Posted on 04/22/2013 1:03:01 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Via the Examiner, they’ve hit him with just two counts thus far, one of which is conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (i.e. an IED) against persons or property in the U.S., but that’s enough for a death sentence if the DOJ chooses to seek it. I sense some anger on the right that the feds aren’t treating him as an “enemy combatant,” but I think that has more to do with the condemnatory power of that term than the legal consequences flowing from it. Terrorism is qualitatively different from common crime in its political motivation and so people want Tsarnaev to be treated qualitatively differently by the justice system. That’s also what drives much of the objections to Mirandizing terrorists, I think: It’s not that Miranda will matter hugely in determining whether he talks, it’s that by Mirandizing him you’re treating him like a common criminal rather than a man who’s declared war on the United States. (Tsarnaev’s motive is still unknown but we all know which way the arrow’s pointing given his dead brother’s radicalism.) I’m more of a bottom-line guy on this sort of thing, though. Is there any chance that he’ll end up going free because the feds aren’t treating him as an EC? Nah. Given the video/photo evidence against him, at worst this guy’s going to prison forever. At best he’s getting the needle. Here’s a glimpse at the evidence against him from the complaint, which is posted at Legal Insurrection:
They’ve also got the carjacking victim set to testify him — and I recommend reading the full complaint for more on him, to see what he had to endure. The bombers did, allegedly, tell him right up front that they were the people who blew up the marathon, and according to the feds, the victim did indeed escape. He wasn’t “let go,” which, as noted this morning, would have been an insane gesture of magnanimity by the two most wanted men in America.
But as I was saying, I don’t think EC status matters (much). They can’t try him at a military tribunal regardless because he’s a U.S. citizen; even Lindsey Graham acknowledged that on Fox News this morning. They’re not sparing him their toughest interrogators just because he’s not an EC: The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team will be grilling him. Arguably, they shouldn’t even be allowed to consider designating him an EC unless/until they prove that he’s part of a group that “planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons” per the 2001 AUMF. Their best weapon in getting him to share intel is the death sentence hanging over his head, which doesn’t depend on EC status. If he wants to live — and it sure seemed like he did on Friday — then it’s time to talk.
Here’s Carney sounding very grand indeed about handling terrorists in federal court. Exit quotation:
Update: For what it’s worth:
Coudn’t Obama just charge him with “workplace violence”?
The trick is, if you're gonna be a terrorist is to launch your evil from within the US so's you can burden the overburdened taxpayers with some more worthless (BLEEP)(BLEEP)!!!
Interesting that you mentioned pirates. I always thought that we should treat terrorists as pirates. Long history, and large body of national and international law pertaining to piracy.
obama will pin the Presidential Medal of Freedom on this demon... if he thinks that he can get away with it.
LLS
Out in ten. Marriage proposals and bestseller profits awaiting.
Cooperating?
I bet lying is more like it
I bet we will hear that the terrorists is telling police there were no other people involved and it was just these 2 misguided kids acting on their own
THAT is how 0dumbo wants it played. To learn they had help would expose 0dumbo’s lie that Al Q is in decline.
We will never know exactly what the 19 y o terrorist actually tells the cops
Yes, but he's also a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Federal law prohibits U.S. citizens from being tried by a military tribunal. There are provisions of Federal law that would allow the govt. to strip his citizenship based on what he's done, but those provisions require proceedings in a Federal court - so, in order to try this guy as an enemy combatant, the govt would essentially first need to try him in court (to strip his citizenship), and only then put him before the military tribunal.
He lied when he took the oath. Revoke his citizenship, then proceed.
This kid probably knew little to nothing. His older brother was the one with the contacts, the trips to Russia, the visits to the mosque.
I think the FEDs realized how little he knew and that’s why they are now charging him. He has little to offer in the way of intelligence. Afterall he kept that white hat. He didn’t have the sense to throw it away.
I thought the Military could get things done faster.
Knowing how much the people in power lie, stripping away citizenship kind of scares me.
Especially when I think about their general attitude toward people like us.
I bet they’d love to strip away our citizenship if they could.
For some reason, I worry about that.
It’s never been done before in the manner that I fear, but it’s still worrying.
There is a first time for everything.
This administration dumps one horrifying first after another on us.
Baloney. His application for citizenship was obviously fraudulent. The cold-blooded, mass murdering, Islamic jihadist had absolutely zero intention of abiding by his oath of citizenship. The ink is still wet on the document and he’s already at war with America. His allegiance is to Islamic jihad and our nation is at war with them.
Hopefully there are better provisions than that. If it takes a three-part “Law and Order” mini-series to deal with such an obviously invalid oath for citizenship and its implications on dealing with an immigrant attacker, then immigration law needs to be reformed.
The US Constitution is not a suicide-pact.
Give me a break. His citizenship was fraudulently obtained!
Heck, it’s just another crime for our criminal justice system. Enemy combatants and military trials are only for terrorists.
I would like to know if he choose the Benghazi date or if someone choose it for him.
On his citizenship papers.
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