Free Republic

What if Osama bin Laden was captured, brought to trial and walked? This question comes to mind after the Justice Department only managed to convict al Qaeda embassy bomber Ahmed Ghailani on one of 285 counts against him before a federal court in Manhattan.Ghailani - considered a "high-value" terrorist - was charged with murder and conspiracy related to al Qaeda's 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and wounded thousands. Ghailani, a former bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, was the first detainee transferred from the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,...

Outrage is growing at the intersection of ideology and incompetence that is the jury's collapse in the trial of Ahmed Ghailani, declared acquitted in the murders of 224 innocents, including a dozen Americans.The outrage is growing as Americans learn more and more about how utterly avoidable this outrageous miscarriage of justice was. John Podhoretz's and Jennifer Rubin's criticisms are among the most pointed and both employ the damning word "debacle" in the title, and Powerline's Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker weigh in with "The Failure Option." Eric Holder who repeatedly declared his confidence in this process should resign and...

As the debate over how to prosecute suspected terrorists re-erupted last week, the top ranking House Republican on the Homeland Security committee says a federal judge’s ruling supports the GOP mantra that the White House was wrong to use civilian courts. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told The Hill that the recent judicial decision to not allow the testimony of a key government witness is also an indication of problems that lie in store for the Justice Department if it attempts to use civilian courts to try other suspected terrorists, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the...

John Ashcroft (photo by Andrew Ramonas / Main Justice) Former Attorney General John Ashcroft defended the use of military commissions for terrorism suspects in a speech before the conservative Heritage Foundation on Wednesday.The Obama administration is in the process of reviewing whether terrorism suspects housed at Guantanamo Bay should face trials in civilian or military courts as they work to close the military prison.Ashcroft, who served as the nation’s top law enforcement official from 2001 to 2005, said proceedings before the military tribunals would be fair to the defendants and dismissed the concerns of liberal groups, including the American...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4127 Congress > Legislation > 2009-2010 (111th Congress) > H.R. 4127 Text of H.R. 4127: To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide that alien unprivileged enemy belligerents may... Nov 19, 2009 - Introduced in House. This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the House for consideration. This is the latest version of the bill currently available on GovTrack. HR 4127 IH 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4127 To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide that alien unprivileged...

Note: The following text is a quote: IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 060-010 January 22, 2010 Military Commission Charges Withdrawn In Sept. 11 Case The Defense Department announced today that the convening authority for Military Commissions withdrew and dismissed the charges, without prejudice, against the five detainees charged in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. This action comes in light of the announcement by the attorney general of the United States that the Department of Justice intends to pursue a prosecution of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, in...

There is no justifying the Obama administration's decision to grant a civilian trial to Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other 9/11 plotters who carried out the deadliest act of war ever committed on US soil. President Obama must not grant the worst of war criminals the same constitutional rights enjoyed by the nearly 3,000 US citizens they massacred on 9/11. If he won't reconsider, Congress must act. Beginning in the Revolutionary War, it has been recognized throughout our history that wartime enemies aren't mere criminal defendants. When they commit provable war crimes, they're tried by military commission — a process...

Dear Supporters, Last Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets of New York City to protest Attorney General Eric Holder's outrageous plan to transfer 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other admitted war criminals to the United States for trial in a civilian court in New York City. The protest sent a clear message to the politicians in Washington: the terrorists who targeted innocent men, women and children and who were captured by our military on a foreign battlefield should not have the same rights and legal protections as American citizens. We will fight them all the way!watch...

A year is too long to spend at a crime scene with people shooting at you. Attorney General Eric Holder made an "unannounced" visit with Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Manhattan yesterday about the planned prosecution there of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four additional 9/11 conspirators. Also yesterday, NBC New York spot polling indicated that 82% became furious when word leaked "a federal grand jury in New York is [secretly] now hearing evidence and testimony" as prosecutors seek a federal indictment of the five. Perhaps coincidentally, one 9/11 family member's commentary appeared and offered, "In four years, America can hold Obama...

Statement by Judea and Ruth Pearl as read at the New York rally by Brian Dennehy on December 5 2009 Friends, On behalf of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, we wish to join you today in a call to reverse Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try America's new-type of enemies in New York Federal court. We wish to add to your rally the perspective of our own personal tragedy which, in many ways, has come to symbolize the depth of inhumanity that has swept our planet in the 21st century, and the sense of urgency with which this planet is...

