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Gregg: Civilian Trials For Gitmo Detainees Are 'Absolutely Inexcusable'
Ben Frumin | November 15, 2009, 9:56AM
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH)
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On CNN's State of the Union this morning, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) added his voice to a chorus of Republicans critical of the upcoming civilian trials in New York City for Guantanamo detainees -- including self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
"They shouldn't be tried in our criminal justice system, they should be tried in our military justice system," Gregg said. "And it's absolutely inexcusable we're not using our military justice system to try these people. That's why we have such a system."
These people are evil people. They represent a cause which wants to destroy this nation. If they have the opportunity and were to get free they would try to destroy this country. There's no reason we should have them in the criminal justice system.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), who appeared on the same State of the Union segment, didn't go quite as far as Gregg -- but did make clear that he thinks life imprisonment isn't enough for someone like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
"Idon't think Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be imprisoned," Conrad said. "I think Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ought to be put to death."
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benintn
November 15, 2009 10:56 AM
So, according to one of our United States Senators, we should pre-judge KSM and others, accept that they are evil and that we're somehow fit to judge them (after torturing them), and that they don't deserve a trial.
No wonder the Senate doesn't seem to do anything to protect and defend the Constitution.
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Icon
November 15, 2009 11:00 AM
This is America. We hold the right to trial by jury to be a sacrosanct part of how we approach criminal law.
To do any less than give them a fair trial would not only help our enemies by proving that we are not serious about our principles, but would also undermine the rule of law.
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Joe Wise
November 15, 2009 11:22 AM
why do republicans have so little faith in the american justice system? why do we fight for freedom and justice if we don't have faith in them?
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Prof Wagstaff
November 15, 2009 11:27 AM
To Republicans, the Constitution, our laws and our system of justice are just things to wrap themselves in for political expediency, not rules to live by or to believe in.
Why do Republicans hate America?
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
November 15, 2009 11:44 AM
The most profoundly depressing thing to me isn't that Republicans are spewing noxious, incoherent gibberish. It's that, one after another they appear before so-called journalists and gabble stuff that is, literally, incoherent nonsense and not once are they called on it or asked to explain what they mean.
For the so-called journalists of our age, trained, as they were, in local telvision newsrooms, it never even enters their mind that their job entails asking questions like: "so what, exactly, are you upset about here, Sen. Gregg? Are you saying that there's a chance the civilian system might free them where there's no chance that would occur in the military system? Why, exactly, is it that you're afraid the civilian system would free them? Spell it out for us. Tell us specifically why you're afraid that would happen.
So let's look at the alternative. Are you saying there is no possibility that they would be freed by a military tribunal? If there is no possibility that they might be freed by the military system, doesn't that mean the military trials would be a complete sham, like a Stalinist show trial?"
But no, the whole concept of asking these Very Important People probing questions on a Sunday interview show, forcing them to explain and justify their positions rather than just giving them a platform to spew specious nonsense, seems to have become a quaint vestage of a bygone era. Heavens, they might make them mad and lose their precious Access, which is, after all, paramount. Indeed, if they were to ber mean to them right there in front of everybody watching, they might not come back, and then you'd have no Content to fill that hour.
Yeah, dispairing for the Republic again.
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SleepinJeezus
November 15, 2009 12:33 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
Bravo, Steve! It's a "teachable moment" wherein the media could at last offer us lessons in Civics 101 by showing just how cowardly these asshats have been in their deranged and unlawful pursuit of Justice. You don't cast aside the Constitution to save it. THAT'S a lesson that has been sorely missing in these debates ever since we first surrendered the Rule of Law following 9/11.
Unfortunately, I look at the line-up of celebrities running these "news" programs and feel little confidence that such lessons will be forthcoming from the media. Such strength in defense of our Constitution might just muss up their hair, and they DO have their priorities.
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SleepinJeezus
November 15, 2009 12:24 PM
And this is the home of the brave?
What snivelling little cowards are these whose response to the attack of 9/11 was to capitulate to the enemy and surrender our Rule of Law because they fear it isn't strong enough to prevail in this War on Terror? It was terror versus our Constitutionally protected belief in Freedom and Liberty that was committed on that day, and these yellow-bellies surrendered at the first sign of trouble.
It's especially interesting that the ones who now cry the loudest are the very same ones who were so willing to abandon the rule of law at the outset in authorizing/accommodating torture and the cynically named "Patriot Act." It is their disregard for our fundamental principles that has presented the most difficulty in achieving Justice now. The very fact that they admit that the torturing of prisoners has compromised the ability to engage a fair trial should be all we need to know about their legitimacy as "protectors of the nation." After all, what is left to defend of this Republic if we first abandon the rule of law?
A correction is required here, Mr. Gregg. The very future of this Republic requires us to retain faith in our Justice system to overcome even these gross insults performed by you and other leaders who were actually sworn to uphold the Constitution, but who instead cast it aside and ran away like cowards into the dark reaches of anarchy immediately post-9/11.
And so I am sorry for your dyspepsia, Mr. Gregg. But it's time to put the adults in charge and once again show that America is indeed the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." Get out of the way, Mr. Gregg. We have a lot of work to do, and there's no room for the faint of heart as we move forward to correct the egregious mistakes you cowards have so cavalierly made in the past when you surrendered our Constitution in your deranged and unlawful pursuit of Justice..
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Kuyleh
November 15, 2009 5:12 PM in reply to SleepinJeezus
I feel the need to tell you the story of something that happened today thanks to your post.
There's one other non-Republican where I work, and we often browse the site during slow periods. We were discussing your post when the owner of the store walked in.
She is one of the most hardcore Faux News-ites to ever exist. And she holds the absurd belief that if all us Liberals would just "become educated" we would convert and be Republicans immediately.
Well, my co-worker waved her to your post when she asked what we were discussing. We stopped talking and waited for her response. it went something like this.
"Well, Candi (me) your friend knows how to write, I'll give him that. But basically all he did was rehash how evil Bush was all over again. And someone should get him a dictionary."
Me and coworker: "Why?"
Her: "A Cavalier is a car."
Me and coworker: /head-desk
So, in short..Great post. I feel that you hit it on the head perfectly. But if you're serious about someone besides us hearing you, you may want to use smaller words...
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SleepinJeezus
November 15, 2009 6:13 PM in reply to Kuyleh
Smaller words? Like Pinto, perhaps? (2 syllables versus 3 for cavalier)?
Thanks very much for this response. It's nice at times to know I'm not just screaming into a void; that others actually read what I write and (hopefully?) gain something from it.
And I will try to take the recommendation to use more plain language. (Opel? Taurus? Ram? Definitely not Lamborghini, ok?)
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CranialRectalLoopback
November 15, 2009 12:31 PM
Really! I mean what kind of country is this where we follow the rule of law rather than the rule of kings. Jesus H. Christ you'd think we were civilized or something. You'd think we had a frigg'n constitution or something.
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Cal Soldier
November 15, 2009 4:14 PM
Mr. Gregg, I will be happy when you leave the Senate and allow an adult with a spine to take your place.
And as for you, Mr. Conrad, while execution would be nice, I would actually prefer KSM to spend the rest of his life in a Supermax cell like Zacharias Moussaui. There, he can spend the rest of his life not as martyr, but alone and forgotten.
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Matt Jones
November 15, 2009 5:55 PM
So let me get this straight:
- terrorists shouldn't be tried in civilian courts
- a lone actor (Hasan) that kills people in the name of a religious ideology is a terrorist
So therefore, Scott Roeder should be tried by a military commission? Or is it different if you're a "Christian" terrorist?
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