“I really do think that it plays into the narrative of people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to bring them before a military court and to have them brought on trial, to have military defense lawyers, military prosecutors, military jury, and a military judge. There’s nothing military about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That’s not a justice system, that’s a detention system.”
The first thing that needs to be said about military commissions – whatever you think about whether they are a fair system of justice – is that they’ve been an enormous practical failure – that in all the years since they were rolled out, only three convictions have been obtained – two of them under pretty unusual circumstances.The first was the guilty plea of David Hicks, which was really worked out as a negotiation between the Australian Prime Minister and Dick Cheney, which resulted in David Hicks serving nine months in an Australian jail.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday to prohibit the Department of Justice from prosecuting self-professed 9/11 mastermind and four other co-conspirators in federal court. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), would restrict the Justice Department from using funds to pay for a trial within the U.S. court system. Graham and other lawmakers in want the alleged 9/11 perpetrators to be tried before controversial military commissions.
