Give Me One Good Reason

Bob Cesca compiles some data about trying suspected terrorists in the US court system. As you know, the entire wingnuttisphere is positive that trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or the Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab, the undie-bomber, in the US courts is a recipe for disaster.

Forget the fact that the Bush administration tried Zacarias Moussaoui (the 20th 9/11 hijacker) in a US court and won a conviction, and now he's in jail. Forget that the Bush administration tried Richard Reid (the Shoe Bomber) in a US Court, and now he's in jail. Forget the fact that the Bush administration tried John Walker Lindh (the American Taliban) in US court and won a conviction, and how he's in jail. Forget the fact that members of the terrorist cell that bombed U.S. embassies in Africa during the 1990s are now in jail after being tried in US court under the Clinton administration. Hat tip to MediaMatters for compiling this data.

Forget the fact that American terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were tried in U.S. court and convicted under the Clinton Administration, and now one is dead and the other in jail. Forget the fact that several people involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 were tried and convicted in U.S. court under the Clinton administration, and now they're in jail. Forget the fact that Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was tried and convicted in a U.S. court under the Clinton administration, and now he is jail. Finally, forget the fact that George H.W. Bush attempted to try the Lockerbie bombers in US court.

Forget all of these facts. Because Obama is now the president of the United States, suddenly our criminal justice system is woefully inadequate to deal seriously with a scared witless Nigerian from a wealth family who managed to light his nuts on fire. Because the Republican Party and its propaganda wing at Fox News cannot publicly utter one positive thing about Obama or his family or his policies or his faith or his patriotism or his vision or his basketball talents, there isn't a judge or a prosecutor or a prison in this entire nation who cannot secure a conviction and incarcerate Abdulmutallab.

Because, of course, what would it mean if Obama actually showed that the system worked? How could the Cheney Republicans and its propaganda wing at Fox News continue to say that Obama could not keep us safe or make progress against terrorism without, you know, dropping bunker-busting (or nuclear) bombs across the non-Jewish Middle East (and Muslim Africa and Muslim East Asia)? Because if Obama actually had the skills to lead the nation in foreign policy despite his not being white, southern, or Evangelical, what would that mean about all his other plans? Could it be possible, do you think, that the stimulus spending begun by Bush 43 and continued by Obama, could be keeping about 33 million people from poverty? Could it be possible that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is expected to have boosted employment nationwide by up to 2.3 million jobs by the fourth quarter of 2009? I mean, if all this were true, what else would the Cheney Republicans and its propaganda wing at Fox News have to say?

Oh, I know -- Obama wants to take away your guns, kill your babies, and turn the country gay. It's the work of Satan, I tell ya. And if he would just embrace Jesus, he'd find a way out of this mess and turn his life around. Yeah, the way Jesus saved Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and Ted Haggard, or Mark Foley, or Larry Craig, or David Vitter, or John Ensign.