Daniel Pearl's Friend Remembers

If you don't read much else this weekend be sure to read Asra Nomani's courageous and reflective story about her friend Daniel Pearl and her quest to find answers which led her to Guantanamo and back:

And so it became clear, at Guantánamo, that the only work left for me to do was to heal my wound. 

“What is grief?” I recently asked psychologist Steven Stosny, posing the obvious question I’d avoided for so long. 

“It’s an expression of love,” he told me. “When you grieve, you allow yourself to love again.” 

“How do you grieve?” I asked him. 

“You celebrate a person’s life by living your life fully.”

Read the whole thing.

Perspective.

On KSM and Gitmo

I really would like to blog about the announcement yesterday to try KSM and friends at Gitmo but I'm late for work right now and will have to get to it later.  By then it will be old news.  Meh. 

Suffice to say for now it's a really rookie, politicized move to go there on the same day you announce your re-election bid.  Did Team Obama think we'd all be showering praises on him right now for coming to his senses?  "You always wanted them tried at Gitmo; now you've got what you want and you're STILL bitchin'!" 

You bet we are!  How about years of frustration for justice as Obama dithered and pandered on this issue?  KSM confessed and was ready to be executed (i.e,. martyred) for his crimes and Obama let him chill down there at Gitmo instead. 

Rookie.  For all his blathering about how Gitmo has created more terrorism, his dithering has put a neon "Kick Me" sign on the back of America.  Weak.

Putz.

New Depths of Scum Dragging for the NYT

I wish I had the time this morning to sit here and dissect and dismantle this NYT editorial regarding Eric Holder's testimony yesterday and his position on the KSM trial.  The entire editorial is full of misstatements, false information and erroneously drawn conclusions.  Unfortunately, I have to go to work and can't spent a leisurely morning smacking down the Grey Lady.  But somebody will get to it.  I'd keep my eye on The Corner or Memeorandum - somebody is surely going to handle this one.

I can't resist a couple of quick notes, however. 

The editorial expresses nostalgia for the good old days of the Obama administration where it seemed like he was going to be "cleaning up the mess" George Bush made with detention policies.  You know how Obama likes to grab that mop and push everyone out of the way so he can clean up things. 

After the nostalgia, the editorial then blasts, among other things, "Republican fear mongering" as being the reason the KSM trip to NYC for trial failed.  There are lots of other reasons and somehow I don't call it "fear mongering" when you're pointing out verifiable truths.  For the Republicans to point out that bringing KSM to New York would be an expensive security logistical nightmare which is unnecessary given that we already have the means to try him at Guantanamo where he belongs is NOT "fear mongering."  It's called "truth", but that's something the NYT seems to have problems with.

This statement grabbed me:

Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman have a bill that would require the military detention and trial of anyone accused of any terrorism-related crime, including American citizens. That is the stuff of police states.

"The stuff of police states"?  Really?  Don't get me started.  As long as we're headed toward full blown socialism, NOW you're going to pick bones over "police states"?  We already have a "nanny state."  Why not?

Really, there's so much more, but I have to get ready for work.  I can't waste anymore time with the NYT this morning.

Obama Taking Charge of KSM Trial

After much bungling and backtracking we now get word that Obama is "planning to insert himself into the debate about where to try the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, three administration officials said Thursday, signaling a recognition that the administration had mishandled the process and triggered a political backlash." The Washington Post has the story here.

I'm still trying to figure out why he wasn't part of the decision in the first place, although the Post says it is because he wanted to have a separation between Justice and The White House. Yeah, I'm buying that.

The problem with all that is that the KSM trial shouldn't ever have been a "justice" problem; it should have stayed right where it was...in the hands of the military and the military commissions where KSM had already confessed and was ready to receive sentence.