Enemy saboteurs: Then and now

Oak Lawn (IL) Reporter ^ | 6/27/02 | Michael M. Bates

[mikeb704]

They came to the United States planning to inflict as much death and destruction as possible. Equally important to them was instilling in the American people a sense of panic, a palpable fear that could paralyze their resolve.

They brought with them plenty of money and explosives. Their mission was to bomb factories and train stations throughout the country.

It was 60 years ago today that the last of them were arrested. Nazi saboteurs, they’d arrived in the U.S. earlier in the month by German submarine. All had lived here for substantial periods earlier in their lives. They spoke excellent English. Passing for Americans would not be difficult.

The first group of four landed in New York; the second in Florida. All of them wore German uniforms when they arrived so that, if apprehended, they’d receive treatment as prisoners of war. Quickly they changed into civilian clothes. Two of them went to Chicago and the rest went to New York.

One, George Dasch, who had gone to New York contacted the FBI and revealed the plot. Why’d he do that? I don’t know that there’s been any definite reason established. Some have suggested it was because he had an American wife. Another possibility is that he, like many other Germans, had come to recognize the full evil of Hitler and his National Socialists.

Or it could have been what happened when Dasch and his comrades landed. A Coast Guardsman saw them. The Germans awkwardly claimed they were fishermen. Then they stupidly offered a bribe of a couple of hundred dollars and told him to forget he’d seen them. The man took the money – and reported the incident to his superiors.

Whatever the reason, Dasch finally persuaded the FBI he wasn’t a crank. The other saboteurs were rounded up within days. Their trial began less than two weeks later and lasted less than a month. It was held before a military tribunal. This was in accordance with President Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order providing that people committing sabotage for America’s enemies "shall be subject to the law of war and to the jurisdiction of military tribunals."

With the exception of Dasch, all of them appealed to be tried before a civilian, rather than military, court. The Supreme Court unanimously denied their petition. Dasch received a 30-year sentence. Another of the saboteurs got life. The other six were sentenced to death and executed August 8, 1942.

That timeframe is incredible. Arrested in June, tried in July, executed in August. Compare that to Timothy McVeigh. Arrested in 1995, tried in 1997, and executed in 2001.

Military tribunals have been used since the beginning of the United States. A British major conspiring with Benedict Arnold was tried before one during the Revolutionary War. They were used to try Abraham Lincoln’s assassins and some Japanese officers after World War II.

Last year President Bush ordered that foreign terrorists accused of attacking America be tried before military tribunals. This raised a firestorm as liberals and conservatives joined to voice their vehement opposition. I understand their concerns about an erosion of civil liberties, but I don’t agree.

Military tribunals would protect civilian jurors. Being held at military installations, they would also help protect the trials themselves from attack. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has pertinently asked: "Who would want to serve on a jury that is trying Osama bin Laden, and who would want to stay in a hotel where jurors are being sequestered?"

Moreover, tribunals could help protect the confidentiality of intelligence sources. Unlike regular trials, they wouldn’t be as vulnerable to becoming long, drawn-our proceedings offering the accused a propaganda podium from which to address other terrorists.

I don’t think that the craven terrorist criminals intent on killing innocent men, women and children deserve the full array of due-process rights. Are we serious about winning the war or terrorism or not? If so, military tribunals should be used. Otherwise, we’ll have terrorists dying of old age while they exhaust their appeal rights.

[genefromjersey]

I've seen a bit of Freeper alarm over this bit of history.

"If they could do it to the Nazis, and to Jose (Dirty Bomb) Padilla, they could do it to us !!"

Yup, they could.

You might want to keep in mind the Constitution is many things to many people, but one thing it is NOT : a suicide note.

[mikeb704]

Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson said:

"There is danger that, if the court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact."