Friday, March 5, 2010

Thoughts on the Possible KSM Trial About Face

It would appear that the Obama Administration will do an about face and recommend that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed be tried before a military tribunal rather than in civilian court.

A decision is expected before President Obama leaves the country on March 18th before an overseas visit of Indonesia and Australia.

A couple of observations.

First, Dana Perino and Bill Burck don't have a lot of faith in Lindsey Graham and fear that the trial of KSM and other Gitmo detainees before military tribunals will come at the price of shuttering Gitmo for good. Back in the beginning of the year I wrote an article about the six stupidest things President Obama had done in 2009. At number two, I listed trying KSM in NYC. At number one? Closing Gitmo. There's no reason to do it apart from mollifying a bunch of bleeding hearts who hold Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in higher esteem than our own soldiers.

Second, there's a connection to Obamacare. Given that Robert Gibbs announced that March 18th would be the deadline to pass Obamacare the fact there would be an announcement on KSM at almost the same time is a strong indication they don't think it will pass the House. The embarrassment of not passing Obamacare on the White House would be offset by an about face on KSM. And, of course, there's nothing preventing Obama from trying to pass another version of Obamacare after March 18th. Since when has President Obama let his own words impede him?

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