would be fine if Ghailani were, say, a mugger. But it's nonsense in the context of the war on Islamist terrorism: Ghailani is not a US citizen, and the crimes didn't occur on US territory.

But don't hold this against Kaplan.

The blame resides with the Obama administration, which ignored all warnings that trying terrorists like Ghailani in civilian court would invite such rulings.

American criminal law is riddled with procedural and constitutional protections completely incongruous to wartime realities. Thugs like Ghailani and their "civil liberties" lawyers mean to take full advantage of them -- and in front of the right judge, like Kaplan, they'll succeed...

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