The Perils of Trying KSM in New York

The recent decision by the Obama Administration to try the 9/11 conspirators in New York City, but blocks from the attack on the World Trade Center will prove to be an awful one.

This is an awful decision for a number of reasons. The most prominent is the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will use the trial as a venue to espouse his belief in jihad and put the victim, the United States, on trial. He will discuss why al-Qaeda attacked the US in the first place, for our support for Israel, and the overall Middle Eastern policy of the United States. After he's done that him and his defense team will put the Bush administration and the CIA and their usage of enhanced interrogation techniques on trial. This serves no purpose. He'll make sure to divert attention from the fact that the US was attacked to why al-Qaeda felt compelled to attack.

Secondly, there is no precedent upon which the US has tried such a figure who has been captured in another country. Since KSM was captured in Pakistan the FBI was not able to follow its regular proceedings. After his capture he was taken to a secret prison where he was interrogated and although he eventually ended up giving lectures on al Qaeda, he was initially subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. It was these techniques that got intel that allowed the US to prevent further attacks such as the one on the Library Tower in Los Angeles. This evidence though will not be admissible in a federal court whereas it would've been in a military tribunal.

When these facts are revealed in an American court the information will be disseminated throughout the world and be displayed on al Jazeera where it will inflame the Muslim world. These trials will do more damage to the effort against Islamic extremism than help in showing the world how humane the US is. This decision will go down as one of the worst in the Obama administration and drag out for years in a media circus.