No Civilian Trials for Terrorists

There's a growing list of members of Congress who oppose President Obama's plan to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - the mastermind of the 9-11 tragedy - to New York City and put him on trial in federal court.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) added her name to the list of those opposing the New York City venue.  And now there are reports that the President has ordered the Department of Justice to seek other locations - instead of New York City - to hold the terror trials.

That's simply not enough.  The President needs to reverse his flawed strategy of trying these terrorists in our criminal justice system in civilian courts.  These terrorist belong in the military justice system and should be tried by military tribunals, not civilian trials.  There should be no civilian trials in New York City or any other city on U.S. soil.

Moving these terrorists to our criminal justice system is a very dangerous move that will empower terrorists with rights afforded only to U.S. citizens.  Such a move would limit and even exclude important evidence against the terrorists place our intelligence gathering techniques at risk and even give terrorists a platform to spew hate and incite more violence.

While a growing number of members of Congress are expressing their opposition to putting the terrorists on trial in New York City, members of the House and Senate need to go further - they need to support legislation introduced by Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) in the House (H.R. 4111) and soon-to-be introduced legislation in the Senate by Lindsey Graham (R-SC).  The legislation will keep terrorists out of civilian courts.

This is a critical issue that affects the national security of America - and the safety of all Americans.  I encourage you to sign on to our petition supporting this Congressional push to keep terrorists out of civilian courts.  Add your name here.