Trial by Piranha
This holiday season, Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge reminded us that the War Against Terror
is far from over. While visions of sugarplums
danced in the heads of children, adults laid awake
with images of Orange Alerts and suicide attacks
weighing on their minds. The strongest terrorism
rumors since 9/11 grounded several Air France
flights amidst fears that they might be hijacked.
Saddam Hussein is safely locked away, but Osama bin
Laden is still out there. Still plotting. Still
sowing evil.
If we capture bin Laden alive, what should we do
with him? Such a question with regard to Saddam
Hussein is problematic, given that the man is the
former leader of a sovereign nation. But bin Laden
is a nation-less terrorist, an admitted mass
murderer, an uncommon criminal. The question of
what to do with a captured bin Laden, to me anyway,
seems pretty simple: squeeze him like a sponge till
every last drop of information bleeds out of him,
then toss him into a pool full of piranhas.
But don't ask Howard Dean. The man who so far
seems the front-runner to secure the Democratic
nomination for president feels that bin Laden, if
caught, deserves a trial by jury before we pass
such judgment on him. "I've resisted pronouncing a
sentence before guilt is found," Dean said
in an interview published today. "I will have this
old-fashioned notion that even with people like
Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we
should do our best not to ... prejudge jury
trials."
I'm all for withholding judgment until a person
is found guilty—at least when that person is
American, protected by the U.S. Constitution and
the concept of "innocent until proven guilty." But
when someone admits to intentionally bringing about
the deaths of thousands of innocent people, I
figure a trial by jury, a trial by tribunal or even
a trial by a group of deaf-mute mimes is a waste of
good money.
Perhaps more importantly, does a man who wants
to give Osama bin Laden a jury trial belong in the
White House? Is a man who wants to afford bin Laden
the dignity that the terrorist snuffed out of so
many poor souls someone who will make our country
safer? To me, the answers to those questions are
crystal clear, but I'll let you come to your own
conclusions.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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