With all the media attention directed at the presidential primaries, I nearly missed the news that the Pentagon finally charged six suspects in the attacks of 9/11 with war crimes on Monday, and is seeking the death penalty for all of them.
This development is monumental because during the more than six years since the attacks, President Bush has yet to fulfill the promise he made immediately following the tragedy: to “hunt down and punish” those responsible.
But filing charges means that a trial for the suspects will soon follow. Yes, contrary to what the Bush administration has led us to believe, suspected 9/11 terrorists will actually be brought to trial before the invention of flying cars.
Unfortunately, however, in the cases of these six suspects, being brought to trial and being brought to justice are two different things. It has become clear that the implicit meaning of Bush’s promise ““ to bring about justice for the many American lives that were lost and shattered on that day ““ will not be possible with the Pentagon’s trials.
Which is probably why Bush did not call a major press conference on the issue or tout the impending trials as a victory in his war against terror. He didn’t want to point out the fact that because of the controversy and secrecy surrounding U.S. treatment of terrorist suspects, the outcomes of their trials will never be looked upon as just.
This is not to claim that the accused men are innocent. The crimes of which they are accused ““ such as being a potential hijacker until one’s visa was denied and purchasing plane tickets for the hijackers ““ are truly despicable and more than worthy of harsh punishment.
But the U.S. government’s mistreatment of the detainees obscures not only the severity and importance of the crimes committed against the American people, but also the guilt or innocence of the accused.
I can find few reports detailing the importance of the trials in bringing some kind of closure to the families of the victims of 9/11. Instead we are inundated with news about the unfair treatment of the suspects.
The accused were held in secret prisons, where unlike in Guantanamo Bay, they could be concealed and deprived of aid from the American Red Cross.
According to the Wall Street Journal, at least one suspect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, endured water-boarding. The Journal also reported that according to government logs, another suspect, Mohammed al-Qahtani, was subjected to weeks of solitary confinement, forced nudity and religious and sexual humiliation.
The problem is not with members of the press, who are doing their jobs, but with the U.S. government, which, with all its intelligence, failed to realize that resorting to terrorist tactics such as torture could somewhat undermine the purpose of fighting terrorism.
The six will most certainly be found guilty, especially since they will be tried by a military commission.
The victory, however, would be hollow, if not embarrassing.
The six suspected terrorists would stand trial after being physically and mentally abused for years by the same organization that will provide their judges and jurors.
The government, in its irrepressible eagerness to execute the detainees, has requested to try all six of them at once, and according to the Journal, even designed a special courtroom in Guantanamo ““ where the trials will be held ““ for this purpose.
Perhaps for maximum efficiency the Pentagon should forgo the whole charade entirely and have the detainees simply wave at the commission as they’re led in front of a firing squad.
It seems that Bush’s goal was to push the trials forward as quickly and quietly as possible, in the hopes that he could sign the death certificates of the six suspects before the end of his final term.
This would mean that he could declare ““ at least to himself ““ his poorly thought-out war on terror a success.
Unfortunately for the American people, Bush’s personal agenda has taken priority over our national integrity.
Due to his administration’s sloppy disregard for domestic and international laws concerning the humane treatment of prisoners, the injustices our government has committed overshadow the possible guilt of the accused.
I cannot think of a more disrespectful way of acting in the memory of the innocent victims of 9/11.
E-mail Strickland at kstrickland@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments at viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.