Preparing for the NY Terror Trials

Lower Manhattan around Foley Square is going to be turned into an armed camp, complete with snipers and heavily armed police and other law enforcement agencies. There will be street closures and detours and lots of inconveniences at a minimum as the US Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and four of his fellow al Qaeda terrorists will be put on trial in Southern District of New York.

Security will be at an all-time high for the trial of five accused 9/11 terrorists - just a few blocks and eight years away from the lost twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Rooftop snipers, armored vehicles and lock-down zones around the Pearl Street courthouse are part of the plan to insure safety during the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his cohorts.

"It's highly appropriate that those accused in the deaths of nearly 3,000 human beings in New York City be tried here, and the NYPD is prepared for the security required," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly vowed.

The men are in the Guantanamo Bay terror prison and likely won't be brought here for weeks, but New York's law enforcement leaders are busy planning to keep things safe and secure.

The U.S. marshals will handle courthouse security, and their main mission is to protect those on trial. The job for the FBI and the NYPD is protecting the public from anyone hoping to disrupt the trial or gain international recognition by trying to free the defendants.

I argued yesterday that it was needlessly unnecessary for these terrorists to get access to US federal courts, when military tribunals would be just as efficient and effective in handling these cases, but the Administration decided that a circus atmosphere would be more appropriate. That's exactly what will happen; the terrorists will use the open court as a platform to spread their message of hate. The terrorists and their lawyers will try and paint the US government, particularly the Bush Administration as the evil doers - engaging in torture and other restrictions on the rights of the accused, when the trial should focus on the fact that Mohammed admitted to plotting the 9/11 terror attacks that killed more than 3,000 people.