The Reactions of Seeking the Death Penalty for 9/11 Collaborators

Reuters published an article last night about the reactions the candidates had to the news that we would be seeking the death penalty through military tribunals for six terrorists who were involved with the 9/11 attacks. Here are the highlight, by candidate:

John McCain:

The front-runner for the Republican presidential
nomination, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said charges against the
alleged conspirators were long overdue.

"This is something that should have, in my view I'm sorry
that it's taken so long. Let's begin this process," McCain
said.

Barack Obama:

"Of course, we should ensure that the planners and
perpetrators of 9/11 are brought to justice, and the death
penalty is appropriate for whomever committed such heinous
crimes. But these trials will need to be above reproach," Obama
said.

"These trials are too important to be held in a flawed
military commission system that has failed to convict anyone of
a terrorist act since the 9-11 attacks and that has been
embroiled in legal challenges," he added.

Got that? Sen. McCain believes the system works and the enemy combatants who have declared war on the United States under the structure of a terrorist organization should be tried in the military tribunals and have their sentences handed down accordingly. He believes that the terrorists who conspired to murder over 3,000 people on 9/11 should be given justice through the military tribunals that were created long ago to handle situations like these. Remember, these are terrorists who are not part of a traditional military organization for another nation, which would be treated with much different regard. He stands behind the solid system that we have in place for handling these situations.

On the other hand, you have Obama, who is essentially saying that the tribunal system is flawed, that the military and the authorizations that were set up to handle this situations, are incapable of doing so. He says that the system has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since 9/11, and technically that may be true since there have been no domestic terror attacks since 9/11. By playing word games and talking ill of our military and the justice system that we have in place, he is not doing anything to help the country. Rather, he is damaging our nation's reputation by deriding the system. Earlier in the article he suggests domestic courts and domestic military trials (i.e. like one of our soldiers would receive), but that is outrageous. Terrorist should in no way, shape or form, have the same rights as you or I. That is simply asinine to believe that people hell bent on destroying our way of life, court systems included, should be treated in the same manner a United States citizen enjoys. These monsters have an ongoing declaration of war with the United States and are not citizens (i.e. domestic terrorists) and therefore will and should be treated differently and the tribunal system is precisely where this matter should be handled. Obama is flat out wrong on this issue. To grant terrorists the rights of our citizens in domestic courts makes it that much easier for them to plot and commit attacks. I wouldn't exactly call our justice system expedient and rest assured, you'll see the ACLU and other groups flock to the aid of terrorists for their little political purposes, all the while endangering the public. It's a dangerous position and one that lacks any pure concept of the challenges we face in the fight against global Radical Islamic terrorism.

-Caomhin

Powered by ScribeFire.