Serious Implications

Could somebody please explain why military commissions are not a slippery slope to martial law?

In the Senate, Republicans Kyle and Graham have raised an outcry over Attorney General Holder’s decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) in federal court, just like the government did with Tim McVeigh.

I’m hearing all kinds of stupid, feeble fear mongering, such as the spectacle of terrorist attacks during the trial. Let me get this straight, fear of terrorists crawling out the wood-work, not the U.S. Constitution, will decide how America tries terror suspects. Grow a spine, folks.

Then there’s the fear that civilian court will fail to convict. The idea is, civilian courts are incompetent. They can’t do the job. They are flawed, tend to coddle the criminal, and the rules of evidence will hand-cuff the prosecution.

This is the most troubling argument because it seems to be shared by most of the Republican Party, with the extreme irony that the right-wing pundits and politicians who tend to complain most about big government would love to strip away due process and have the government prosecution in a much stronger procedural position than the accused. Today it’s KSM, but tomorrow, maybe some political dissident – lefty or righty.

KSM will be tried in a civilian court and most likely convicted. He’ll likely be executed, same as Tim McVeigh. The trial will be above board. The judge will consider national security prior to allowing evidence and testimony. That’s the judge’s job.

We don’t need military commissions to try this creep. Those who argue for justice administered by the military, under the auspices of the Executive Branch, not the Judicial Branch, would undermine the constitution and our way of life. They would bring us closer to the end of constitutional government and the beginning of a military dictatorship. At that point, the terrorists win.