It's not hard to imagine us getting involved in some mythical place, call it Iran for the hell of it, and having some pilots captured after delivering munitions on a target. This trial makes it easy to try & hang them as civilians instead of holding them as POWs - declarations of war were issued, big shots planned strikes on targets, civilians died, some of the soldiers got captured. We've already extended geneva convention privalegs to these "soldiers" even though they don't deserve them, but do u think our soldiers in the future would be better off tried as civilians for murder or treated as POWs? Am I way off base here?
The biggest risk is that the Obama administration will turn the trials into a war crimes tribunal against Bush and Cheney.
And just wait until they wheel the now paralyzed Fort Hood jihadist into a courtroom...
No. We haven't. That would have been the best thing. We could have treated them as spies, mercs, etc. No set uniform and shot and killed on the spot. There is no Geneva protections for spies, etc.
Obama’s presidency would be utterly destroyed were this trial to result in anything but life imprisonment for these peeps (and even life imprisonment instead of the death penalty would be seen as lenient by many voters). Which means he ain’t going to let it happen, unless he suddenly turns into a giant idiot.
The worst possible outcome is that these devils are acquitted and WALK.
If that happens, half of New York will storm the place they’re being held and take their own vengeance out on them. Even the US Marshals wouldn’t be able to stop them without shooting a whole lot of angry civilians.
They MUST convict, and the sentence MUST be death. Anything less is unacceptable.
do u think our soldiers in the future would be better off tried as civilians for murder or treated as POWs?
The premise is a holdover from the sixties, where our soldiers in Vietnam were labeled war criminals by everyone opposed to the war. It wasn’t a “real” war and so they all needed to be tried by a jury of their peers until found guilty.
However, there are several legal disasters that ARE real in this change. See the second link, below.
Congressman Billybob
The trials turn into a circus, tons of sensitive intelligence gets released, and the terrorists end up walking.
Nov 16 2009
George Friedman, Stratfor
Snip
“International law is actually not particularly ambiguous about the status of the members of al Qaeda. The Geneva Conventions do not apply to them because they have not adhered to a fundamental requirement of the Geneva Conventions, namely, identifying themselves as soldiers of an army. Doing so does not mean they must wear a uniform.”
Snip
Snip
“Holder has opened up an extraordinarily complex can of worms with this decision. As U.S. attorney general, he has committed himself to proving Mohammed’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt while guaranteeing that his constitutional rights (for a non-U.S. citizen captured and held outside the United States under extraordinary circumstances by individuals not trained as law enforcement personnel, no less) are protected. It is Holder’s duty to ensure Mohammed’s prosecution, conviction and fair treatment under the law. It is hard to see how he can.”
Go to the article if you have time. Actions carried out on the order of someone in another country are going to complicate matters tremendously for Atty Gen Holder.