TRY THEM HERE BUT DON'T KILL THEM ANYWHERE

The Obama Administration decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New Your federal court, almost within the shadow of the World Trade Center, is both fitting and just. This move is in keeping with the great American system of jurisprudence and will help blunt the stain of the previous administration's torture of the defendants and their incarceration in the American gulag at Guantanamo for six long years without access to the most basic of defendant rights. Although any trial is far off, it is not too early for humanitarian minded Americans everywhere to begin lobbying against the death penalty should the Sheikh and his cohorts be convicted. Besides being barbaric and unnecessary, the death penalty would most likely make martyrs of the perpetrators and give a boost to their terrorist recruiting efforts.

It would also set a good precedent should America regain its moral compass and prosecute the leaders in the Bush Administration who told lies, and used scare tactics, intimidation and propaganda to launch a criminal war against Iraq which caused millions of casualties and refugees. Maybe even those folks might realize the stakes for themselves and join the effort to spare the Sheikh.