Mike Rogers, the chair of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, told CNN Khattala had been “compliant but not cooperative” through 10 days of interrogation on a navy ship before being transferred to Washington for a civilian trial. Rogers said Khattala should be classified as an enemy combatant and held at Guantánamo Bay.
….“We have a military tribunal process and I do believe in it. We’ve used it in the past, in World War II and subsequent to that. We have a process where they get a trial and their guilt or innocence is established.
This has become such a knee-jerk reaction from right-wing politicos that I almost don’t even notice it anymore. But seriously, what is it that accounts for the conservative obsession with military tribunals? Abu Khattala would get a taxpayer-paid defense attorney either way. He’ll be held securely either way. He’s got about the same chance of being convicted either way. And if he is convicted, he’ll be shipped off to an appropriately grim prison cell either way.
So what’s the deal? Is this really just code for we should ship him to Gitmo and interrogate him in, um, an enhanced way? Is it code for Obama is doing this so we’re against it? Or is there something more to it? There’s a mountain of evidence suggesting that civilian courts are more effective at prosecuting terrorism than military tribunals, so that’s not it. Unless torture and abusive treatment are their goals, it’s a mystery why folks like Rogers keep banging away endlessly on their infatuation with military tribunals.
