I've never completely understood what folks are upset about regarding the 9/11 terrorists being brought to New York City, but if Bell County is up to the task, Mayor Bloomberg and Co. should be able to pull it off in the Big Apple. And you know what? I'm willing to bet it will work out just fine in Belton, just like it would in NYC.Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith confirmed Friday that his office and Fort Hood officials have been talking for several weeks about transferring accused Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan from a San Antonio military hospital to the Bell County Jail.
Hasan is charged with 13 counts of murder in the shooting rampage on Nov. 5, 2009 at the post’s Soldier Readiness Center that left 13 dead and 29 injured. He was left paralyzed in an exchange of gunfire with two civilian police officers who are credited with ending the massacre.
For 15 years, the Bell County Jail has had a contract with Fort Hood for housing military prisoners charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
“Because of this existing contractual relationship,” Smith said, “Fort Hood has asked me to consider housing Hasan in our jail.”
Friday, February 19, 2010
Fort Hood shooter may be housed in Bell County Jail
Some national politicos have worked themselves into a tizzy over whether alleged terrorists should be brought to New York City and put on trial for the 9/11 attacks. So it's an especially odd juxtaposition from that debate to learn that the Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan may end up awaiting trial in the Bell County Jail, according to KWTX TV:
"I've never completely understood what folks are upset about regarding the 9/11 terrorists being brought to New York City."
ReplyDeleteAt least you are consistent in your opinions. The key element here is that you don't understand.
Taking these terrorists to NY would be like taking them to a TYC facility. Not funny and beyong dumb.
ReplyDelete"The key element here is that you don't understand."
ReplyDeleteThen explain it to me instead of labeling anyone you disagree with "dumb." What makes you think the terrorists would magically become all-powerful and overcome all security measures just because they take KSM there, or for that matter if they take Hasan back to Belton?
If this man is paralysed, I'm surprised any county jail would want to take him. That takes some intensive staff:inmate care and not many prisons let alone jails are set up to care for disabled inmates.
ReplyDeleteI have thought it over and come to the conclusion that if we want to close Guantanamo bay we should transfer all the detainees to Andersonville Confederate prison. they are allowed the clothes on their back,their prayer beads,the copy of the koran, no guns knives, forks,etc. Point out the direction to Mecca, and leave them there have Coast guard patrol a 3 mile limit, until the war on terror is really over.
ReplyDeleteThere's probably at least a 1% chance that Joe Stack's wife and father-in-law were co-conspirators with him in his terrorist strike on the IRS building. They should be taken to GITMO and held there until the war against the IRS is over.
ReplyDeleteWhy not take him to a Federal Prison and house his ass next to a firing range? If he's sentenced to death, he can be well conditioned to the sounds of a firing range. I could never shoot someone in a wheel chair, but he'd be an exception.
ReplyDeleteMost of still feel extremely raw about 9/11. Having the trial in NYC is rubbing salt in the proverbial wounds. Frankly, it is disingenuous of you not to acknowledge this whether you agree or not.
ReplyDeleteAlso, high profile trials are extremely disruptive and disruptive for a long time to a city -- even more so if you have to work or have any business to conduct anywhere near the area of the courthouse. And these trials always create additional security concerns and problems beyond the trial and defendants themselves.
Careful, Mr. Kiker, seems a number of people who come here don't have senses of humor.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, if I were to suggest that Mr. Stack be awarded posthumously the 2010 Timothy McVeigh Medal for the Dumbest Act Of Revenge To Date, some people would just not get it.
9:16, please explain to me why bringing the perpetrators to justice constitutes pouring salt in the wounds of 9/11 survivors? I seriously don't get that argument.
ReplyDeleteAs for the inconvenience, etc., the feds are used to holding high-profile trials, especially in NYC. That's a pretty slim reed to hang your opposition on given the benefits (which surely you'd acknowledge) of achieving final justice for 9/11 perpetrators.
If they could bring Nazis to trial at Nuremberg after WWII, these guys can get a trial, too. And just like at Nuremberg, doing so will enhance the causes of justice and freedom, not diminish them.
"please explain to me why bringing the perpetrators to justice constitutes pouring salt in the wounds of 9/11 survivors? I seriously don't get that argument."
ReplyDeleteNice try, mr. strawman. But who said anything about not bringing them to justice? Stop with your dishonest responses.
"As for the inconvenience, etc., the feds are used to holding high-profile trials, especially in NYC. That's a pretty slim reed to hang your opposition on given the benefits (which surely you'd acknowledge) of achieving final justice for 9/11 perpetrators."
Whether they are use to it or not, a trial of this type creates all sorts of security problems and is highly disruptive. And, no, they have no experience in holding a trial like this one, let alone in NYC. Again, it creates all sorts of security issues and not just with the trial.
And a slim reed is you once again implying that I or anyone else opposes prosecuting these murderers. Since you are intent on continuing to misrepresent what I have argued, you're a jerk.
As to Nuremberg - brush up on your history. You're comparing apples to oranges. Also, most of the mass murderers from WW2 either were never prosecuted or received a slap on the hand. That wasn't, in your flowery prose, enhancing the cause of justice.
Since they are proposing that we hold the trial near the theater district why not give them a stage on Broadway so they can dramatize their hatred of the US?
ReplyDeleteWell Grits, do you think the guy in New York can get a fair trial there? Do you think an impartial jury can be seated? What about for the Fort Hood suspect?
ReplyDeleteHousing a suspect for safety reasons of the prisoner and holding a trial are two different things my friend.
