Failing to try

Gotham City is no longer the stage for prosecuting suspected terrorists. The Obama administration has recently decided to rethink its plan to prosecute in federal courts, instead moving the trials to military tribunals.
But caving because of the current political headwind is the wrong move.
New York is where the attack occurred. It is the correct place for the trial and New Yorkers would be proud to have justice served there.
Many opponents of the civilian trials have claimed that federal courts don't have a proven track record in trying such cases. In fact, New York's federal court has a 100 percent conviction rate on terrorism trials.
These trials even took place before 9/11, when New York courts tried and convicted the 'Blind Sheikh' Omar Abdel Rahman and the al Qaeda bombers who attacked embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Trying these alleged murderers in a criminal court is not being soft on terrorism. To have these trials on a military base, away from the public eye, allows for a shroud of secrecy to follow these proceeding.
The trial will take months and certainly would have congested the streets and avenues of New York City. But New York City is big enough to have the trial in any of the five boroughs of New York.
The objections are very sound: the financial cost to the city, the fear that the trial would inspire a lone bomber or planned attack, and perhaps even providing a platform for the alleged terrorists to preach their own beliefs.
However, to assume that New York isn't the prime target already for another attack is downright naive. Having the trial there doesn't make it any bigger of a threat.
It has been that way since 1993 and the first World Trade Center attacks and other plots, such as blowing up the Holland Tunnel. Since the 9/11 attacks, there have been planned attacks to blow up the Herald Square subway station or bomb fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
There is a tremendous amount of good that can come from these civilian trials. Such public trials could help the healing process of 9/11 victims' families. Allowing the families to see these men on trial may help close a painful chapter in Americans history.
The underlying problem is that too many Americans still believe that America is unsafe and that another attack is seconds away. Many politicians actually supported the open civilian trials for Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, the 'shoe bomber.'
Now these same politicians claim that open civilian trials endanger Americans. Some have even proposed legislation to defund these trials.
America has become ever more willing to suspend basic protections and turn aside American traditions of justice. The failed terrorist attacks and their political aftermath have revealed that terrorists have changed very little in the decade since the World Trade Center fell.
What is slowly eroding is Americans' belief that as a nation, this country isn't safe enough and has lost faith in its rule of law.