>>>>>While you can punish through the court system attempts at crimes and conspiracies, it is largely ineffective to prevent future acts. Try calling the cops if you suspect a crime will go down soon.<<<<
Any future KSMs will say “Oh hello FBI/CIA/DSS/Delta. I want a lawyer and a habeas corpus hearing in DC before I say anything else. Thanks.”
In fact KSM *did* say just that at the time of his capture in Pakistan, he didn’t realize that the rules had (temporarily) changed. So now everything is back to normal, pre-9/11 civilian legalisms and that kind of request must be honored.
BTW, KSM earned his mech. engineering degree in South Carolina, speaks fluent English, and like most AQ terrorists was trained in how to behave if captured.
Interesting about KSM. One of the problems of advanced societies is that they tend to develop certain cultural strengths or traits that the populace as a whole don’t really understand. That is, they don’t understand the limits or cautions involved with that trait. As an example, Germans were renowned lovers of order and they fell victim to Hitler’s enticements precisely because he promised to restore order. (No, I know it isn’t that simple but bear with me.) English people like civility. Americans treasure fairness. Our enemies have learned to use those traits against us and are swiftly eroding both civility and fairness all over the world and we aren’t reacting as we should. We may have the Queen’s rules in boxing but if your opponent is punching without the gloves, it is time to take yours off also. Continuing to play by rules your opponent doesn’t recognize just means you will lose.