NEW YORK IS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S TRIAL.

9/11 is imprinted on The City's consciousness. As the place where the spectacular attacks on the world trade centre took place it can be seen as both the best and the worst place to hold Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial. It has huge symbolic meaning, but there is less chance of a fair trial in a city that has lost so many people in the attacks. There may have been dislike at the possibility of a military trial but such a trial would be less likely to be swayed by public opinion and the inevitable media blitz. So is The Big Apple the right place for the trial?

New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

Yes, because... The World Trade center fell in NYC

 

It is a time honoured convention to retrace one's steps to the scene of the crime, to go back to where it all began. Giving justice to the civilian criminals of 9/11 in the city is appropriate in terms of retribution. They need to know how the city they damaged would reciprocate/'treat them'.

New York felt the blow of the history changing event that defines the Y-generation( Gen-X was defined by the falling of the Berlin Wall) most tremendously. New York needs closure and justice.

The trial should not be held anywhere else, since the effects of these war crimes were personal to N.Y.C

Obama has marched forward, finally putting an end to a tragedy dragged on for about a decade. Criminals must be tried in the face of American justice transparently, humanly and fairly, lest we stoop to their level and barbarically treat them like animals.

 

The trial in NYC is unjust, the families of the victims of 9/11 , see the attack on their kin as A War Crime. and feel that the deliverers of justice should treat 9/11 criminals as war criminals.

To them it is clear that the attack on the W.T.C was an act of War for Muslim fundamentalists agaimst america/American freedom/liberty/justice.

More than N.Y.C the victims' families felt the blow the hardest. It is more important for them to have closure and make peace with the event. If they are not given justice/satiated/appeased/acquiesced then what is the point of the trial? We learn a lesson from Nuremberg where the Nazis were tried, that a military proceeding can be fair ,transparent,open to the media and humane. But these men must be treated as what they are : War criminals not civilians as Obama claims.[1]

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/opinion/24iht-edgerson.html?_r=1

 

Vote on this point: The World Trade center fell in NYC

Absolutely Yes
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Neutral
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Absolutely No

New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

Yes, because... New yorkers are not pre-judiced, pre-judging involves judging people before knowing the facts, New Yorkers judge from their very real horrific experience

 

This man is guilty without doubt , to claim that he may be innocent is absurd. The trial is not about whether he did anything wrong: Of course he did.

The results of this trial revolve around how he and his fellows/comrades should be punished.

 

Why have a trial, if his guilt is unquestionable?

The central issue of this trial is not whether or not 9/11 occurred, but whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was responsible for the attack. The severity of the attack. and the experience of the New Yorkers, does not have bearing on that issue. Indeed, the experience of the New Yorkers might lead them to assume guilt without accessing the merits of the prosecutions case.

It is of the utmost importance that Sheikh Mohammed be given a fair trial. To do so emphasizes that the Western world's commitment to democracy and human rights has not been shaken by terrorism. This also forestalls any claims that Sheikh Mohammed has been persecuted because of his religion.

Ultimately, if the prosecution has evidence of Sheikh Mohammed's guilt, he will be convicted no matter where he is tried. It is important that we do not allow our commitment to procedural democracy be undermined by terrorism.

 

Vote on this point: New yorkers are not pre-judiced, pre-judging involves judging people before knowing the facts, New Yorkers judge from their very real horrific experience

Absolutely Yes
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New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

Yes, because... It makes historical sense

 

For Adolf Eichmann's part in the Final Solution, during which he travelled to visit the Palestinian site where the British had mandated Israel to be in 1937 , Eichmann was tried for his crimes in Israel. His crimes were in many places around Europe, but it was symbollically correct for Eichmann to stand trial in the Jewish homeland.

New Yorkers, on this occasion have a homeland; New York. Thus, it makes sense to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed there, where it is charged with symbolism, and historically consistent.

 

People working in the WTC who died on or as a result of sept 11, 2001 were not necessarily `New Yorkers`so to speak. What is a new yorker? 60% of residents in N.Y.C are from outside the U.S, even Americans working on wall street or in this instance the world trade center were not generally New Yorkers(maybe new New Yorkers, but not people who could/would define or describe their homeland/hometown as The City.

 

Vote on this point: It makes historical sense

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New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

 

No, because... how can they be assuredly given a fair trial in a city that hates them and labels them as 'evil doers'.

The jury members will be gleaned through a voir dire examination to make sure that they will not be prejudiced or partial.

Despite Mohammed's demands to defend himself, he will be appointed a Yank attorney who will have to defend his actions in light of the torture he has faced and perhaps the insanity that is culturally/socially/historically/religiously embedded in his mind.

 

Let's face the facts. N.Y.C is more prejudiced against these alleged criminals than any other place in the world. Precisely because NYC felt the immediate adverse effects of this event the hardest. NY will have no mercy.

Waterboarding; an illegal method of torture was used illegally by Americans in extraterritorial prisons on terror-suspects. Including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed(An Arab terrorist caught by Pakistani authorities and sold to the U.S) 183 times in 2003.

Taking this into account a forced confession or botched evidence is not an/a easily/callously dismissible notion.

NY will not give these men humanitarian justice: It's too wounded and hungry for revenge.

 

Vote on this point: how can they be assuredly given a fair trial in a city that hates them and labels them as 'evil doers'.

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New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

 

No, because... New York is still(just like the rest ofthe world) suffering and this suffering will inevitibly cloud the jury's judgement.

This is not a 'conventional' trial.

Intelligence agencies do not present covert evidence from classified files in conventional trials.

 

What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Pre-judging the results of the trial as: 'This man is guilty without doubt' qualifies as prejudice.

When celebrity criminals are tried, jurors are conventionally requested not to watch/read the news to keep themselves impartial/objective/rational/'taking into account only the facts of the case and NO external influences'.

Clearly this becomes extemely difficult in the case of the 9/11 trials, verging on close to impossible if they take place in New York.

Too many New Yorkers are angry and still feeling the effects of fresh psychological/physical wounds, both direct (lung diseases from the collapse of the twin towers) and indirect (suicides,murders and other chaotic panic because of 9/11). Deaths and diseases in the family and an ubiquitous and paranoid fear of the middle-eastern 'other' could prevent the jurors from remaining impartial.

 

Vote on this point: New York is still(just like the rest ofthe world) suffering and this suffering will inevitibly cloud the jury's judgement.

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New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

 

No, because... A republican senator won in Mass.(a very `leftist-state` generally)

Many people are opposed to Obama for a string of other reasons, namely:

Stalling decision-making(e,g: health-care-bill, environment) for fear of a filibuster from the senate.

Troops in Afghanistan & Iraq

No gay-marriages yet.

The majority-rule does not apply in determining what is right.

 

mainly on this point: That man should not be tried in New York.

The move by Obama is considered to be soft on terror.

people don`t want it in New York generally.

It does in a democracy

 

Vote on this point: A republican senator won in Mass.(a very `leftist-state` generally)

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Vote on this debate: New York is the right place for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial.

Absolutely Yes
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Neutral
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Absolutely No