The idea that we need military tribunals to try suspected or accused terrorists is common. All sorts of reasons are advanced. The terrorists are too dangerous to bring into a courtroom, or the American court system is too unwieldy or too prone to leniency, or too subject to slick attorneys confusing inexperienced jurors.
This past Tuesday in federal district court in Manhattan Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to life imprisonment for his role in the bombing of American embassies in East Africa in 1996. The jury found Mr. Ghailani not guilty on most counts, but did find him guilty on a conspiracy charge, and that was enough.
Almost ten years after the 9/11 attacks, many citizens, including a majority of Congress, live in fear, willing to abandon centuries-long guarantees of fair trial procedures in favor of brutal confinement and a presumption of guilt. I have heard congress members say we must keep Guantanamo up and running to hold all of the terrorists we have there. U.S. Senators and Representatives should have more faith in our institutions.
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