Litigation

From Brooklyn to Denver, Terror Plea Reverberates

By Peter Hardin

Najibullah Zazi’s guilty plea in a Brooklyn courtroom, to charges in a New York subway bomb plot (see Gavel Grab), is continuing to reverberate.

A New York Times feature article depicted life going normally in Brooklyn before, and after, the accused terrorist’s court appearance and contrasted that tableau with what it called the mushrooming “culture war” over the Obama administration’s plans to try 9/11 co-defendants in a federal courtroom in Manhattan, as opposed to before military tribunals.

Zazi was arrested by federal authorities in Colorado. The Denver Post has published an editorial condemning as “utter nonsense” the notion that prosecuting terror suspects in civilian courtrooms is soft on terrorism:

“The Zazi plea is an affirmation that the federal court system is ? and has been ? capable of handling terrorism investigations.

“Not every terrorism suspect ought to be pursued in civilian courts, but the Obama administration has proven, just as the Bush administration did with shoe bomber Richard Reid, that it’s not only possible, but also preferable.”

To learn more about the debate over military tribunals versus civilian courtrooms for trying terror suspects, read Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).