Many warned the Obama administration of the legal and practical dangers of bringing enemy combatants who were captured overseas into U.S. civil courts for terrorism trials, rather than trying them in military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many are being held.
One of the serious objections to granting enemy combatants constitutional due-process rights that they are not entitled to in the first place is that they can use an array of legal maneuvers to have the evidence against them thrown out. That could make it hard or impossible to convict people who in some cases have freely admitted their guilt.
Well, the maneuvering has begun.
Recently, a federal judge in Washington threw out most of the evidence the government had against a detainee who admits he trained with al-Qaida. The man, Musa’ab Omar Al Madhwani, alleged his confessions were false and were coerced by U.S. authorities after he was captured following a firefight in Pakistan.
It is now anyone’s guess whether Al Madhwani will be convicted and imprisoned long term, or set free, possibly to reconnect with al-Qaida.
Separately, in a federal court in New York, lawyers for another man improperly being tried on U.S. soil are seeking to have charges against him dismissed because of allegations that he was tortured and that he was denied a speedy trial. That man, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, has been linked to the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. A dozen Americans were among the 225 people killed. Ghailani also claims he was denied his “right” to keep silent and to have an attorney.
We do not condone torture, but due-process rights such as a speedy trial and access to an attorney are not granted under our Constitution to enemy combatants captured overseas for acts committed overseas.
We will see more of this legal wrangling as a result of President Barack Obama’s bad decision to bring Gitmo detainees to the United States for trial. Incredibly, some, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the acknowledged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, could be freed.
That prospect is chilling.