March 10, 2010
In reference to the original decision to try KSM in New York. Figured the plan will be changing shortly. Justice Dept estimated the cost of the trial in NY to be around $72M.
- $23M for security
- $15M for transportation [??]
- $15M for litigation
- $7M for detainee housing
- $12M for related expenses.
Obscene waste of money on someone who wanted to plead guilty anyway. And then there’s the $237 million to acquire, staff and supermax the prison in Thomson to house the terrorists.
POTUS on You Tube (Feb 1)
We’ve tried a lot of terrorists in our courts, we have them in our federal prisons – they’ve never escaped. And these folks are no different. It’s been one of those things that’s been subject to a lot of, in some cases, pretty rank politics.
He thinks escape is the problem. The last thing they want to do is escape. They want a provide a concrete place for their fellow Muslims to focus their hate.
Full answer to You Tube question. He says “IF we’re closing Guantanamo”.
MR. GROVE: The question we missed from the deck, but it was about Guantanamo, and essentially he was just saying why is it taking so long to close down Guantanamo?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s pretty straightforward. Number one, you’ve got a whole bunch of individuals in Guantanamo, some of whom are very dangerous, some of whom were low-level fighters, some of whom the courts have determined should never have been put there in the first place. We’ve had to evaluate each of those cases, hundreds of cases [242], one by one, to determine what these various categories are, and do it in a way that stands up to our standards of due process and legal scrutiny.
Then we’ve got to figure out, if we’re closing Guantanamo, where are we going to put them?
[Something that should have been thought of when the promises was being made over and over]
And we have proposed that there are a number of options on the continental United States where you could hold these people as trials either in military commissions or in Article 3 courts are pending. But unfortunately, there has been a lot of political resistance, and, frankly, some of it just politically motivated — some of it people being legitimately scared about, well, if we’ve got somebody who we’ve been told is a terrorist in our backyard, will that make us a target?
[Never answers that question]
One of the things that we’ve had to try to communicate to the country at large is that, historically, we’ve tried a lot of terrorists in our courts; we have them in our federal prisons; they’ve never escaped. And these folks are no different. But it’s been one of those things that’s been subject to a lot of, in some cases, pretty rank politics.
[Always has an out]
And we’ve got to work through that process because Congress ultimately controls the purse strings in creating new facilities. If Congress makes a decision that they are going to try to block the opening of a new facility, it potentially constrains what our administration can do. And so this is something that we’ve got to work through both in Congress but also with public opinion so that people understand that ultimately this is the right thing to do. By closing Guantanamo, we can regain the moral high ground in the battle against these terrorist organizations.
There’s been no bigger propaganda weapon for many of these extremists than pointing to Guantanamo and saying that we don’t live up to our own ideals. And that’s something that I strongly believe we have to resist, even if it has some costs to it, and even if it’s not always the most politically popular thing to do.
Getting tired of that politicially popular thing to do. It’s all he does. One could make a lot of money predicting what he’s going to do to not do because it’s always the same.
His argument originally had some validity but it ended when he sent 6 Yemenis back just in time to wish diaper bomber good luck. Men already predisposed to hate who were locked up and likely received enhanced interrogation were sent right back into the latest hotbed of terror so they could fill people in first hand. And according to the Pentagon – of those released, 1 in 5 ends up killing again.
And how much of a show trial was it going to be when Gibbs et al were proclaiming KSM guilty and predicting that “he’s going to meet his maker” and “will be executed for the crimes that he committed” when NY doesn’t have the death penalty?
