As we know, Republicans are collectively sucking their thumbs in fetal position over the fact that alleged terrorists will be tried in an American court of law on American soil. Their claim is that to follow the American Constitution by putting terrorists who have attacked Americans before American judges and American juries, will somehow endanger the American people.
That the Republicans are Un-American in their desire to circumvent our own Bill of Rights is self-evident. That they are Un-American in their cowardice when faced with two-bit extremist thugs is obvious. That they lack any sense of decency in their attempts to terrify an unassuming American public is clear, but has been a mainstay of their party going back over half a century. But none of this explains why the Republicans have chosen to simper so pathetically over the prospect of a few terrorists going on trial.
The reason is simple: they're afraid that their own policies of torture and indefinite detention will get the terrorists acquitted. So, like a stupid criminal, they're upping the ante by doubling down on their original criminal idiocy.
John Boehner's statement is particularly telling:
The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause. emphasis added
Legal technicality? What could Mr. Boehner possibly mean?
Ann Althouse knows what happens when you try someone who has been tortured by being waterboarded 183 times in one month. So does Phillip Carter at Slate:
Any information gained through torture will almost certainly be excluded from court in any criminal prosecution of the tortured defendant. And, to make matters worse for federal prosecutors, the use of torture to obtain statements may make those statements (and any evidence gathered as a result of those statements) inadmissible in the trials of other defendants as well. Thus, the net effect of torture is to undermine the entire federal law enforcement effort to put terrorists behind bars. With each alleged terrorist we torture, we most likely preclude the possibility of a criminal trial for him, and for any of the confederates he may incriminate.
Defense attorneys for Mr. Mohammed will claim that any statements previously made by the accused while in U.S. custody are inadmissible in a court of law. They will claim that any statements made by associates of Mr. Mohammed under similar duress will be similarly inadmissible.
Americans will be reminded again of what the Bush administration's reckless, immoral and counterproductive pro-torture policies have meant both for those we have detained and for our ability to prosecute them for their alleged crimes.
And when the masterminds of 9/11 and other terror attacks are convicted and safely locked away in American prisons after their convictions in spite of the torture-related hurdles thrown at them by the incompetent and immoral policies of the Bush Administration, Americans will be reminded that extra-legal and extra-Constitutional measures are not actually needed. They will be reminded that the Bill of Rights and the American system of jurisprudence will work to protect the innocent and punish the guilty if allowed to do its job.
John Boehner, of course, is too smart to admit that. Republican bloggers like Erick Erickson of RedState, however, are not. I received this charming RedState Action Alert in my email this morning (and, apparently, so did John Cole):
Today Barack Obama is going to announce that the terrorist mastermind of September 11th, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be sent to New York City for a criminal trial in a civilian court.
In that trial, the terrorist will get all the rights afforded an American citizen in a criminal trial, including the right to a fair trial, the right to a taxpayer funded attorney, the right to review all the evidence against him, potentially including classified intelligence matters, the right to exclude evidence against him including, potentially, any confession obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques, etc.
That pretty much says it all. Republicans aren't terrified of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his possible ill deeds. They're afraid of what will happen if their own actions are brought to light, and what the consequences of their own ill deeds might ultimately be for the American people.
All of which is par for the GOP course.