Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea Demon
The question then turns to you.....don't you trust our systems of legal justice? Including military justice?
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I trust it indeed. But I think that this whole issue is a litmus test.
It is the very thing that terrorism is targeted against - the belief in freedom and its ability to deliver justice, even under extraordinary conditions as these.
The aim of terrorists isn't to destroy the US physically. It is - as the name implies - about spreading fear and terror, and one of Roosevelt's great for freedomrs is now more important than ever: Freedom of fear. I'm not talking about a naive happy-go-lucky mentaility. But abandoning basic legal principles (i.e. a formal and regular trial) would elevate the terrorists to a status they don't deserve. They must not be given the feeling that, just because they have done an outrageously heinous and despicable crime, they are outside - and in their view
above - the American legal system (be it civil or military). I believe devoutly in the United States' legal system and its ability to deliver justice in this case, and if given a chance to prove that it works even in such an extaordinary matter, I'm confident that it will succeed.