President of All the World

Let me start this discussion of bringing terrorists to New York City to be tried in an American civilian court by reminding you that everything I know about the law is from covering Municipal Court for WMOA radio in Marietta, Ohio 45750 and, from watching endless Law & Order reruns on the USA Network.

This decision had everything to do with President Obama attempting to burnish his credentials as President of All the World and nothing to do with what is best for America.

The decision was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder, not by President Barack Obama. This wasn't like the AG announcing the bust of a major Mexican dope ring operating through El Paso. This was announcing the perps of the worst terrorist attack on American soil being tried in New York.

And, it should not be missed that Holder made the announcement while Obama was on his way to a major swing through Asia.

To be fair, they might have been planning on making the announcement last week, but what with the terror attack at Fort Hood by Nidal Hasan …

SIDEBAR

Given the decision to try the 9/11 terrorists as civilian criminals, how long to we think it will be until the Justice Department decides to wrest control of the Hasan case from the Department of Defense and try him as a civilian in Killeen, Texas?

Actually, given the enthusiasm of Texas in applying the death penalty, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea.

END SIDEBAR

… Hasan, it was probably determined by the political staff at the White House that it was a good idea to wait.

On the Sunday shows yesterday, one Administration defender after another claimed it was important to show the world that the American system of justice is fair to all. Sen. Jack Reed (DEMOCRAT - Rhode Island) said, having civilian trials in New York was "an opportunity to show that we're better than they are, we're much better than they are."

(A) When did we start thinking we had to prove to anyone that "we're better than they are" and, (B) assuming the "they" is the terrorists, why do we think we have to prove anything to them?

On John King's CNN program David Axelrod was on from Singapore. Axelrod said,

"We believe that these folks should be tried in New York City near where their heinous acts were conducted."

"We believe?"

I was watching at the Jiffy Lube while waiting for the MullFord to get its first oil change and when Axelrod said "we believe" I asked the woman who takes the payments whether she thought if Karl Rove had said "we believe" it wouldn't have started a firestorm about whether the NYC decision was made, influenced, and/or approved by Obama's chief political operative?

She told me my oil change was $39 including tax.

According to the Associated Press, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said,

"What the Obama administration is telling us loud and clear is that both in substance and reality the war on terror from their point of view is over."

Giuliani also said that the Administration has declared there is no longer a war on terror, but the terrorists are still waging war on us.

Former New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who is in Asia to hook up with Obama at some point said,

"My goal is to make sure that the mastermind and the other implementers and designers of this horrific attack on us pay the ultimate penalty for what they did to the United States."

That, in the words of Col. Sherman T. Potter, is a busload of bushwah. If George W. had moved the trials to New York while Hillary was still a Senator, she and Chuck Schumer would be on the West Front of the Capitol having serial grand mal seizures.

The reality is this. Barack Obama wants to be the most beloved American President since … the most beloved American President; period.

The best line of the day came from NY Post columnist Michael Goodwin:

Here's an idea: Put the trial in Chicago.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to all of the stories and columns mentioned above; also a Mullfoto of the kind of thing which makes me nuts, and a Catchy Caption of the Day which is not at all amusing; but which is very sobering.