Saturday, November 14, 2009

Adjudicate This, Pal

Where in America could Khalid Sheikh Mohammed get a fair trial? I think it's a pretty fair bet that Manhattan would be the last place, but for the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, what exactly should justice look like?
I found myself thinking of a November that I have no true recall. I was only a year and a half old when Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy, and was subsequently gunned down himself by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police headquarters, accelerating the web of intrigue that had already formed around this national catastrophe. Did either of these men act alone? If not, who sent them and why? KGB, CIA, Marilyn Monroe. It all begins to sound like the refrain of a Billy Joel song. Far from being a catharsis, this moment only served to fan the flames of conspiracy.
Forty-six years later, we find ourselves on the brink of what could be referred to, without hyperbole, as "The Trial of the Century." Mayor Michael Bloomberg says, "It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered." Others are less convinced. The father of a firefighter who died that day suggests, "Ripping that scab open will create a tremendous hardship."
What then is the right thing to do? Would such a trial make New York more of a target? Or would it be like the graves at Boot Hill: a warning to the varmints that would seek to do harm to our American way of life. Whatever the decision, and whatever venue is chosen, I expect that the "alleged" terrorists and their attorneys might choose to avoid parking garages.

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