Posted on 09/10/2011 5:59:51 AM PDT by markomalley
The military officer overseeing the prosecution of Khalid Sheik Mohammed is taking a go-slow approach that would bring the confessed Sept. 11 mastermind to trial months, or perhaps years, from now.
It was seven years ago that the CIA in Pakistan captured KSM, as the former senior al Qaeda officer is known, and eventually turned him over to U.S. military custody for a war crimes trial at the Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba.
It was six months ago that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. relented to political pressure in New York and Washington, and reversed his decision to try KSM in a civilian court in the Big Apple.
Since then, retired Navy Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald, who as the “convening authority” is overseeing prosecutions of terror suspects by military commissions, has set out a step-by-step process behind the scenes to begin the most prominent trial of the five 9/11 co-conspirators held in Cuba.
Charles Stimson, former Pentagon adviser to the defense secretary on detainee affairs, said Adm. MacDonald is making sure every possible ‘T’ is crossed to ensure that appeals courts will view the military commission process as fair.
“Unlike previous attempts to get the commission started against KSM and his four co-conspirators, the convening authority has taken a very different approach, and the approach mirrors in practice what happens in the civilian sector at the state and federal level,” said Mr. Stimson, a commander in the Navy Reserve who serves as a military judge.
“People want justice for the acts of 9/11,” Mr. Stimson said. “Justice delayed, in their minds, is justice denied, as the saying goes.
(Excerpt) Read more at p.washingtontimes.com ...
KSM certainly has mitigating circumstances from his childhood. His parents were Muslims, you know.
What the heck is the point of these trials? What are the odds of the verdict being innocent?
Stall the trial until a pro-death-penalty Republican is Commander-in-Chief, then execute Khalid.
Do to him what his buddies did to our fellow Americans on 9/11/2001, and what they did to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Make an example out of him. Tit for tat, that’s how it works, that’s the only thing they understand. Dazzle them with brilliance, or crush them with overwhelming firepower.
The DC sniper’s killings occurred in 2002 and he was executed in Nov. 2009.
That was justice.
I see a very good and valid reason to delay this trial.
If a military court comes down with a death sentence, it must be approved by an extensive chain of command all the way up to the President of the United States, which is why, while many are on military death row, none are ever executed.
However, once Obama is out of office, if say, governor Perry becomes the new POTUS, how hard do you think it will be for KSM to get his “72 raisins” after being strapped to a gurney?
At last count, I believe, some 234 Texas inmates have already been sent to hell under Perry. And as I said before, US military prison death rows are bulging full, and need emptying.
I think a good pace would be 1 a week for his first term in office.
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