We have been told that there is direct evidence against Laden. Most of us have accepted that on faith. If he is captured, that should be proven in a court, be that federal or military.
We expect our justice to be fair. We expect the evidence to be overwhelming. If these are true, why not allow the world to see? In my opinion, closing the proceedings would lead just about every nation but our own to suspect the proceedings. I think we do our nation more harm than good by closing these hearings.
I read the other day where these types of military hearings were actually proposed for McVeigh and Nichols. If that is accurate, would we really have wanted them held behind closed doors?
We need to be careful what we sign onto in our name, and more importantly in the name of our nation.
Yes I know, WWII and yada yada. Well the premise holds true, that the light of day promotes truth and understanding.
In addition, the order signed by Bush establishing the right to hold military tribunals is an utterly horrifying overreach on the part of the executive branch.
The president, and the president alone, has assumed the power to declare that any foreign national may be subject to these secret tribunals if the individual may be one that is thought to: “have caused, threaten to cause, or have as their aim to cause, injury to or adverse effects on the United States, its citizens, national security, foreign policy, or economy and it is in the interest of the United States that such individual be subject to this order.”
We are basically saying that it is within a nation's right to have their leader declare any citizen of another nation an enemy and execute them (after a secret trial) without presenting any evidence of guilt or even clearly enumerating the charges against that person.
It's insane.