No Explanation For This Insanity

By Alicia Colon

The humorous definition of a conservative is: a liberal who's been mugged. On September 11, 2001, the entire country was mugged and so it's no surprise that the latest polls show that the majority of America is now conservative. Unfortunately, many in Congress, the White House and this great city have not experienced any such epiphany and refuse to recognize that the attacks were an act of war on our nation.

For the past year and a half, I've had the same feeling as Charleston Heston in "Planet of the Apes" when he shouted in his cage, "It's a madhouse! A madhouse!" This feeling was confirmed and shared by New Yorkers when they learned that the Justice Department was bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed here to stand trail for masterminding the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks on New York City. The reason for this senseless decision isn't a mystery but that it's coming to fruition is what's truly mind-boggling.

It's no secret that Attorney General Eric Holder's motive for holding the media circus here is to put the Bush administration on trial for waterboarding KSM, and that impetus overrides any sensitivity to the effects on the families of the 9/11 homicide victims.

This administration demonstrated its lack of compassion for them when it ordered jets to fly near Ground Zero for a ridiculous photo op of Air Force One. Who shot the photos? The jet pilots? How good could the photo be when the cameraman is flying an air force jet at the same time? Why was a photo even necessary? Did they never hear of Photoshop? This story smells to high heaven and we never did learn who was in Air Force One nor did we get any rational explanation for the ridiculous decision.

Now President Obama is having the circus come to town to demonstrate what a great justice system we have here, right? Then how come Mr. Holder is reassuring us all that KSM will be found guilty, and that if he's not, he'll be rearrested? So, basically, what Mr. Holder is saying is that this $600 million trial will be held in a kangaroo court. Nice. We've become a banana republic after all.

One would expect that the mayor of this great city would be appalled at the idea of this catastrophic disruption to our city but all we hear from Mayor Bloomberg is the price of the trials and that it will be a yearly expense of $200 million. Our own Senator Schumer is more concerned about NYC being reimbursed for the increased security costs than in the potential harm that will be done by these trials. Oh, incidentally, Mr. Schumer is up for reelection in November. Paging Rudy Giuliani! Perhaps Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Schumer have not contemplated the difference between a criminal and a military trial.

There's a very real possibility that KSM could be acquitted on a technicality such as not being Mirandized or being deprived of a speedy trial. This could not occur in a military trial. In our court system, a defendant has an absolute right to represent himself and this is a right the Supreme Court has upheld. If KSM and the other terrorists make this demand, they'll have a very strong argument that civilian due process requires that they be given direct access to our intelligence and interrogation techniques, which could benefit the enemy and give them ways to avoid capture in the future. Unless we hold the trial in camera, this will be a total media circus that will provide the defendants a worldwide platform to spout their hateful agenda.

I have to wonder if anyone in this woefully clueless administration has bothered to poll the families of the 9/11 victims. David Beamer, the father of Todd Beamer - one of the heroes of United Flight 93 - has weighed in on this issue and written: "Our enemies must be thrilled ... we are willingly handing them an opportunity to inflict economic harm on New York City, keep their cause in the headlines, gather new intelligence, create new terror strategies, stimulate recruiting, celebrate new found rights, and foist a fresh round of pain and suffering upon their victims."

I was discussing this subject with Kathy Curatolo, whose brother Robert was a fireman killed in the Twin Towers. She made the excellent point that 9/11 was not just an attack on New York City. It was an attack on the United States. She also agreed with me that the panty bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, should have been turned over to the military immediately as an enemy combatant. Instead, he's entered the criminal justice system and is now lawyered up.

This is, indeed, a madhouse with the inmates running the asylum, but is there no way to stop this? According to Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota: "The Constitution grants Congress control over the jurisdiction of the federal courts: Our lawmakers have the power to restrict enemy combatants to trial by military commission for war crimes. Through the power of the purse, Congress can deny funding to transport enemy combatants into our country to try them in our civilian courts. The civilian trial of KSM and the other 9/11 plotters doesn't have to happen, and we should make sure it doesn't."

While there is precedent for Congress to step in and halt this disastrous decision, may I remind all that this is a Democratic Congress that's in lock step with this administration? We have two Democratic senators representing us and they are not bothering with our concerns but are focused on remaining in power this November. Perhaps an alternative will be this petition, which has been drafted by Human Events: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35080

Our federal government may be too far gone, but the insanity is also present in our nanny-run city, which has just spent $32,000 on thousands of fliers instructing us how to shoot heroin properly, with detailed tips on prepping the dope. This is our glorious Health Department, which clamps down on poor homeowners for insipid violations of archaic laws. I was under the impression that shooting dope was illegal. What's next? Tips on the proper way to hold up a bank or mug an old lady?

This is the same city administration that's spending money warning us about the dangers of soft drinks. Madness, simply madness.

Alicia Colon lives in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com