The safest place to try these terrorists and achieve justice without breaking the government's piggy bank and increasing the deficit, and keeping everyone in the United States safe is at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Having the trials at Gitmo would take care of all the issues revolving around these trials for enemy combatants or terrorists. Murphy vows NO PITTSBURGH TERROR TRIALS. Everyone in the Pittsburgh area and in PA must stand up and say no terror trials HERE. This cockamamie B.S. Must stop!!! The Obama administration seems to be doing everything in their power to undermine our national security. And, by having the trials anywhere within the United States proper they are endangering U.S. citizens' lives and exposing the United States to an increased possibility of another major terrorist attack.
For anyone to think that these extremely dangerous terrorists who plotted to kill 3000 innocent Americans, who were captured on a foreign battlefield, should receive the same rights as civilians living within the United States is absurd, despicable, irresponsible, and plain callous with respect to American lives and our safety. These people lack the necessary intelligence and conceptual ability to understand about how our military system works as opposed to the laws of common criminals within the United States. These terrorists do not have miranda rights. People who are applying American rights to terrorists captured on a foreign battlefield are displaying cultural imperialism of the worst kind.This lunacy must stop!!! We must stop these terror trials from being located in Pittsburgh or any other city within the United States. These terrorists must be tried in front of a military tribunal.
As the Obama Administration seeks to move the trials of self-professed 9/11 plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four accomplices out of New York City to the Western District of Pennsylvania, Congressman Tim Murphy (PA-18) released the following statement:
“The forum shopping by the Justice Department for the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial clearly reveals the underlying problems in trying international terrorists and enemy war combatants as domestic criminals in the U.S. criminal justice system.
“We aren't talking about shoplifters or tax evaders, these terrorists are murderers of thousands of innocent Americans and have committed unspeakable acts of war against our country.
“No amount of federal funding can compensate for the risk that this trial would place on the people of Pennsylvania or any other state in our Union. It is outrageous, insensitive and misguided for the President and the Attorney General to unnecessarily jeopardize the safety of U.S. citizens by moving these trials to anywhere outside of the military base at Guantanamo.
“We are seeing universal rejection across party lines and state lines because the American people do not want the government treating terrorism as a U.S. law enforcement issue. Bringing terrorists into Pittsburgh for trial would put a target on our local judges, jurors and all the citizens of our region for a terrorist attack and is a move that that I will fight on all fronts to stop.”
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Politicians began lining up Friday against a potential trial of 9/11 terror suspects in Western Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked airliners crashed.
"Although we are not dead set against it, we would have to hear two things," Gov. Ed Rendell said after New York's top police official said he thinks the trial won't take place there. "First, why it would be safer for Western Pennsylvania than for New York City; and second, what portion of the cost for security and other things would the federal government absorb?"
The Obama administration is drafting plans to move out of Manhattan the trials of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged accomplices, two administration officials said.
"As Pennsylvania directly experienced part of the attack on September 11th, we are acutely interested in seeing the perpetrators brought to justice," said Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato. "However, the last thing Pennsylvania needs is a terrorist trial that raises security concerns and places even more of a burden on our taxpayers."
The Sixth Amendment dictates that civilian trials for the suspects must be held in one of the areas where planes crashed Sept. 11, 2001, according to Bruce Antkowiak, a law professor at Duquesne University. That leaves the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia -- the location of the Pentagon -- or the Western District of Pennsylvania, which includes Somerset County, where United Flight 93 crashed.
"The presumption is the trial should take place in the district that the crime was committed," Antkowiak said.
Officials in this district's three federal courthouses in Downtown, Erie and Johnstown said they had no word of a move to Pennsylvania. Chief U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster said he couldn't comment on any matter that might come before the court. Federal agencies in Pittsburgh referred questions to the Justice Department.
Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said he couldn't confirm whether the trial would move, or where it would go.
"We are considering our options," he said.
Mary Beth Buchanan, the former U.S. attorney for Western Pennsylvania, said holding the trial in this district would be expensive and drain resources.
"It's impossible to predict how long this trial might take," she said, noting the complicated charges. It would tie up U.S. marshals who protect courtrooms, she said.
"It would be outrageous to put the financial burden of these trials on the citizens of Western Pennsylvania," Buchanan said.
Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter said they had no information the trial would move to Pennsylvania, but they oppose the idea and told the Obama administration.
"Mayor Bloomberg has given good reasons why the trial should not be held in New York City, and that same reasoning would apply for Pennsylvania as well," said Specter, D-Philadelphia.
Specter's opponent in the May primary, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, said he supports civil trials in U.S. courts for terror suspects, no matter the location. Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey opposes holding the trial anywhere but before a military tribunal.
"Holding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial in New York City was a terrible idea from the beginning, due to the many security concerns, but moving the trial elsewhere does not solve the problem," Toomey said.
The plan to hold the trial in New York started to unravel when police Commissioner Raymond Kelly detailed costs and logistical challenges of ensuring security at the Federal Courthouse in lower Manhattan, he said.
Criticism of the plan that Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year reached a crescendo this week when Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his earlier support.
New York Gov. David Paterson said he was "elated that our concerns are being considered by the president and the federal government."
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl would have similar concerns, his spokeswoman said.
"The same ones outlined by Mayor Mike Bloomberg -- that the trial could put our citizens in danger, as well as the exorbitant costs associated with the trial, something that we could not withstand," spokeswoman Joanna Doven said.
Hosting such a high-profile trial poses a slew of security challenges, from international terrorist organizations seeking to disrupt it to domestic hate groups, said Danny Defenbaugh, a security consultant and 33-year veteran of the FBI. The threats remain the same no matter where the trial takes place, he said.
"An example that is much less magnified is when we moved the Oklahoma City bombing trial from Oklahoma City to Denver," Defenbaugh said. "We still had the same types of hate groups (to guard against). It didn't matter to them whether we were in Oklahoma City or St. Louis, Mo."
Moving the trial would be a setback for President Obama. His administration spent weeks defending its handling of terror threats after the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner, which reignited the debate about whether terror suspects should face civilian or military justice.
Obama long has supported trying some terrorists in federal, civilian court, while Republicans argue terrorists should be tried in military tribunals where other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be judged.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama believes Mohammed and his alleged accomplices could be successfully and securely brought to justice in a federal court.
Here is a Channel 4 news video on this matter (unfortunately embedding was disabled).
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