Quick Fact: Scarborough falsely claimed trials of foreign terror suspects through U.S. judiciary are "unprecedented"
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough falsely claimed that it is "unprecedented" to try foreign terror suspects through the United States' judicial system, stating, "It's unprecedented to afford constitutional rights to, basically, prisoners of war." In fact, during the Bush and Clinton administrations numerous foreign terrorists have been tried and imprisoned by our federal system, including 9-11 conspirator Zacarious Moussaoui and 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef.
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Scarborough suggested trials of foreign terror suspects in federal justice system are "unprecedented"
From the November 16 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
SCARBOROUGH: Giuliani called it ideology run wild. You had ideology, a lot of Democrats would say, on the right for eight years under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney where these people were thrown in prisons and they didn't get lawyers and of course we've debated that debate.
It seems to me Eric Holder and Barack Obama come into office and Democrats take over and we go all the way to the other side doing something unprecedented. And Mark Halperin, you had Pat Leahy - and I must say I am completely flummoxed as to why the chairman of the Judiciary Committee would compare Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to Timothy McVeigh. Timothy McVeigh, born in the United States of America, a citizen of the United States of America, afforded all the constitutional protections that are afforded to those who are citizens of the United States of America. And he and people like him have been afforded those constitutional protections for over 200 years. People that blow up Americans - kill them - this has never happened before. It's unprecedented to afford constitutional rights to, basically, prisoners of war.
Fact: Clinton and Bush administrations tried and imprisoned foreign terror suspects in our federal system
Bush administration used federal justice system to bring several foreign terrorism suspects to justice. During the George W. Bush administration, several foreign terrorists were brought to justice through the federal justice system, including 9-11 conspirator Zacarious Moussaoui, "Shoe bomber" Richard Reid and East African embassy bombing perpetrators Wahid el-Hage, Mohammed Sadiq Odeh, Mohammed Rashed al-Owhali, and Khalfan Khamis Mohammed.
Clinton administration also used federal justice system to bring foreign terror suspects to justice. During the Clinton administration, 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and "urban terrorism" plotters Sheik Oma Abdel Rahman and others were brought to justice through the federal justice system.
There are already 216 international terrorists in U.S. prisons. A May 29 Slate.com article reported that according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, "federal facilities on American soil currently house 216 international terrorists and 139 domestic terrorists. Some of these miscreants have been locked up here since the early 1990s. None of them has escaped. At the most secure prisons, nobody has ever escaped."
I fear terrorism when I travel overseas where U.S. intelligence is less effective, although they have done a great job. I have no fear on U.S. soil, just like I do not fear mass murderers appearing before me to kill indiscriminately. It's not that neither of these things may happen to me, it's that I am not going to let that remote possibility chnage my life. All of America should feel the same way. We must protect our civil rights and those of our criminals, lest we be charged as criminals and denied a defense. We chose to arrest supposed civilian terrorists and move them to U.S. soil. If we didn't want to extend to them internationally supported rights, we should have shot them dead on foriegn soil. After all, such mindless killing seems to be business as usual based on the level of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama has broken most of the anti-war promises that caused me to vote for him over Hillary Clinton. I thought she was too hawkish. But now, Obama is the new Bush (or should I day Cheney). Who will I vote for next time? Where are the true Americans that are willing to take office and steer us back on track even if it means losing the next election?
That's a solid point. Although I whole-heartedly agree with your latter statement that most of those now in Guantanemo should have been shot dead on sight, long ago, I don't see how the administration can grant some detainees the protections afforded by our criminal justice system, but then withhold those same protections from other detainees. You're correct, they are cherry-picking here. Had there been any question in Holder's mind whether he could obtain a conviction of KSM, there's no way he'd be tried in NY.
So now an islamic slug whose guilt will easily be established by the evidence is given an open trial, while the other illiterate pedophile prophet worshippers, whose guilt would be more difficult to establish in accordance with the rules of evidence, will be denied that right. Let's see if the lemming progressives give a hue and cry over this hypocrisy.
Is that why you want taxi drivers and other innocents shot on sight? Because the government has no evidence they've done anything wrong?
Won’t be as easy as you think, If he is afforded all the rights of an American citizen then all of the interrogations will be inadmissible since he was not read his rights and he did not have a attorney. If all the evidence against him is held to our civilian standards of evidence collection then a lot of it may as well be inadmissible. This is why his trail should be by a military tribunal not civilian courts. Wonder if he will get a bail hearing?
Isn't there a difference between KSM and Moussaoui/Yousef, in that the latter two were captured on US domestic soil and were at least at one time legally here, vs KSM who was captured on foreign soil during a military operation?
Following the American Civil War, the United States tried a number of former Confederate officers in courts martial without restarting that War.