Show Trial

The Moussaoui trial is so wonderful. We caught a terrorist. Well actually we caught a bunch but we aren't going to try them. Just Moussaoui for now. He's so helpful. He will plead guilty. He will try and testify for the prosecution. He will make up stories about how he was going to run a plane into the white house, even when the mastermind of the whole operation says he was going to be part of a second wave of attacks. And he was in custody at the time of the attacks. Oh and he will basically advocate for the death penalty against himself. But his testimony that he hates America and his lack of contrition is so useful, so wonderful, so motivating.
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Wait a minute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is being held too. We're going to try him too right? No. Well we're going to try everyone in Guantanamo right? No. Oh that's right Scalia says they are enemy combatants and don't need a trial in a time of war. And then he tells you to go F yourself (That's Sicilian!). Only this war goes on forever and we haven't declared war against anyone and anyone could be the enemy. Usually you hold combatants until the end of the conflict. There is probably no end to this conflict so I guess we hold them forever. And since it's not against a nation state it is so unclear what the rules should be. But we haven't even clearly articulated a war against Al Quaeda. Instead we have a vague notion that this is a war against terrorism, Islamic fundamentalist terrorism or even evil.
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Oh and there is Osama. Now I know we are going to try him. Or no. He's going to be Elvis bin Ladin. It's going to be 2038 and we're going to be talking about he could still be alive but just very old. And any man who walks into a local deli and orders a peanut butter and banana sandwich on the bread of the infidel (PBOA) could be him. And now the Democrats want to get him. If it wasn't a half-hearted attempt at reasoning their way out of the ideological basement its too little too late.
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Now I'm no softie. I think we should have declared war on Al Quaeda. They took responsibility for the attack, they waged total war. They must be responsible for that. Only the Taliban is not Al Quaeda, the Iraqi people are not Al Quaeda, the people of Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Libya are not Al Quaeda. Right now it just looks like we have gone on the mother of all tangents.