Should We Try AbdulMutallab In Federal Court Or A Military Tribunal?

There is a lot of talk in the news about whether of not we should prosecute the so called Christmas Bomber, AbdulMutallab, in Federal Court as a criminal or in a Military Tribunal as an Unlawfjul Enemy Combatant. There are what sound to me like good arguments for and against both options. There are also what I think are purely political reasons against both options.

On the side for the Military Tribunal option instead of in Federal Court is the cost of a trial in Federal Court. A trial in Federal Court is likely to take five years and cost a billion dollars. The most often given reason that I feel is political is that it would be more secure because it would increase the likelihood of bringing a terrorist attack on the scene of the trial, especially if it is in New York City. New York City is already a prime target for a terrorist attack and has been since the first attack on the World Trade Center. An attack is likely there whether there is a trial there or not. If they can attack New York City they will, whenever they can. So I see no validity in that argument. There is no evidence for that argument. There is only philosophic reasoning behind it and that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. We have already successfully tried several Al Qaeda members here in America in Federal Court and none of them brought a terrorist attack. Several Al Qaeda members are being held in our Federal Prisons and none have yet escaped nor have the prisons they are in been attacked by terrorists. So trying him in a Military Tribunal would not be any more secure than one in Federal Court.

On the side of a trial in Federal Court is that we should show the rest of the world that we are a nation of laws and that we recognize the rights of individuals to due process. Military Tribunals would give the world the impression that we don’t recognize other people’s rights. As already stated we have already given terrorists from other countries the same rights we give our citizens by trying them in Federal Court. We really should take the moral high ground and let the world see that we do. We have enough trouble with the way the rest of the world sees us and we shouldn’t make it worse.

In my opinion it was a big mistake to create the classification of “Unlawful Enemy Combatant”. I think it was immoral! It was done to circumvent the Geneva Conventions and free us from the necessity of following them in the treatment of those taken prisoner in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush administration didn’t want to be bound by those restrictions. They thought more intelligence could be gotten by using methods that violated the Geneva Conventions. They also thought it would give us the right to hold those prisoners without trial or due process of law for ever. It has increased the hatred of us in the Muslim World and made it easier to recruit terrorists and made it even more likely that we will be attacked. It has cost us our moral standing. Trying AbdulMutallab in Federal Court would help to restore it.