So How Much Does it Cost for a Circus These Days?

According to Pat at And so it goes in Shreveport the KSM circus trial is estimated at $75 MILLION dollars. You and I will be contributing our tax dollars to pay for:

* Beefed up counter terrorism and intelligence operations
* Deployment of sniper teams
* Heavy weapons deployment
* Barricades
* Traffic diversions
* Use of undercover officers and surveillance measures
* Coordination with FBI, U.S. Marshalls, and intelligence divisions

Of course we need all of this security because Atty. General Holder has turned ground zero in to a terrorist magnet by moving the trial to New York City. This show trial will put the citizens of NYC through 9/11 all over again. We should have excepted KSM's guilty plea and executed him at Gitmo.

Surprise, Surprise! It Will be a Show Trial

Via Memeorandum:

Lawyer: 9/11 defendants want platform for their views:

NEW YORK (AP) - A lawyer for one of five men facing trial for the Sept. 11 attacks says the men plan to plead not guilty and use the trial to express their political views.
Attorney Scott Fenstermaker says his client Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and the others will not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but will tell the jury "why they did it."

He says the men will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy."

Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. He says the men, including professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have discussed the trial among themselves.

The Justice Department announced earlier this month that the men would face a civilian federal trial in New York City. The department did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Sunday.

Gee, who could have imagined that trying KSM and company in a civilian court would result in a show trial? I am sure that Attorney General Holder is shocked by this turn of events.

Another Day, Another Thunderstorm

Via Memeorandum:

My favorite saying is the golden oldie-don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. Under the current administration, every day is monsoon season.

Today was Attorney General Eric Holder's turn to go singing in the rain. I am no fan of Sen. Lindsey Graham , he managed to stay dry today despite Holder's best efforts.

Allahpundit:

Per the last post, here’s how “carefully” Holder consulted the law before pulling the trigger on KSM. Not only does Graham have to tell him that there’s no precedent for trying battlefield detainees in civilian court, but Holder’s emphasis on how we don’t need a confession to convict Bin Laden completely misses the larger point Graham’s trying to make. The real worry in a district-court trial isn’t what’ll happen to archterrorists like Osama or KSM, whose perpetual detention is assured; the worry is that those trials will establish precedents that’ll be exploited by lesser jihadis at their own trials later on. KSM won’t be released because the political consequences to the administration are too dire, but what about some other terrorist who’s less well known to the public and whose guilt, while certain to the CIA, is less provable under normal evidentiary rules? A confession in a case like that might be critical — but what if he wasn’t Mirandized before he confessed? What then? That’s Graham’s point, and Holder seems to want nothing to do with it.

Andy McCarthy goes through Holder's testimony point by point. Suffice to say, Holder doesn't fare well. Oddly, the Left, long known for its wussiness, is using the decision to try KSM in a civilian court as a show of bravery, a theme that Holder, tried, and failed to advance:

In a civilian trial, America will see KSM for the coward that he is — Holder: "I am not scared of KSM." Submitting a war criminal to a military commission is not an exercise in fear; it is an exercise in justice. We already know all about what kind of animal KSM is, thanks to the exrtraordinary information that has come out in the military proceedings and the CIA interrogations. You could fill a book a book with it, which the 9/11 Commission did. We don't need to bear the risks of a civilian trial either to learn more about KSM or so Mr. Holder can show how brave he is.

This trial will take years to run through. For the next three years this administration will be spinning away. Keep an umbrella handy.

Smitty gets the "Title of the Day Award" Graham goes jackass hunting, finds Holder, flogging ensues.

In 2006 Sen. Obama Backed Trying KSM in the Military Court

Via Memeorandum

In 2006, Sen. Barack Obama defended KSM being tried before a military tribunal. He makes it clear that as an enemy combatant, a military trial is the right and proper way to go. So what has changed? Now that he is President Obama, he has a base to satisfy. His base, the farthest of the far left, are not happy with Obama on several counts so he’s going to throw them a bone, jeopardizing the security of the United States, by putting George Bush on trial. Sure, KSM will be the defendant, but make no mistake, this is a show trial highlighting the policies of the Bush administration.

I am not a lawyer but I am assuming that in a civilian trial Miranda will come in to play. Was KSM given his Miranda rights? No. How will that affect the statements he made? Will they be admissible? No search warrants were executed. Will the property seized, and the evidence gathered be admissible?

I believe that the government will get a conviction. An acquittal would carry too high of a political cost and Obama is all about Obama. But every step of the way, the focus will be on the Bush Administration and giving the Left something to chew on.

Not everything should be political. As President of the United States, Obama should put the country’s security first. The 9/11 Families for America are gathering signatures on a petition to tell the President that he needs to stand by his remarks of 2006 and try KSM before a Military Tribunal. Show your outrage by signing the petition.

Video via Breitbart.tv

Other commentary:

Legal Insurrection
Atlas Shrugs

Update:

Pat at And so it goes in Shreveport writes:

Bloomberg is concerned, and rightly so, with the security issue. While it's true that New York has been increasing their terrorist detection threats over the past eight years, why on earth should the citizens of New York have to deal with such a threat at all? Haven't they been through enough? The city was outraged at the insensitivity of the Air Force One flyover for a photo op in April of this year. What in the world will come out of Pandora's box with KSM in town?

With regard to the issue of classified information, KSM will certainly request and be entitled to receive documents and information about the government's case against him. He and his attorneys will have access to hundreds of classified documents which will be a bonanza to the jihadists waiting in the wings. To assume that the information won't get leaked or transmitted is naive.

More here.