Intelligence on Trial

by Gordon Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, February 18, 2010

As if we needed another illustration of how inept and not-ready-for-prime-time this administration and Justice Department is, the recent reversal of Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision is a glaring example.

The decision to try in our civilian courts, five surviving conspirators behind the terrorist attack upon our citizens and our Pentagon, on September 11, 2001, has apparently become another victim of the Tea Party movement that carried Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate and Obama to the door of the Republican Party. Eric Holder, as Attorney General of the People of The United States of America, sought to demonstrate his superior intelligence over the combined intelligences of our Constitutional architects, our Supreme Court and most definitely over the previous administration, by stating that these men deserve the same privileges and rights reserved for American citizens.

It seems that the decision was safe and secure until the Massachusetts “miracle” shook the political world. Mayor Bloomberg sniffed the breeze and detected the scent of torch fuel and heard the clattering of pitchfork handles in the neighboring state. He relayed the alarm to Senator Schumer and the administration blinked – or at least it seemed to blink – until the perky CBS anchorette, Katie Couric, asked Obama about the reversal on Super Bowl Sunday.

Obama replied that NYC may still be subjected to the fiasco and the financial burden of a needless civilian trial, which will lead to a security nightmare complete with traffic tie-ups, protesters from both sides needing protection from each other, terrorists spewing venom across our media outlets and perhaps worst of all, the invasion of NYC boroughs by thousands of international news media personalities.

The trial itself is needless for the simple reason that the conspirators have all signed confessions to the act and have requested execution, according to a letter written to and read by military judge Colonel Stephen Henley during a hearing in Guantanamo Bay on December 8, 2008.

In that letter, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, (KSM), admitted that he was responsible for the planning that, when carried out, resulted in the destruction of over 3,000 civilian souls and the devastation of our economy and our sense of security. He further sought to remove the legal counsel appointed to him because he said he made no differentiation between the soldiers fighting in Iraq and the judge who sat on the bench.

“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z… I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl…there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head…I was responsible for the assassination attempt against President Clinton in the Philippines in 1994 or 1995…I was responsible for the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia…” KSM said in his rambling testimony during a hearing in Guantanamo in 2007. He affirmed that his confession was made without pressure, threat, intimidation or promise.

So, why does Holder think the civilian trial should go on? He has already claimed that there is no doubt that the men will be convicted and brought to justice, a statement which will, no doubt, be used by even the most junior of attorneys appointed for their defense to call for a mistrial, therefore he does not believe the evidence disclosed in a civilian trial will be greater than that discovered in a military tribunal.

There can be only one reason to bring these vermin to an American city and to give them the type of exposure they could only dream of in their fondest and wildest dreams. The reason is not to determine their guilt or innocence; that has already been determined. The reason is not to demonstrate the fact that the U.S. is a civil nation which bestows mercy upon our enemies; that has been established by countless examples of our eagerness to send aid to those who seek our destruction.

The only reason for this trial would be to keep the Bush administration, the CIA and the whole military intelligence structure on trial. It would serve no other purpose. It would result in a weakening of our CIA’s effectiveness as they see their operations and operators under scrutiny. It would demoralize our military as they watch the rights they have fought to protect for their fellow citizens granted to the enemy they are fighting.

I believe this whole debacle illustrates another failed trial – the corporate intelligence of this administration and its cabinet members has been tried and they have been found wanting.