Re: The debate

From: Eliyahu Rooff (lrooff_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 10/04/04 

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 07:37:28 -0700

"Jeannie H Wilson" <jeanniehwilson@aol.comnonospam> wrote in message
news:20041004085451.29874.00001429@mb-m14.aol.com...
> >Hyperbole, but when we're choosing between taking him dead or alive,
> >"dead" results in a lot fewer problems with attempts to force his
> >release via hostages and blackmail, and saves the millions of dollars
> >that a trial would cost.
>
> Yes, lots of money could be saved by omitting the need for lots of
trials but
> people still deserve the right to a fair trial and to justice. I am
shocked to
> see some of your posts of late.
>
If we're going to be realistic, any trial of Bin Laden would be a show
trial, pure and simple. Is there anyone in the world who could entertain
even a reasonable doubt as to whether or not he is the head of Al Qaeda,
whether he has backed, financed and directed the murders of thousands of
civilians, and called for more attacks? Even the Nuremberg trials had
defendants for whom the question of responsibility was arguable, and
there were a number of acquittals in them. When there's only one
possible outcome for a trial and it's known in advance, it becomes a
formality, and it's difficult to justify spending the millions of
dollars that such a show trial would cost. It would be an ongoing media
event, an opportunity for terrorists to take hostages, threaten
vulnerable targets and create havoc throughout the world. Look at the
ongoing trial of Slobodan Milosevic. It's been underway for over a year
now with no end in sight, doing little more than to provide Milosovic a
forum from which to justify the torture and killing of his citizens and
to equivocate about any responsibility on his own part.

Yes, if we capture Bin Laden, we'll try him, going to great extremes to
demonstrate that his rights are being upheld and that he gets a fair
trial. We'll spend a fortune doing so, accomplish nothing unexpected in
the process, and he'll be found guilty. He's unlikely to surrender,
though, and I feel that his death in combat will be no loss to anyone.

Eliyahu

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