Free Republic

The most important job a President has is that of Commander-in-Chief. Protecting the nation against all enemies, both foreign and domestic should be job one for any President. Unfortunately, like everything else Barack Obama has been put in charge of, he has proven to be an absolute failure as a Commander-in-Chief. Three high profile terrorist attacks on American soil, plus the massacre of CIA agents abroad bear this out.

Imagine this nightmare courtroom scenario: Un hinged Jew-bashing, open mockery of American soldiers, juror intimidation and coldly calculated exploitation of US constitutional protections by a suspected al Qaeda defendant. Well, there's no need to wait for the Gitmo terror trial circuses. New York City is already getting a glimpse of the future. Jihadi scientist Aafia Siddiqui is on trial right now in a Manhattan federal court for the attempted murder and assault of US military personnel in Afghanistan's Ghazni province two years ago. She's an accomplished Karachi, Pakistan-born scientist who studied microbiology at MIT and did graduate work in neurology...

There is no justifying the Obama administration's decision to grant a civilian trial to Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other 9/11 plotters who carried out the deadliest act of war ever committed on US soil. President Obama must not grant the worst of war criminals the same constitutional rights enjoyed by the nearly 3,000 US citizens they massacred on 9/11. If he won't reconsider, Congress must act. Beginning in the Revolutionary War, it has been recognized throughout our history that wartime enemies aren't mere criminal defendants. When they commit provable war crimes, they're tried by military commission — a process...

Here is a new video showing 9/11 families denouncing plans by the Obama Administration to try the 9/11 terrorists - including mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - in civilian court in New York City. The family members of those who perished on September 11 are raising their voices in indignation against giving the terrorists the rights of U.S. Citizens, and trying them in civilian court, instead of trying them as enemy combatants before military tribunals. The video urges citizens to "Raise Your Voice" by calling Congress and telling them to "not try terrorists in NYC." . . . (VIDEO)

When Eric Holder announced he was moving the 9/11 terrorist trial to New York City, a rash of worries were released, the case will be dismissed because of the waterbording, all the evidence will be thrown out because they weren't read their Miranda rights..etc. The Wall Street Journal is warning of the very real possibility that the two of the terrorists, Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi may be declared mentally unfit to stand trial. Their attorney's claim that the terrorists have mental disorders caused by harsh CIA treatment. The issue already has arisen in military-commission proceedings at the military's detention...

James Taranto is a far better forensic reader of the news than I am. Reading carefully the report that New York Governor Paterson objects to having the trial of the 9/11 terrorists in New York City, he reads that Paterson was told of this plan six months ago, shortly after the inauguration, just in case you had any residual doubts that this idiotic move wasn't pure politics: "New York's Gov. David Paterson is not happy with the White House's decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other enemy combatants to New York for civilian trials, reports WCBS-TV:

A Military Tribunal in Cuba. That is what Barack Obama called for in 2006 while he was in the Senate (see video above) and that is what voters said to Rasmussen in the latest poll released today. Only 29% of American voters support President Obama's decision to transfer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSL) and his band of thieves to NY for a civilian trial. 51% prefer that KSL remain in Gitmo to be tried in a military (19% had no opinion). Putting aside location for a moment, only 30% of Americans said suspected terrorists should have access to U.S. courts, while...

Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, said in an interview that New Yorkers are being forced by the Obama administration to host the trials for terrorists suspected of planning the Sept. 11 attacks that killed thousands in lower Manhattan. "They're having this pushed down their throats," the conservative lawmaker told The Washington Times' "American Morning News" radio show Monday. He also said President Obama's decision to bring self-proclaimed September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accomplices to New York from the Guantanamo Bay detention center is another case of the president "doing a lot of things to look good"...

Why NYC terror trial is a major mistake...