Do you think the guy in New York can get a fair trial there? Do you think an impartial jury can be seated? I'm waiting for you to take the defendant's side on these issues too.
Since he's in a wheelchair, send him to TYC. They can teach him more terroristic tactics from the chair.
ReplyDeleteDoran 9:25--I know, I wish there were some e-sign language to indicate tongue in cheek.
ReplyDeleteI'm for the award. Will someone from TYC be the presenter?
ReplyDeleteOne is a US citizen and the other is an attacker from a foreign nation. That is enough difference to justify civilian law for some an military detention and/or prosecution for others.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend that all you anon(s) read the Constitution. Yes, Virginia, it applies to everyone. Why so afraid of a real trial? If whatever happened isn't really "torture," then surely that pesky fourth amendment won't interfere with a good lynching.
ReplyDelete10:22: How would you bring them to justice with no trial? Just hold them indefinitely at Guantanamo? Is that justice? What exactly (besides inconvenience) are you afraid of?
ReplyDeleteAnd how is Nuremberg apples and oranges? You say it, but you don't say why.
Finally, calling me a jerk without offering any arguments to support your views isn't very convincing. You need to improve your trolling techniques.
10:50, the ability to get a fair trial is a fair point, but that's an objection to be raised by the defense. Objections to taking KSM to New York are coming from other quarters.
2/20/2010 02:59:00 PM
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you misstate what I said. You're not a jerk, you have now reached asshole status.
Initially, I did offer arguments but when you respond dishonestly and deliberately misstate what I posted, I got tired of your games. The fact that you would do this repeatedly tells everyone it is you who is without cogent arguments.
Personally, I wouldn't have any problem with giving KSM and his terrorist buddies a trial in Bell County--although I do have some reservations about spending any of our tax dollars on any sort of defense for those bastards. At least a trial in Texas would carry the reasonable assurance that that the death penalty would actually be achieved and imposed. As an added bonus, if KSM got stuck with the needle because he couldn't get his appeal filed before 5:00 at the CCA clerk's office, Grits and his liberal buddies could have a whole new bunch of death penalty "martyrs" to cry over for years to come.
ReplyDeleteThe terorists are using our liberal friends to destroy America. What is so sad, is the liberals, like Obama, do not seem to care that they are destroying America.
ReplyDeleteGrits, about the nazis; was Goebles Merandized and given the opportunity to hire OJ's dream team? Did OJ get the verdict the evidence warranted? If a high level nazi had been captured prior to the end of the war should he have been given the right to remain silent? And to whoever; no Virginia, the US constitution does not apply to the entire world.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very naive to believe that "the war on terror" will ever end. There will always be people who want to hurt others. There will always be conflicting views on everything from who has the religious moral high-ground to whether peanut butter is better crunchy or smooth. You can add layers of reason, justification and belief to those, but the basic starting point is the same.
ReplyDeletePeople have differences. You can either be scared of what you make no effort to understand, and then become the thing you are scared of, or you can make some attempt to reach an informed understanding instead of following the scaremongering of those you would prefer to take responsibility from you. Terrorist spread fear. They do not always come with strange clothes and a funny name. Either way, you can only change yourself. Killing people doesn't change their beliefs, it just makes them dead and leaves a space for someone else to fill.
RAS: Albert Speer was captured at the end of the War in Europe. He, as was probably true of almost all the captured Higher Uppity-Ups in the Hitler Administration, were allowed to not talk or to talk, it being their choice. Speer talked, confessed, showed remorse and contrition, was found guilty at Nuremberg, imprisoned, released and lived out his remaining life in Germany.
ReplyDeleteRudolph Hess was captured before the end of the War, after his ill-considered flight to England via Scotland, in an attempt to broker an end to the war. He was imprisoned and died in 1987 in Spandau prison.
As far as I'm aware, there was never any form of torture brought to bear on the Higher Uppity-Ups who were captured. I ascribe that lack of torture to the high ethical standards of the Allied Civilian and Army leaders, and to their understanding that torture rarely provides anything useful, unless, of course, you are seeking a tortured confession which is not worth a dime.
You would probably enjoy reading the Spandau Prison entry in Wiki. And, if you have a couple of days, read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer.
Sunray, a "war on terror" has about the same meaning as a "war on fat," or a "war on poverty," or a "war on unsightly dandruff." It is a PR/Advertising term generated to hide and confuse. Terror is not a political party or political ideology. Terror is a tactic which, as you correctly suggest, will always be with us. Fighting it with bullets and bombs in Iraq, and wire tapping, unwarranted arrests, torture and other affronts to individual liberty, is not only worthless, but stupid. And people who support such tactics are also stupid.
RAS...you are rather shallow. Your posts expose your ignorance. Get educated before you post again.
ReplyDeleteTerror is an emotion; Alqueda is a roughly organized, multinational organization that wants to intimidate the US into staying out of their business until they become powerful enough to destroy us or dictate the terms of our capitulation. As far as torturing nazis, I didn't say anything about torture, but questioning with maximum intimidation for extended periods could also produce information that could save thousnads of American lives. 'Whoever' may be right about the war being almost never ending.
ReplyDeleteYes, Anon(s), the Constitution does apply to everyone tried in an American court. Even "those dusky furriners."
ReplyDeleteYou're even shallower than I thought. Learn to spell properly.
ReplyDeleteSend the guy in the wheel chair anywhere but TDCJ!!! He may just be miraculously healed and get up and walk (and take officers clothes and guns while at it)
ReplyDelete