It was decided this week that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, would be tried in a New York civil court. Eric Holder, the current Attorney General, will seek the death penalty.
Eric Holder, despite his promise to work for Muhammed's execution, has actually done him a kind of favour. He could have had Mohammed tried in a military court, where proceedings would have been shrouded in secrecy. Instead, he has made him the centre of attention in a case that is sure to turn into a media circus. Khalid Mohammed has even expressed his wish to die as a 'martyr', so the death penalty might end up turning more muslims -and indeed non muslims- against the United States.
As the decision about Khalid Mohammed was made public, another decision mattered even more to Canadians. Omar Khadr, the Canadian citizen who was captured in Afghanistan aged 16 and spent the last 7 years of his life at Guantanamo bay, will be tried in military court.
US military courts, by the way, are awful beasts. They accept certain kinds of 'coercive evidence' and have unique proceedures that lack the transparency of civil courts.
So here's the situation. The mastermind of the terrorist attacks that killed 3000 innocent people is getting a civil trial, while Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an American soldier by throwing a hand grenade, once again, aged 16, is being put through the ordeal of a full military trial.
Our Government is allowed to ask for the repatriation of Omar Khadr, a request that is virtually certain to be granted. But our government is refusing to do so. What does this say about the people running our country? Actually, what does this say about us, we the people who voted them in?
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