In a move expected but feared, self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be brought to trial in a civilian federal courthouse in New York, blocks from site of the devastating 2001 terror attacks. Prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty. While the opponents of the move are fearful of moving the trial from a Military Tribunal in Gitmo, to a civilian court in NY may make it easier for the terrorist be found innocent, that is not the real problem with the move. Neither is the worry that New York will become...

This was a case like no other. Not only was it the longest criminal trial in Australian legal history, it was conducted under the tightest security and was almost derailed by one young woman. Each morning, the prison van would arrive at the court in a convoy under police escort. A busy Parramatta street was closed for a few minutes while the prison van sped down a steep driveway flanked by Extreme High Security Corrective Services Officers wearing flak jackets and armed with semi-automatic weapons. Inside, there was the usual baggage screening in the foyer, but up on Level Three...

MIAMI - The defense rested its case Tuesday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two other men charged with supporting terrorism, with Padilla's lawyers calling no witnesses or putting on any evidence. After the defense rested, prosecutors called only one additional witness and then ended their case, earlier than had been anticipated. The actions, coming on day 53 of the trial, clear the way for closing arguments, likely next week. Jurors could begin deliberations next week as well. Padilla, 36, is accused along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, both 45, of participating in a support network...

NEW YORK -- A Pakistani man accused of trying to help an al-Qaida operative sneak into the United States will try to convince a jury on Thursday that he was not part of a plot to launch a terror attack against Americans. Uzair Paracha, 25, is on trial in federal court on charges that he conspired to help an alleged al-Qaida associate named Majid Khan slip back into the country from Pakistan after an illegal trip there in 2003. Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after several days of testimony from FBI agents who said Paracha confessed his involvement in the...

NEW YORK - A Pakistani man can use statements from al-Qaida prisoners to defend himself against charges alleging he agreed to help terrorists sneak into the United States, but he won't be allowed to call Khalid Sheik Mohammed or two other al-Qaida operatives as witnesses, a judge ruled Monday. Uzair Paracha's lawyer said it would be the first time al-Qaida prisoners' statements would be used before a jury since the 2001 terrorist attacks. "The statements completely contradict the government's theory of the case," said the attorney, Anthony Ricco. Opening statements in Paracha's trial are expected as early as Wednesday. U.S....

U.S., insurgents hold indirect talks (Excerpt)Borzou Daragahi   BAGHDAD -- The U.S. Embassy has held indirect talks with members of violent Iraqi insurgent groups, a U.S. official said Wednesday, edging back from a long-standing position not to negotiate with "terrorists" or those who have American or Iraqi blood on their hands. "People stop shooting at us, and we -- and I think the Iraqi government -- are ready to engage," said the U.S. official, who spoke to a group of Western reporters on condition of anonymity. "People willing to condemn the use of violence, particularly against the Iraqi people, we're...

Jihad Journalism: Detroit News’ Fabricated Terrorism “Reporting” May 11, 2005 By Debbie Schlussel “Former Terrorism Suspect is Deported: Moroccan . . . Was Forced to Leave,” screamed a sympathetic headline in Gannett’s Detroit News, last week. Problem is, the deportation of alleged Detroit terror cell member Ahmed Hannan never happened. Hannan is still here. And other details in the apocryphal article by Detroit News reporter David Shepardson were also wrong or made-up. The May 3, 2005 article claimed that Hannan—who planned to blow up U.S. tourist sites and a U.S. Air Force Base in Turkey—was deported two weeks before the...

The final members of a group of Muslim men with Portland ties who tried, but failed, to enter Afghanistan as Taliban foot soldiers were each sentenced to prison time Monday morning.

< snip - main article below >Jamal Ahmad al-Fadl, a Sudanese national and the star witness for the prosecution in the current trial, has been in U.S. custody since 1996, when he turned himself in to an American embassy claiming to have information vital to U.S. national security. Allegedly, he warned an embassy official that a terrorist group wanted “to make war against your country,” but the warning did not prevent the subsequent bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was taken into F.B.I. custody and eventually entered the U.S. witness protection program, where he became the...