Crimes and Punishments

Why are people (Republicans) arguing that Obama should be holding a military trial for the panties bomber? Does anyone know the reason behind this argument? I'd ask for the rationality of this argument but they're republicans, ergo, not rational.

What benefit is obtained by conducting a military trial over a civilian trial? Well, there aren’t any of those pesky little civil rights thingies to worry about. No lawyer, no grand jury, no right to not incriminate yourself, etc., etc., etc. Not much of a right to appeal. Just enough to get it over turned in case you aren’t an enemy engaged in warfare.

Why is a civilian trial is mandated by American law? Well, there are those pesky little civil rights thingies, various statutes, countless Supreme Court opinions and The Posse Comitatus Act (1987) all of which forbid assertion of military jurisdiction over a civilian. Even in war zones. Even on military property. And, yes, even on military property in a war zone.

But, you may ask, is the panties bomber a civilian? Indubitably. Only Congress can declare war. After 9/11, Congress only enacted an Authorization for Military Use of Force. It did not enact a Declaration of War. Without a Declaration of War, a person (even an ‘enemy combatant’) can’t be tried in a military court, because military jurisdiction only attaches upon a violation of any rule of war. No war, no rules. No rules, no violation. Without a war declared by Congress, we have no enemies.

Men and women are being killed and maimed to protect the very right – civilian trial by jury of our peers – that Republicans are now viciously attacking. Now, I’m not shy about my criticisms of the American system of justice. I have many. They are legion. That being said, I am fairly confident that a man who tries to set off a bomb in his underwear on a plane in front of 200 eyewitnesses is likely to be convicted, even if he is afforded each and every constitutional right imagined by the leftest, hippiest, socialistest, commie pinko fag of all time. Besides, what's life in prison, or even the death sentence, compared this: the dude set his dick on fire. Even a military tribunal can’t do that.