So, I took this class called Famous Trials last year. Obviously, we studied famous trials. Among a bunch of really interesting trials such as the Charles Manson trial, John Hinckley Jr., and the Salem Witch trials, we studied a guy named Zacarias Moussaoui, one of the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Of course we went even further to study the guys behind 9/11, not just the ones that carried it out. Just so happens Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was one of them.
It was announced earlier in the year that he would stand trial for his alleged planning of the surprise attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That's great, right? Well, not so much. The Obama Administration went so far as to announce that it would hold the trials in a courthouse near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Why is this bad, you may ask? Because the guys responsible for killing some 3,000 Americans was going to get a fair, civilian trial. First, they're most certainly not civilians of the U.S., and they committed atrocious acts of war. That should've earned them a nice big Gitmo trial (consists of detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and trial by military authorities). The good news is that it has been announced, in the most significant policy reversal in the fight against terrorism, that the Obama Administration has decided to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of planning 9/11 in a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. This is because in December, Congress blocked funds to prosecute the suspects in civilian courts, which forced the White House to try them at the military base that President Obama pledged to close down, a feat he has yet to accomplish.
All I can say is... booya, Congress!
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