We have previously noted the problem with President Barack Obama assuring the public that people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) will be convicted. After the previous such incidents (here), many of us noted that a president is expected to avoid such comments which are inimical to a fair trial and sitting an unbiased jury. Now, in the video below, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs has decided to pick up the role as the Red Queen to promise not just a conviction but execution for KSM.
In an interview on CNN, Gibbs stated that “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to meet justice and he’s going to meet his maker… He will be brought to justice and he’s likely to be executed for the heinous crimes he committed.”
Such statements are rapidly eroding whatever high ground the Obama Administration secured in assuring a fair trial in civilian courts for KSM and the other defendants. The Obama Administration has lost much of that high ground by engaging open dialogue with politicians on where and whether these defendants will be tried in civilian courts. Now, they assure the public that no matter where they are tried, they will be convicted. It makes our legal system appear improvisational and hypocritical.
To make matters worse, Gibbs seemed to have to be forced to confirm that the Obama Administration would fulfill its pledge to try the men in civilian court — again suggesting a fluidity in their position. The test of principle is that you follow principle when it is neither convenient nor popular. It is hardly strange that Senators and House members would fail to see the need to fulfill such principles when they are unpopular. A president, however, has an obligation to preserve our values and our Constitution. This “sentence first verdict later” approach to justice is confirming what our enemies are saying about us. Al Qaeda loves this debate. It shows American leaders unwilling to guarantee a fair trial with full rights for those people they hate or fear. Now, you have a spokesman assuring the result of a trial that has not even begun.
For commentary on the story, click here (Huff) and here (Talk Left) and here (firedoglake).
Duh, Bdaman, Waynster, et al
I think 30%er shut you down and good yesterday. Must be nice to be paid to aide and abet criminal acts.
Please do show me where anyone has done what you claime “FFLEO, Mespo, and a few others have provided assistance in keeping AY in check, and their assistance is most appreciated.”
Please do tell sir. Provide examples of all allegation used to support your claim or defense.
Who’s writing style will be analyzed today? SB:
Whose writing style will be analyzed today?
Who’s writing style will be analyzed today? Inquiring minds want to know.
I have done my best to promote civility on your blawg. Most of the regulars have been extremely civil lately. With Buddha moving, the provocateur in chief has been out of commission. FFLEO, Mespo, and a few others have provided assistance in keeping AY in check, and their assistance is most appreciated. I have begged and pleaded with Mr. Spindell to stop his personal attacks, but he continues. I have not responded in kind. There is a limit to my passivity.
I’m asking for your help. Do you want a civil blawg that promotes a healthy exchange of ideas? Or do you want a children’s playground that most will avoid?
Please help me promote civility.
Duh
Morning Buddha,
So Duh sounded off too. He has now not been accounted for since. I think he is just AWL. Not AWOL, because who cares.
It’s about the Constitution. What Constitution? thats a living breathing piece of paper that changes with the times. You don’t know that. Thats why you argue case law.
Sure, what ever you say Drill Sargeant.
No, no, I insist. You two go ahead and try to make this a partisan issue at this point. It’s about the Constitution, not either party other than they are now both violating it.
You keep trotting out your propaganda though.
It’s like fish in a barrel.
But I also see how successful you’ve been in stopping the other troll killers here like the Mike’s, mespo, et al in my absence.
ROFLMAO
Yeah.
I’m going to be laughing at this little exchange all day.
Why don’t you go unpack some more boxes. Better yet go fix some breakfast with eggs Sunny Side up.
Nice to see you partisan hack trolls can still only sing one song.
BTW, propaganda trolls don’t get civility. Apparently you’ve forgotten that.
You spew propaganda and I’ll pounce.
You don’t like it? Ask for a raise or find a new job.
Duh I’ll fight my battles, you fight yours. Let Sunny Boy continue. People will see the before and after.
Nice to see you back Mr. Sunspot. How’d your move go. Glad we can pick up right where we left off. Mr. Science expert, knower of all.
I said it must be racially motivated because that’s what the liberal lefties claim when ever there is a difference.
Buddha,
Please stop the personal attacks. Try to attack the idea presented.
That sentence should read “Must be Constitutionally motivated.”
This is a legal site, badtroll. If you want racial motivation for disapproval of Obama’s actions, might I suggest your buddies over at Stormfront have a website more to your tastes. And they’ll likely give you an award when you call someone “Christ Killer”. So you got that going for you. Which is nice.
Or you could continue being a partisan hack Bush apologist.
I predict the later outcome.
The bottom line is if Bush hadn’t suspended habeas corpus and started torturing people, this would be a much smaller and easier pile of shit to clean up. Obama isn’t cleaning up, true. He appears to be wallowing in it. But that doesn’t change that it was Bush and Cheney who took the initial dump on the Constitution.
Cause and effect. Shitty illegal behavior begets more shitty illegal behavior in the political class. Who’d have thunk it?
Anyone paying attention, that’s who.
R, D? Who cares at this point? They are both corporatist scumbags selling our rights and our country to K Street.
So how about a little less focus on your propaganda partisan hooey and a little more focus on how both parties are killing America faster than any terrorist or invading army ever could.
Then again, you couldn’t get paid if you didn’t tow the line for “the man” and try to distract people from that salient issue: the Destruction of the Constitution and Due Process.
Obama may be wallowing in unconstitutional shit, but he didn’t fill the trough to overflowing. The Neocon GOP gets that credit. Your boys. The Modern American Nazi Party hiding within the GOP.
I know this because history tells me so.
It is hardly strange that Senators and House members would fail to see the need to fulfill such principles when they are unpopular.
I expect them to abide by their oath to uphold the Constitution too.
Bdaman:
I said it should have been done long ago, this is not a racist thing in my book. Bush should never have kept them at G-Bay for as long as he did. Although we do keep POWs until the end of hostilities. But when are the hostilities going to end?
The panty(waste)bomber showed us it isn’t ending any time soon. We made the same mistake in the 70’s treating this type of thing as a civilian act rather than an act of war. What should have happened is countries supporting this type of thing should have been invaded and their terrorist infrastructures crushed. States supporting terror should have been made to pay.
I imagine if we had done that to say Saudi Arabia a long time ago and made an example out of them Yemen and Pakistan would be a little more helpful.
The Greatest Show on Earth. It’s funny how peoples perceptions are in the difference between Bush’s trials of terrorist in civy courts and Obama’s. Nobody said a word when Bush did it. Must be racially motivated.
I have always wondered why we are even having a trial if the outcome is already determined. It seems to me like a Kangaroo Court.
We spend the money on his defense with his conviction a certainty and we beat our chests about how “fair” our system of justice is.
Do we need to try him to execute him? Did we really need to try the Nazis? Their crimes were there for all to see. Does this trial really give us justification for his execution or is it for a patina of respectability that I don’t think we even need based on what was done on 9/11.
He should be tried in a military court if he is to be tried anywhere, he was after all by virtue of his actions an enemy combatant in the command structure of his organization. The attacks on 9/11 were well planned and were aimed at decapitating our financial markets, military and government. It was an attempt to destroy the United States, as such I think we are justified in calling these men soldiers and trying them in military courts. It should have been done long ago.
Lest I say, we take this one to the Hague or some other unfriendly country and Try them there. It would at least take some of the yoke off. Maybe, Bush got us into something that there is no easy way out of.
Obama, has a Higher standard as he is an Attorney. I missed the part about him being a former Prosecutor, but hey who knows.
Try him somewhere that is impartial and if it not be here, then somewhere out of here.