It should not be surprising to learn, though it may make your blood pressure go up. The terrorists who orchestrated 9/11 and masterminded the deaths of thousands of Americans will plead not guilty. They will use their case to try American foreign policy.

Fox News has the details.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but “would explain what happened and why they did it.”

The trial of Zacarius Moussaoui tied up the federal courts for six years and he had pled guilty. How long will the American court system be tied up with pleas of not guilty and claims that America made them do it?

Add New York Governor David Paterson - surely, no right-winger - to the list of critics of trying Khalid Sheikh Muhammad in Manhattan, and he adds an additional concern, that the expense and additional security will interfere with the endlessly-delayed plans to rebuild on the Ground Zero site:

“This is not a decision that I would have made. I think terrorism isn’t just attack, it’s anxiety and I think you feel the anxiety and frustration of New Yorkers who took the bullet for the rest of the country,” he said.

Paterson’s comments break with Democrats, who generally support the President’s decision.

“Our country was attacked on its own soil on September 11, 2001 and New York was very much the epicenter of that attack. Over 2,700 lives were lost,” he said. “It’s very painful. We’re still having trouble getting over it. We still have been unable to rebuild that site and having those terrorists so close to the attack is gonna be an encumbrance on all New Yorkers.”

H/T James Taranto, who wonders why we’re just hearing all this now if the White House warned Paterson six months ago.

Here in New York, the Obama Administration’s decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other Al Qaeda terrorists in the civilian justice system in downtown Manhattan has garnered plenty of well-earned criticism, including from New York’s leading anti-terrorism experts like Rudy Giuliani, Michael Mukasey (who handled the blind sheikh trial as a district judge before becoming President Bush’s third Attorney General) and Andrew McCarthy (who was one of the prosecutors), and Long Island Congressman Peter King. And not just from the Right; even arch-liberals like Daily News sportswriter Mike Lupica have weighed in against the decision. Now the people are being heard from, and while the polls as usual show some diversity of opinion, the public is deeply skeptical of this enterprise even before it gets underway, let alone after what promises to be many months of grandstanding by the terrorists, gridlock in lower Manhattan, possible setbacks in the prosecution and the hemmhoraging of scarce resources on the trial(s) (as my retired-NYPD dad put it: “there’s going to be plenty of overtime for the cops.”).

The critics’ bases for opposing a trial are numerous, and several of them are reviewed by Erick here. And the polls now show those criticisms are shared by a majority of the nation’s voters and a significant minority even in liberal New York City, with the rest uncertain.

To quickly summarize the case against the trials:

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In the grand sweep of American history, the “War of 1812” seems to rank near the bottom of the list of events of possible importance. Just the name given to war seems to reflect this – naming nothing in particular to associate with that war, other than the year in which it began.

However, the “War of 1812” (which actually stretched on until the end of 1814) was anything but trivial. Circumstances concatenated to a fever pitch in the later part of 1814, as the fledgling United States of America frantically fought off a three-pronged British attack of continental scope.

And while today we mark more recent events, we should also note that perhaps the most crucial of those moments occurred on this date in 1814 – in the waters near (of all places) Plattsburgh, New York.

The tale is told – in words and pictures – below the fold.

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Tomorrow is the eight anniversary of the most heinous terrorist attack ever perpetrated on the United States. Thousands of our friends, family and fellow Americans were murdered in cold blood by vicious terrorists who hated America and what we stand for.

On September 19, 2001, a story ran in the Hyde Park Herald containing then-State-Senator Barack Obama’s response to the 9/11 tragedy. In this piece (quoted in this article from the New Yorker, under the heading “The Speech”), Obama expresses empathy for the murderers! Not anger, not disdain, not a word of sympathy for the victims. His concern was for the murderers

From Obama’s article:

We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.

So are we to feel sorry for these people, Mr. President?  It’s not like it was a mystery that there were terrorists out there in the world like this back in 2001.  We knew they weren’t poor & uneducated, as Obama seems to believe here.  Ponder the fact that it is just this kind of leftist “thinking” that is driving the Marxist/fascist policies emanating from the White House today.

Tomorrow, please pray for the families and friends of the victims, and pray for our country, that it not adopt the kind of thinking that Barack Obama expressed in 2001.

