(no subject)

[novapsyche]

I really hate to say this. I really do.

But how can anyone get a fair trial in a country where the second-in-command says something like this:

He will not be acquitted. He will be found guilty, he will be in jail and he will stay there.

[...] I'm not going to speculate on what would happen to him if in fact he were acquitted. I assure you, I assure you, acquitted or not he will not be walking the streets of the United States of America. And he will not be acquitted. (emphasis mine)

Comments

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Why don't they just go ahead and skip the trial and execute him already? That's pretty much where the country seems to be.

*sighs*

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

We've already stripped him of his humanity, so all that's left is the show of blood.

That we are having this type of national conversation indicates how far the Bush administration degraded our society.

[dr-pipe.livejournal.com]

So wait, what exactly do you want to happen?

I support having a trial, I don't really understand why so many on the right oppose it, but I think it has to do with the idea that giving him a trial treats him with too much honor or something. I think a trial is a good idea. But the reason a trial is a good idea is because I have faith that a fair trial will find the guilty person guilty. If I thought our legal system were so broken that the guilty would go free, I would not support it; perhaps that's some of the fear the right holds. But I know our legal system is perfectly capable of neutralizing the likes of Manson and Dahmer, and so I expect a few terrorists should be no problem either.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

A common dictum in legal circles is, "Better 100 guilty go free than one innocent convicted."

That said, I do believe that the US justice system has been honed in favor of protecting the individual against the state (which, in a social democracy, is crucial). Miranda laws fit right into that framework, which is why I cannot in any sense be opposed to anyone arrested on US soil or territory to not be afforded such warnings.

If I were to go to Italy and break a law there (intentionally or not), I would be held to their laws and their standards. It is preposterous to advance that those arrested in the US, suspected terrorist or not, should not be protected as any other person would by the legal system. This is the long and short of why I support a civilian trial for KSM or anyone else who is or was kept in extralegal arenas such as Guantanamo.