If the administration is planning on affording the terrorists the rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens under the constitution (do they even know what their plan is?) then it might be worth looking at the 6th amendment.  So what did the founders – those dead racist white guys – have to say?

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Going on the assumption that these are the rights we will be granting to our manmade-disaster-causing adversaries, it looks like we may have some problems.

Certainly, there will be no shortage of lawyers willing to provide assistance of counsel for their defense, and it wont be a problem informing them of the nature and cause of the accusation.

Unfortunately that’s where the “showcasing” of our justice system runs into some problems.  Does a decade rotting in prison violate their right to a speedy trial?  Does waterboarding, etc. violate the cruel and unusual punishment clause (8th amendment)?  If we give them full constitutional rights – absolutely.  To pretend otherwise would be to demean our constitution.

Are we going to find an impartial jury for this trial anywhere in the United States?  Especially after the administration decided to taint the jury pool with multiple comments about their certainty of convinction and execution.  Robert Gibbs (someone told me he was the White House press secretary…but I’m pretty sure they were joking) probably had the most ridiculous comment of all:

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to meet justice and he’s going to meet his maker.  He will be brought to justice and he’s likely to be executed for the heinous crimes that he committed in killing and masterminding the killing of 3,000 Americans. That you can be sure of.

Thanks, Bobby!  Us in them flyover states was really worried there weren’t gonna be a hangin’!  Can we string ‘em up at the Superbowl?  Yee-haw!

Looks like our “showcase” trial just turned into a “show” trial.  Predetermined outcome ending in execution?  Yeah that sounds like the American justice system we’d like to proudly display to the world.  Maybe Obama should share his teleprompters…Gibbs is just embarrassing.

I think if we are determined both to try the terrorists with the full rights of the constitution, and avoid making a mockery of our constitution, we have to let KSM and his friends go.  Can we honestly say that we are not violating the constitutional rights we are affording them?  What self-respecting judge could ignore so many valid causes for dismissal?  Are we going to rig the trial with a judge committed to executing the terrorists regardless of law?  (Note:  when I say “let them go”, I mean implant a tracking chip in their ass, wait until they go back home to their buddies’ cave, then have a cruise missile meet them there.  That way we’re not shredding our constitution and can actually get some benefit from this judicial kabuki theatre.)

Hopefully the administration truly has a plan, and it is much too subtly brilliant for me to comprehend.  I guess I’ll wait for them to come up with a better explanation - one us country bumpkins can understand.  Until then I’ll just pass the time counting down to the Iranian nuclear armageddon we seem powerless to stop.

P.S.  – I am not a constitutional lawyer, but a couple minutes of googling provided me with more clarity than the administration seems to have.  Also, in my opinion, the legal status of these terrorists is at best that of a prisoner of war.  As such, it seems reasonable to imprison them in a military prison until the war is over.  It’s not our fault that they are not represented by a state that can negotiate their release, or that they started a war that will never end.  Good luck, jihadist fuckers.  Guantanimo is actually a pretty nice place to rot away your miserable lives, all things considered.