Tribunals' critics will pay in next election

ajc ^ | 12/06/2001 | Zell Miller

[KQQL]

Tribunals' critics will pay in next election

By ZELL MILLER

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The howls of protest over the administration's efforts to treat terrorists like the war criminals they are is mind-boggling. The critics are crying foul at the mere mention of bringing suspected terrorists to justice in military tribunals. This obsession with protecting the rights of terrorists is naive and wrongheaded. And if you don't want to take my word for it, just wait -- voters will say it loud and clear in next year's elections.

The critics forget a key fact: We are at war. Thousands of innocent citizens were killed on U.S. soil, and the terrorists are plotting new attacks. This is the time to unite in trying to defeat our enemy with every tool at our disposal. It's no time to wring our hands like nervous Nellies, worrying whether a suspected terrorist might sue because he wasn't read his rights.

President Bush is proposing military tribunals only for non-citizens, and he is absolutely right to do so. The Supreme Court has twice upheld military tribunals as constitutional. Military tribunals are the traditional venue for prosecuting war criminals and they have been used throughout this nation's history by several presidents.

Military tribunals will prevent us from having to reveal and compromise our nation's sensitive intelligence information in court, as happened during the eight months of court proceedings against the men suspected in the 1993 terrorist bombing at the World Trade Center.

Military tribunals will also prevent countless communities, courthouses and jurors in this country from becoming targets for terrorists. And they will prevent key witnesses from keeping silent out of a very legitimate fear of revenge from terrorist groups.

This is the same system of justice we use forour military. If our own American soldiers aren't entitled to the benefits of jury trials in civilian courts, why in the world would we extend that benefit to foreigners who are trying to kill Americans?

Even military tribunals are too good for these terrorists. These killers will receive legal counsel and fair trials from us. That's much more than the terrorists have ever offered to their victims.

The critics say Attorney General John Ashcroft is shredding the Constitution. They've wrongly turned Ashcroft into the enemy while our true enemy is still at large.

It's crazy. Ashcroft is right to use military tribunals for terrorists. He is right to detain those suspected of helping the terrorists. He is right to monitor the prison phone calls between suspected al-Qaida agents and their lawyers.

What would the critics have us do? Sit back and wait as these imprisoned terrorists plot their next attack on America right under our nose from an American jail cell? Get off Ashcroft's back and let him do his job.

Within days of the Sept. 11 attack on this country, a united Congress gave President Bush a green light to go after the terrorists. It's time to honor our word and get our priorities straight. It's time to let our commander in chief win this war with every weapon he can muster.

You win a war by being as tough and merciless as your enemy. You lose a war by catering to your enemy, by sending the message that you care more about the enemy's rights than your own country's safety. It's a message the voters are sure to receive.

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[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

He'll wind up being some Islamic studies professor at Berkeley.

Until, of course, he runs into an American who knows what he did. That will be the end of his story.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

War Tribunals but not a declared war. Odd.

Nothing odd about it. It is 'the way the world works'.

[CPT Clay]

Bernie Sanders,Jim Jeffords, Pat Leahy, civil unions....Nuke vermont!!!!!!

[dirtboy]

Does it matter that TRAITOR Walker's dad used to work in the U. S. Department of Justice? I read that earlier tonight. Do you think they will let him off easy because of it? Leftover friends?

I think they should bring him back here and see what the heck was going on in his head. He sure as heck doesn't look like he has all his marbles to me. I don't think he should skate, but it could mean the difference between a firing squad and a long prison term with psychiatric care...