Right wing conservatives and the opinion-casters at Fact less Nitwit News have their panties twisted all up in knots this week over the issue of where and how to place the 9/11 bombers on trial.  Going beyond that, I am sure some of there heads will soon explode over where to keep these prisoners when and if they are found guilty.

As is normal for most of the problems our nation is facing at the moment the roots of this issue are in the former Bush/Cheney regime.  We are all now aware of how that gang played fast and loose with our own and international law and now once again their arrogance is causing problems for our nation.

For many years we have held prisoners that we suspected of being terrorists.  We have held them in a state of limbo with no charges being filed against many in the Guantanamo prison.  While talking up the war effort and asking for more money to fight it every chance they had the Bush D.O.J. kept claiming that the prisoners we held were not prisoners of war so the articles covering the treatment of P.O.W.’s did not apply to them.  They were part of a fighting force so international civilian law did not apply to them and they were not U.S. citizens so our own law did not apply to them.  That made it A.O.K. to hold them indefinitely, deny them legal counsel, torture and beat them.  The legal status these human beings held was the basic equivalent of hamburger.

Now we have a President that has actually made a final decision on the issue.  These men will be tried by our civilian courts in the legal jurisdiction where they are charged with their crimes as other terrorists and mass murderers before them have been.  That means the trial will take place in New York, New York and the courthouse is only blocks away from the pit where the twin towers once stood.  If found guilty they would be sentenced to serve their prison time in one of our prisons.

The conservatives however feel there are numerous and vast problems with President Obamas decision.  Of course they feel that way about any decision he makes but the rant-o-meter has gone up a few notches this week.  Depending on which sound byte you listen to the trial of these men will jeopardize our nation more than any other event in our history.  From further traumatizing the poor helpless people of New York (their words, not mine) to making that city an even bigger terrorist target than it already is.  Making the children, parents and siblings a target of terrorist revenge from Mayor Bloomberg, to the judge, jury and even the prison guards that may one day guard these men they make it sound like there will be a total bloodbath in N.Y.C.  I for one have a bit more confidence in the abilities of the N.Y.P.D. and F.B.I. than Fox & Friends seems to have.

Some have claimed that we cannot handle this problem and should bump it up to an international court.  Still others are saying that these men are now prisoners of war and should be tried by the military.  I wonder if they realize that by giving these men P.O.W. status at this late date they are opening the door for charges to be filed for the mistreatment and torture of prisoners on the men that ordered those crimes to be committed?  If that happens it will be Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Rove being tried at the international court.  That I would not mind seeing!

You know heads are boiling over at Fox when Mr. America himself, Bill O’Reilly, says live and on the air that he does not care about the Constitution of the United States and calls a man that sites it a pinhead!

Then you get the what ifs.  What if they are put on trial?  What if they are found guilty?  What if they get off?  What if they go to prison?  What if they actually speak?  What if there is another attack?  What if there are kidnappings?  What if New Yorkers are traumatized?   What if, what if, what if?  They are asking that question more and more because they lack the ability to report what is happening and their small minds can only envision things that might make the weaker amongst us afraid.

I have a couple of what ifs for the brainless idiots at Fox.  What if we do what we should have done long ago and put these bastards on trial for their crimes?  What if we quit hiding behind the skirts of the legal mumbo jumbo the Bush regime came up with?  What if we show a pair and a spine and lock them away for the rest of their lives or put them to death?  What if we give the people of New York and our country a sense of closure?  What if we follow our own laws and care about our Constitution?  What if you all just shut the hell up?  How about those what ifs?

Then if these guys are convicted there is the problem of putting them in prison.  That is assuming they do not get off on a technicality…. like torture.  Where would we put them?  How could we be safe?  O.M.G. they would be among us!  They could snatch our brains and change our people into unholy Muslim warriors!  There would be thousands of terrorists paying them weekly visits!  Whatever shall our nation do?  From the sounds of these so called patriots, if these men step foot on our soil our nation will collectively pull up its skirt, put hand to forehead and swoon like a overwhelmed little debutante!  Give our country a bit more credit than that!

Our nation has managed to try, convict and imprison mass murderers and terrorists for quite some time now.  I strongly suggest you look at our laws, our history and our sense of national pride before you keep spouting your fearful what-ifs.  If you wish to go and hide like a scared little girl then that is the right of the conservatives and Fox.  I for one think our nation has the guts and the will to lock these terrorists in a deep dark hole for the rest of their lives.

So while you tremble in fear draw your followers under your skirts, let the rest of the nation get on with business.  It was your fearless leaders that put it off for way to long and I am forced to wonder if you are afraid for us or for yourselves.  After all you supported Bush breaking our own laws, you supported treating people like animals and you supported the near destruction of our national economy.  Maybe what you are really fearful of is that once we finish with the terrorists we will start looking at those responsible for weakening our country and you know you had a hand in that.  Who knows, you may be on trial next!

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed after capture. I refuse to be afraid of these terrorists!