(h/t to Michelle Malkin for originally posting on this last September 11)

UPDATE:  Contrast Barack Obama’s response with Tony Blair’s:

So what do we do? Don’t overreact some say. We aren’t. We haven’t lashed out. No missiles on the first night just for effect. Don’t kill innocent people. We are not the ones who waged war on the innocent. We seek the guilty. Look for a diplomatic solution. There is no diplomacy with Bin Laden or the Taliban regime. State an ultimatum and get their response. We stated the ultimatum; they haven’t responded. Understand the causes of terror. Yes, we should try, but let there be no moral ambiguity about this: nothing could ever justify the events of 11 September, and it is to turn justice on its head to pretend it could. The action we take will be proportionate; targeted; we will do all we humanly can to avoid civilian casualties.

But understand what we are dealing with. Listen to the calls of those passengers on the planes. Think of the children on them, told they were going to die. Think of the cruelty beyond our comprehension as amongst the screams and the anguish of the innocent, those hijackers drove at full throttle planes laden with fuel into buildings where tens of thousands worked. They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000 does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it? There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must. Any action taken will be against the terrorist network of Bin Laden.

That is the response of a leader.  Obama’s response was that of a coward.

Yes, I am angry.  Again.

President Obama’s campaign organization, Organizing for America, goes way, way too far.

Team Obama wants to use 9/11 to push back against protesters, referred to as “Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists” by calling Senators in support of the Obamacare public government option.

Today, the Obama campaign folks sent out a notice to “grassroots” supporters about the planned 9/11″health care organizing event”:

What day? Our US Senators return to DC the Tues after Labor Day. That next FRIDAY, Sep 11, is Patriot Day, designated in memory of the nearly three thousand who died in the 9/11 attacks.

All 50 States are coordinating in this – as we fight back against our own Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists who are subverting the American Democratic Process, whipped to a frenzy by their Fox Propaganda Network ceaselessly re-seizing power for their treacherous leaders.

The offensive notice has been scrubbed from the Organizing for America website, but I was able to get the following screenshot [click for larger image].

How dare they? Don’t contemplate the nearly 3,000 innocent souls murdered by the
terrorists. Instead, politicize a day of remembrance. Whatever happened
to what presidential candidate Obama said on September 11, 2008:

Americans across our great country came together to stand with the
families of the victims, to donate blood, to give to charity, and to
say a prayer for our country. Let us renew that.

What happened to all that hope?

Don’t let team Obama get away with hijacking Patriot Day, a day that should remain a day of remembrance. Don’t wait until the Obamatons launch the planned Senate assault. Call your Senators and your Representatives now. Let them know what you think about this despicable effort to politicize 9/11. Tell them what you think of the president’s campaign organization calling protesters terrorists. Do it now.

A big h/t to the Heritage Foundation.

Background here, with commentary here and here - the short version is that the administration is in the process of rebranding 9/11 as a National Day of Service.  Like one of Hot Air’s commenters, I note that 9/12 makes a good deal more thematic sense, but then everything that you really need to know about the actual intent can be seen, as usual, by some of the players involved:

A coalition including the unsavory left-wing pressure group Color of Change and about 60 far-left, environmentalist, labor, and corporate shakedown groups participated in the call. Groups on the call included: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, and Young Democrats of America.

Like Allahpundit over at HA, I have a somewhat less immediate reaction to this than either Michelle Malkin or Matthew Vadum, and it’s for this reason:

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This only encourages them.

On the other hand, her party does have a problem with this sort of thing, and I guess that she may need the campaign contributions for next year after all - so now would be a good time to reach out to the base.

But really, madam: Infowars?

Moe Lane

PS: The New York Observer: “The video is already in wide circulation on 9/11 conspiracy web sites.”

I imagine that it must be.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

She nailed him to the floor. Whoever this kid was he was filled with generalities and naivete.

Some highlights:

“You don’t have the luxury in foreign policy of saying ‘alright I won’t deal with that country because I don’t like its human rights record.’”

“Foreign policy is full of tough choices, very tough choices. The world is not a bunch of easy choices in which you get to make ones that always feel good.”

“(We did) nothing that violates our obligations against torture. By definition, if it was authorized by the president it did not violate our obligations against torture.” (as defined by the Justice Department)

(H/T Bob Parks of BlackAndRight.com)

And - of course! - it’s in the last place you’d look:

Here’s how my very simple theory works: the common 9/11 truthers are - as a rule - unemployed, living at home, and nutritionally deficient due to a vigorously vegan diet. This gave them the free time, as well the depressed hostility (due to lack of animal protein) needed to plan the attacks. After the attacks, they were initially pleased that America mistakenly blamed bin Laden. But they also knew that, given time, after realizing the innocence of these young Islamic entrepreneurs, the scent of guilt would lead only to them.

Fiendish!

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