Obama changes mind: Terrorist trials won't be in New York City

The New York Times:

The reversal on where to try the alleged 9/11 terrorists blocks from the former World Trade Center site seemed to come suddenly this week, after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abandoned his strong support for the plan and said the cost and disruption would be too great.

But behind the brave face that many New Yorkers had put on for weeks, resistance had been gathering steam.

After a dinner in New York on Dec. 14, Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, pulled aside David Axelrod, President Obama’s closest adviser, to convey an urgent plea: move the 9/11 trial out of Manhattan.

Alternative location? The mystery remains as to who recommended terrorist trials in New York in the first place, and why the president accepted it Nov. 13. Attorney General Eric Holder seems to be taking the blame.

In any case, I know a place they can put Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the other four other glory-seeking terrorists on trial cheaply and safely. It rhymes with wontonamo.

Frank Warner

Comments

[Kevin]

This must be disappointing news for the terrorists. But they're still getting their weekly body massages and morning half-caf lattes, right?

[CJW]

Line them all up and shoot them.

[jj mollo]

POWs is what they are. Our only responsibility is to house them humanely until the end of the war. When will the war be over? They should have thought of that before they decided to join the wrong side.

Lining them up may be OK, but I think, as a general solution, shooting them all is a bit extreme.

KSM, however, is unquestionably a war criminal and should be dispatched toute de suite. A few of these guys are beyond thugs. They're just monsters. It would be too dangerous to let them go at any time. I'm opposed to the torture, but elimination may be a practical necessity.

It's really nuts to bring them back to New York, of all places. There are limits to the degree of order that civil society can impose. Military tribunal was, and remains, a good compromise.