Should the 9/11 Terrorists be tried in civilian courts?

There is allot of back and forth about the trials location and if the trials should be held in civilian courts or not. There seems to be contradicting ideas of whether or not the American people want to have the trials held publicly.

A letter from Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Chairman of the Senate Committee of the Judiciary, and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Chairman Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, came shortly after fellow Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson expressed his support for a bill seeking to block the administration from trying the September 11th suspects in civilian courts.

An excerpt from the letter reads:

"There has been debate about whether to try the men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks in civilian courts or military commissions. We believe that whether such a trial is held in New York City or another location, these men should be brought to justice in a Federal court."

Read the Leahy / Feinstein letter in PDF here.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) has introduced a bill that would block the administration from putting the September 11th terror suspects on trial in federal courts. He has been joined by fellow Democratic Senators Jim Webb of Virginia and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. The bill is sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican Senator from South Carolina. Remarkably the bill has a total of 27 bi-partisan cosponsors.

You can listen to Sen. Lincoln's issues with the public terrorist trials here. It is in MP3 format. Her problem seems to be cost.



His problem is that the suspects shouldn't have rights and the FBI isn't as good as the military at interrogation.
(Sen. Lindsay seems to be less than confident in the abilities of the FBI and the interrogation abilities of the agents in charge)

there is a Quinnipiac poll that currently seems to show that many Americans don't want the trials to be held in New York. The poll states that 59% of those who were polled.

Excerpt from New York Daily News article written by: Richard Sisk and Thomas M. Defrank

By a 59% to 35% margin, voters prefer that Mohammed and his cohorts face justice from military tribunals instead of in federal courts.

The poll, released yesterday, also found that 68% believe terror suspects don't deserve the same constitutional protections afforded by a civilian trial. Only 25% believe those safeguards should be extended to alleged terrorists.

"This is the American people speaking up and saying we've had enough of coddling terrorists and treating terrorists as if they are just another form of criminal," Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) said. "The fact is they are evil."

You can read the full New York Daily article here

Personally, I want them tried in public by our court system in the city they attacked. I want the whole al-Quida and Taliban network, world wide to see that Americans have more spine, more integrity, more courage than they could ever hope to dismantle. That we as a nation and as a people will not back down. Not just our military but our common citizens.

That New York still has the same attitude that they have always been famous for. Screw with us, and we wont rest until we pay you back 10 fold.

I want to see the whole area rebuilt. Not a memorial but a new set of buildings, bigger and better than the first set. I want them to be restored to center stage. Our resilience should shine through the fog and ash of what was destroyed.

I want each one of these nut-jobs broken, publicly.

Not by the military justice system as the accused are not a military group. They are a terrorist organization. They are criminals.

The claim that if we try these terrorists as criminals (which they are in my opinion) that we legitimize there cause seems to beg the question - if we treat them as enemy combatants, doesn't that legitimize them even more? It changes them from a band of terrorist organizations to a legitimate Military force doesn't it?

I want them tried by Mike and Jen the firefighters who lost brothers and sisters in the collapse of the towers. I want them tried by Amy and Kevin who lost family members that worked in the towers. I want them tried by Marty, David, Tony and Tina who lost brothers and sisters from the police force. I want Timmy and Dana to have a public face for those who took mom or dad. I want New York city to have the satisfaction that some of the dirt bags who were involved in the nut-job plan have been brought to the public for there justice. I want those who lost there lives while fighting with the group that tried to take another plane into DC and saved more lives to have yet one more voice. I want those who were silenced during the morning hours of September 11th 2001 to have there voices heard, loud and clear, one more time.

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I don't want to have the trials buried in some military tribunal hidden from public view. I want them visible and I want our citizens to have access to the whole proceedings. I want it plastered on every news papers front page on every news stations 5 o'clock broadcast as the lead.

We need this just as much as we need to have Osama bin Laden captured alive and screaming in pain and fear as he is brought to justice.

What do you think folks? Should we try them in public with as much of the hearing available to the American people as possible or should the whole trial be hidden away and we just hear about it when it is all over?

Do you think that New Yorkers have the ability to handle the trial and the right to have the trial on there soil on there terms?



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