Get A Grip!
The hysteria from the wingnuts is almost unbelievable, if you hadn’t noticed how totally out of touch with reality they have been for years.
The most important thing everyone needs to remember about the various and sundry “terror” trials, and the movement of people from Guantanamo to prisons in the US, is the identity of those who have been telling you that these people are “the worst of the worst”: the same people who said that there was no doubt that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
I played a role in putting some people into Block D at the New York State prison at Attica, who should never be allowed out for any reason. There is one person in particular that could take out everyone at Guantanamo, if he thought it was amusing. I feel certain that every state prison has at least one of these types of sociopaths, and feel certain that large states have several.
The Federal prison system, especially the Super-max prisons, are designed for these types of people, and they don’t escape. They contain the heads of drug cartels that are responsible for hundreds of murders, but no one tried to put them on the US version of Devil’s Island.
The Federal courts in New York City tried and convicted those involved in the first attempt to destroy the World Trade Center, so they can certainly handle Khalid Sheik Mohammed, since he is apparently hellbent on being a martyr.
If we don’t follow our own laws, the terrorists have won.
5 comments
Heh. Thanks for reminding us that the hysteria-mongers are the same ones who were hysteria-mongering about Saddam’s supposed nukes. I suppose the only proper response is “There there, dear child, here, have a spot of tea, wot?” Oh wait, been watching too many BBC comedies lately, but you must admit that these folks are as much into hysteria as the unruly sorts in BBC comedies who are tut-tutted and offered a cup of tea, wot? Not to mention should be taken about as seriously.
– Badtux the Easily Amused Penguin
.-= last blog ..The creative process #2 =-.
Any nut-job who thinks the Gitmo detainees will soon be roaming the streets of New York hasn’t read anything about terrorism trials in U.S. federal courts… or, for that matter, about security in federal prisons. The nuts need to stop watching so much Fox TV for entertainment… a prison break every couple of hours in prime time just isn’t like the real world.
The thing I like best about bringing the Gitmo detainees to NY for a legitimate courtroom trial is that complies with the Sixth Amendment (and presumably Article III Sec. 2 as well). If we obey our own laws in the process of trying the accused, it means we are at least somewhat closer to being a civilized people, and if that doesn’t matter to us, it matters to much of the world. Military commissions are an open invitation to show trials. I think we’re better than that, and I think the genuine perpetrators are virtually certain to get what’s coming to them through legitimate due process in courts of law.
Greenwald says DoJ’s plans in using military commissions are to get a 100 percent conviction rate, clearly not appropriate in a situation in which nearby people were rounded up or turned over to U.S. troops just to collect the rewards. We get no points for confining the genuinely innocent along with the guilty.
If any of these guys escaped from the MCC in New York, they would find them in the spring when the bodies come to the surface. New York can be its own kind of prison for people who don’t know where to go and where not to go. Goatherders from Afghanistan have the would survival potential of pizza at a frat party in the City.
Anyone can live safely in New York, after they learn the rules, but if you don’t know the rules, and don’t have a guide, you are in real trouble. Most US cities are like that.
The wingers can’t figure that they and their fear are empowering the terrorists. They are an integral part of the success of terrorism throughout the world, and a key element in the plans of al Qaeda and other groups. The groups are depending on overreaction by authorities to provide them with the proof of their wild claims. The actions of the Hedgemony have pushed away friends and potential allies were are repulsed by the irrational fear that radiates from the wingnuts.
The Illinois facility that is being looked at as a location for many of the detainees is a prime example of the stupidity of political paranoia. It was built by the state to house the increase in prison populations caused by “getting tough on crime”, but sits mostly empty because they couldn’t come up with the money to staff it without raising taxes. California did the same thing on Otay Mesa East of San Diego. The money was found to build it, but no one considered the cost of staffing. The local officials want the Feds to take over because it means jobs, but the political paranoids are against bringing the “worst of the worst” to the US. I have supreme confidence that a city the size of Chicago is more than capable of producing people who really qualify to be called “the worst of the worst” when the small cities in Western New York can produce them.
Personally, I think the real fear is that after public trial, people are going to discover what non-threats the majority of people detained at Guantanamo really are, and the Hedgemony will be publicly embarrassed by their panic.
I would have thought that any sane human in the USA would be far more concerned that these wacko wingnut citizens are roaming the streets free.
*shrug* The World is insane.
Personally, I think the real fear is that after public trial, people are going to discover what non-threats the majority of people detained at Guantanamo really are, and the Hedgemony will be publicly embarrassed by their panic.
Yup, except that the Hedgemony have absolutely zero shame and so will feel no embarrassment. They have had more than ample opportunity to prove this. One only has to look at Bushmoron, Darth Cheney, or Failin Palin (and her current book tour) to see that. They don’t even grasp the most basic fundamentals of Irony! Bushmoron didn’t even have the intelligence to be embarrassed when an Iraqi threw his shoes at him. What can you expect? 😆 Their loyal sycophantic followers are no different, just several degrees dumber.
I don’t know how they think you can fight an enemy whose very presence terrifies them as much as Afghan goat herders apparently do. Most of the people doing the complaining should be used to people in orange jumpsuits and shackles, after having lunch with so many people currently in that situation at the Congressional dining room or Washington restaurants.
They are trying to justify throwing away the Bill of Rights and their total lack of courage. They are trying to rationalize and normalize their cowardliness.
As I once said to a neighbor to wanted to know if I wanted to fight terrorists in my little town: it would be cheaper, a lot more convenient, and the food is better.