Don't Give Us Those F**king Puppy Dog Eyes, Khalid .....
The big news up here this week is the US Attorney General's decision to try the 9/11 Conspirators at the US Second District Court in lower Manhattan, or what most South Carolinians call New York City. The location is just blocks from where the World Trade Center towers once stood. It's about time that they were tried, but the question this week has been whether they should be tried in New York, or in Guantanamo. It pretty much seems to have been split on political lines - which is always the worst way to do it. I've tried to look at it from both ways, and here's what I think - not that you care!
I wasn't in New York on September 11th. I watched it on a TV in the lounge at Florence Toyota. So, I can't 100% that I know what people here were feeling that day, but I do know what the new York I left 13 years ago was like, and the difference of New York today. New Yorkers are a tough bunch. We pass car accidents and death like it's nothing very often. I was here during the 1993 attack on WTC, and everyone laughed it off; like Al-Qaeda were a bunch of misfits and kooks. Al-Qaeda got their attention, and people here rarely speak of 9/11.
If the US Justice Dept. is trying to send a message to terrorists that life moves on in America, then trying them in Manhattan would be the right thing to do. The crime occurred here, and it would be a sign of our resiliency. But, at what possible costs and safety is the USDJ inheriting with the move to New York? A lot. Logistically, it is a nightmare. Security will be tight as a drum, and those people who are trying to get back to a normal life will have endless signs of it on a daily basis for months on end as the trial goes on.
But, the real concern is safety of the people of New York. For decades, Al-Qaeda's target has been New York. Why? Not becuase they hate New York, but because it's the easiest target. Foreigners are everywhere.... Think about it. Which would be easier to penetate for a terrorist wanting to disrupt the trial or scare citizens - going to a courthouse smack in the middle of four million people, many of whom look like you, or flying 2000 miles to a military facility on an island that is totally wrapped in barbed wire and has snipers every 50 feet?
All decisions in life are based on risk versus reward. That's why we play Powerball. You lose a dollar, but you might win a couple hundred million - but probably not. This is not Powerball. This is risking good, hardworking people's lives all over again to make a statement to people we don't care about. Someone somewhere will try something during all of this, and my hope is that no one gets hurt, but I doubt it. New Yorkers are a resilient bunch, but they know when their lives are being risked unnecesarily. They don't want this here again......
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1 comment:
Mike--at the end of the day it comes back to making a point. Obama and company are going to bring these terrorists back here,almost literally to the scene of crime to face not just American justice but to face what their actions caused. A picture can tell a lot of stories but the holes in the ground that were the Towers delivers a much stronger reaction.
And there in lies the problem;Obama and company have an idea that this is going to be an open and shut trial. They want to show the world that American justice prevails regarless of the crimes or the evil. The problem lies in the strategy that the defense may use. If the defense raises the issue of "enhanced" interogation techniques;civil rights violations;what/when did Bush/Cheney know and authorize; etc. etc. etc. this trial could turn into a three ring circus that would make Ringling Brothers jealous.
It is a very large legal gamble that may blow up in their faces and the ultimate loser? American justice because it will be justice denied...teg
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