Im not sure where to put this, so I'll stick it here.

Mike Lupica, who should stick to sports writing, because his political views are slightly to the left of Meathead's, from "All in the Family," was atypically dead-on this morning in his article about the 9/11 trial and how it shouldn't take place in New York City. As a New Yorker, I happen to agree with him.


Evil 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should not be given the stage he seeks

Mike Lupica - News

DALLAS - They never got to try Lee Harvey Oswald here on Houston and Main, in the old courthouse they've turned into a museum.

It is a block away from what was once called the Texas School Book Depository, the place where Oswald was the terrorist 46 years ago this week, sitting in that window and shooting President John F. Kennedy in the head.

"They tried Jack Ruby in the old County Courthouse," a man named Michael Livingston said Sunday, standing next to a fountain in Dealey Plaza. "And I'm sure they would have tried Oswald there if they could have."

Now, all this time later in New York, there is to be a trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan Federal Court, a few blocks away from where 2,751 of our own died because of terrorism he is charged with masterminding. Not as close as Oswald would have been to the old Texas Depository, now known as the Dallas County Administration Building. Close enough.

This trial is supposed to be an example of how we are better than Mohammed and all fanatics like him, who stop off at courthouses on their way to the gates of hell.

We are to show Mohammed we are a country of law and justice, even though there are New Yorkers who think the only proper justice for this Mohammed would be a trip through certain neighborhoods of the city where he could try explaining to cops or fireman or family members of the victims of Sept. 11 what a mastermind he truly is.

Or maybe just a few hours in a bar in Brooklyn, explaining to some of the patrons why he's the real martyr here, why America is the enemy.

It wouldn't be enough. Frontier justice, "Dead or Alive" justice, is never enough, and never brings back the dead, could never make the world what we want it to be, which is the world of Sept. 10, 2001. We could never turn back the clock after Oswald and make it the day before Nov. 22, 1963. A fair trial in New York for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed doesn't change the worst day the city has ever had.

The other day, I was talking to a friend who lives downtown. He was there the day the planes hit, and got separated from his wife in the panic and chaos of the morning, neither one of them knowing if the other was safe, on the day when no one in America felt safe.

I asked if he wanted the trial here and he said, "Yes. Justice here. As close as possible to the scene of the crime." He was there that morning and I wasn't and he wants the trial for noble reasons, about the city and the country. But I don't. I don't want Mohammed to get the stage he has sought for years.

Not here.

I'm not sure how many other people who live in Manhattan and work in Manhattan want it, either. What do they really think about this? This is one where you want to hear the voice of the people. This is one where everybody deserves to be heard, because it was New York that got hit.

There are a hundred ways to look at this, of course. One of the reasons O.J. Simpson got acquitted of murder - I believe - is because he didn't get tried in Brentwood, the scene of his hideous, cowardly crime. But Mohammed isn't going to get off if he gets tried on the moon, or by a military tribunal, he's going to be convicted whether he defends himself or not.

Tim McVeigh blew up a building in Oklahoma City, murdered scores of innocents in the process. His trial was held in Denver. He got his fair trial and his justice there, McVeigh being afforded the rights of an American citizen, something Mohammed sure is not.

You can see the coverage of Mohammed already, and it isn't about the best of us, or even close. This is a trial that will dominate the city and hold it hostage and bring back the day and none of the dead. This bum will get the stage he wants and tell the city it is a target all over again.

Who wants that? We don't need a trial here to show him we're better than he is. New York showed him that eight years ago.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/11/16/2009-11-16_evil_911_mastermind_.html#ixzz0WzvXKDLF