Note: The following text is a quote: IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 917-09 November 20, 2009 DOD Announces Military Commissions Actions Today, prosecutors in the Office of Military Commissions announced they intend to ask the convening authority to refer new charges under the recently-enacted Military Commissions Act of 2009 against Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu al-Nashiri, in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors and injuries to many more. This announcement follows the attorney general's determination on Nov. 13, 2009, that a military...

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to question Attorney General Eric Holder about his decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in criminal courts rather than military tribunals. As the father of Todd Beamer, who died on United Airlines Flight 93, I was able to attend that hearing. What transpired caused me great concern and shook my confidence in our current administration....How can we be assured that these enemies will be found guilty? Given that criminal courts are now the presumed venue for those captured on the battlefield, will soldiers need to read them their rights at...

[L]ast week, after more delays in the process, the administration called victims of the Cole, Bali and Sept. 11 attacks together again to receive an update about the work of the Detainee Review Task Force. The meeting was emotional and heart-wrenching. Each person was given the opportunity to speak about the impact the president's decisions were having on him or her and loved ones. The brave families of our heroes showed true courage in that room. Once again, they had traveled to Washington to express their frustration at seeing justice delayed. If they were truly involved, and the administration were...

Today I had the honor and privilege of joining other family members and victims of terrorism in meeting with members of the Guantanamo Review Task Force and the Detention Policy Task Force at the Department of Justice. I learned a lot about what our new President is doing and what he has the members of the task forces working on. After doing my own research and listening to the others present today I do not believe that there is a valid reason to close Guantanamo Bay. We are at WAR with TERRORISTS. OUR CONGRESS enacted the Military Commissions Act of...

Very quickly after the Nairobi bombing, FBI agents and their Kenyan counterparts picked up and questioned Mohamed Rasheed Daoud al-Owhali, a Saudi national pretending to be a Yemeni of a different name. Though the lead that had prompted their desire to question al-Owhali was only one of hundreds, agents became increasingly convinced — over two weeks of intermittent questioning — that he was a college-educated al-Qaeda operative, well-schooled in counter-interrogation techniques, who was complicit in the atrocity. In fact, he had been the main bomber, helping drive the explosives-laden truck to the detonation site at the embassy. Finally he confessed,...

In Washington today and tomorrow, the DOJ's Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT) is briefing American family members of those murdered by terrorists, as well as those injured during terrorist attacks. The stated purpose of the briefing is to: ...[offer] those interested the opportunity to meet task force members, hear an overview of task force work, and express views about the policy questions the Detention Policy Task Force is studying. Please click on the link for the Detention Policy Task Force to see some of the questions that the task force is considering. ... For those unable...

Last night, Mark Levin compared the speech of President Barack Obama to remarks made by former Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday. (Full audio of Cheney speech here.): There are flaws within these passages from what President Obama said yesterday: Indeed, the legal challenges that have sparked so much debate in recent weeks in Washington would be taking place whether or not I decided to close Guantanamo. For example, the court order to release seventeen Uighur detainees took place last fall – when George Bush was President. The Supreme Court that invalidated the system of prosecution at Guantanamo in 2006 was...

Last night on Freedom Radio, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Weimann talked about his open letter to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren. Within it, 'Capt Roger Hill Case: Mister Secretary, it's time to end the double standard,' LTC Weimann demonstrates that political considerations have endangered the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and resulted in more than a few unjust prosecutions of our troops. Battlefield evidentiary requirements will be addressed within a revamp of the Military Commission Act (that was nearly hidden within Friday's White House announcement). With due respect to President Obama, those few select Members of Congress with...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama is planning on Friday to resume the Bush administration's controversial military commission system for some Guantanamo detainees -- which he suspended in his first week in office -- according to three administration officials.Some of the high-profile terror suspects who are being charged in the military commission process include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. The administration officials stressed that the updated system will include expanded due-process rights for the suspects, which administration officials note is consistent with what Obama pushed for as a senator in 2006 in order to improve upon...

The Obama administration is preparing to revive the system of military commissions established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under new rules that would offer terrorism suspects greater legal protections, government officials said. The rules would block the use of evidence obtained from coercive interrogations, tighten the admissibility of hearsay testimony and allow detainees greater freedom to choose their attorneys, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The military commissions have allowed the trial of terrorism suspects in a setting that favors the government and protects classified information, but they were...