Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a New York City police cadet who died trying to evacuate people from the World Trade Center. His mother, Talat, writes a poignant commentary for McClatchy objecting to any backtracking from the Obama administration and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on the plan to try the 9/11 conspirators in a civilian court:
The commissions are simply not prepared or experienced enough to handle complex international terrorism cases. Part of the problem is that while many military judges are competent, hard-working and honorable, military criminal cases typically involve prosecutions of U.S. soldiers and sailors for ordinary crimes. There are relatively few murder cases, fewer death penalty cases and almost no conspiracy cases, much less international terrorism trials. This is a problem no new law can fix.
Others worry that federal trials will give the accused a soapbox to spew their hateful agendas. In fact, federal judges are known for preventing such outbursts, as was the case in the Zacharias Moussaoui trial. It was in the Guantánamo commissions that the 9-11 defendants were allowed to give five-minute tirades.
This argument always seemed weak to me: can you imagine not putting Timothy McVeigh on trial because he might make hateful statements? Or any serial killer, for that matter?
Update: Sincere apologies to Ms. Talat Hamdani.