Of course, this case is just a reflection of a larger problem: an
administration that insists on treating Islamist terrorism as a
law-enforcement issue. Which is why the Justice Department's other
egregious terror decision, granting Khalid Sheik Mohammed a civilian trial
in New York, is now the subject of a letter from six senators -- three
Republicans, two Democrats and Joe Lieberman -- asking Attorney General
Eric Holder to reverse the decision.
Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins had written an earlier letter asking
for Abdulmutallab to be turned over to the military for renewed
interrogation. The problem is, it's hard to see how that decision gets
reversed. Once you've read a man Miranda rights, what do you say? We are
idiots? On second thought ...
Hence the agitation over the KSM trial. This one can be reversed and it's a good surrogate for this administration's
insistence upon criminalizing -- and therefore trivializing -- a war on
terror that has now struck three times in one year within the United
States, twice with effect (the Arkansas killer and the Fort Hood shooter)
and once with a shockingly near miss (Abdulmutallab).
On the KSM civilian trial, sentiment is widespread that it is quite
insane to spend $200 million a year to give the killer of 3,000 innocents
the largest propaganda platform on earth, while at the same time granting
civilian rights of cross-examination and discovery that risk betraying U.S.
intelligence sources and methods.
Accordingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Frank Wolf have gone beyond
appeals to the administration and are planning to introduce a bill to block
funding for the trial. It makes flesh an otherwise abstract issue -- should
terrorists be treated as enemy combatants or criminal defendants? The vote
will force members of Congress to declare themselves.
The White House, feeling the heat on this issue, signaled on Friday
that it is looking for another venue. But the issue isn't New York. The
issue is giving KSM a civilian trial anywhere. Rather than leaving him in
the military commission system where he was until Obama decided otherwise.
Congress may not be able to roll back the Abdulmutallab travesty. But
there will be future Abdulmutallabs. By cutting off funding for any KSM
civilian trial, Congress can send Obama a clear message: The Constitution
is neither a safety net for illegal enemy combatants nor a suicide pact for
us.