A trial for terrorists

A trial for terrorists is a difficult issue clouded by the term Prisoner of War. After a recent Federal Appeals Court decision, politically motivated, struck down the methods planned by the Executive Branch for trying terrorists in military tribunals, the government is trying to get new laws passed the will make this possible. Will there be an end to the war on terror? If so the prisoners must be released at that point. Are they prisoners of war or criminals? If they are the latter then they must be tried and if convicted imprisoned for some period.

The method of trial chosen is that of a military court, with rules of evidence competent with that setting. These trials will most likely but held in secret, but maybe not. The secrecy would prohibit political grandstanding, but would lead to questions about the legitimacy of the convictions. The same end of punishment can be gained by declaring these captives prisoners of war and holding them indefinitely until the war on terror is declared over. That could be a very long time indeed.

There is a problem with this plan in that is reduces the need for the terrorists to cooperate with the US government as a ploy for earlier release. If the information gathered from these individuals has been or is helpful they should be released earlier in compensation. Their release should not be precipitous but calculated to protect their lives and the USA simultaneously. Undoubtedly such captives would be killed by their confreres upon their reentry in the world of IslamoFascism.

The real social and political difficulty in the United States is the desire on the ultra-left to make heroes of those who would kill all non Muslims and those in the middle and right who want to protect the country and do the right thing at the same time. Can this be done? The ultra-left and their intimidated left compadres are in a tight spot. Their heroes: Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Che Gueverra, Ghaddafi, and the rest are in direct opposition to main stream American opinion and view of what is correct.

A good guess is that this question will be resolved to no one’s satisfaction by the Supreme Court in due course.