Does the Administration Have America’s Best Interests in Mind?

After getting chills up their legs when Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. announced that he would try Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in the Southern District of New York, area politicians now want to have the trial in your hometown instead. The police clued in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that security would cost the city close to $1 billion dollars over the years to provide security for these terrorists during the trial. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who was initially thrilled to allow KSM a worldwide forum, now wants it held elsewhere, even if the feds reimburse the city for the cost of security. Do you think the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts had anything to do with Schumer changing his mind? You bet it did. Brown campaigned for lower taxes, no healthcare overhaul, and not bring Guantanamo detainees to the homeland. Several months after AG Holder’s announcement that he would remove Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and four others from Guantanamo and try them in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg, Sen. Schumer, and NY Gov. David Patterson have suddenly had a change of heart. Now, finding a New York politician in favor of trying KSM there is harder than getting an NFL franchise in Los Angeles. After a hue and cry from New York City residents and business owners, Mayor Bloomberg suddenly realizes that security costs and business disruptions during the lengthy trials was too much to bear. He and other politicians shot off a letter to President Obama demanding the trials be held elsewhere. These same politicians originally agreed with the ACLU that trying KSM would bring “real and reliable justice” to these mass murderers. Philosophically, these politicians firmly believe unlawful combatants and other Muslim terrorists are a law enforcement problem and not the role of the military. It’s as if they want to turn the clock back to September 10th. They are fundamentally opposed to military tribunals, yet they say tribunals are good for some terrorists, but not all. AG Holder cherry picked the most notorious, dangerous, and committed terrorists among the Guantanamo Bay prison population, and decided they would be better served in New York City instead of congressionally approved military tribunals at Guantanamo. That, to me, is a scary notion. Even the most adamant administration supporter is wondering how AG Holder could come up with this decision. Why take on the unnecessary expense, risk the ACLU providing the New York Times national security secrets it obtains during discovery motions, and offer these hardened terrorists a worldwide public forum to spew anti-America propaganda? Is the administration secretly rooting for the bad guys? Let’s look at the facts. Would any administration, with America’s best interest in mind, allow civilian trials in the U.S. when congressionally approved military tribunals are more suitable? Wouldn’t a president, with America’s best interest in mind, immediately fire his attorney general if he even floated the idea of transferring the worst of the worse high valued Guantanamo Bay detainees to New York City, especially after they wanted to plead guilty in a military tribunal at Gitmo? Wouldn’t a competent AG, with America’s best interest in mind, immediately order the Nigerian National who attempted to explode a Detroit bound airliner on Christmas Day, transferred to GITMO so military interrogators can learn where Yemeni training camps are located and the identities of other terrorists? Would any president, with America’s best interest in mind, call for the closing of GITMO within one year of his inauguration? Would any competent Secretary of Homeland Security, with America’s best interest in mind, refuse to utter the word “terrorism,” and think that flag waving, Christian, veteran gun owners are the biggest threat to national security? All elections have consequences, and the November 2008 election is no exception. Arguably, 90 percent of Manhattan voted for Barack Obama, and they should live with their decision. I hope the terrorism trials remain in New York City, and these people come to the realization that they made a huge mistake when they voted for someone who did not have their, and America’s, best interest in mind.