2001: Schumer said terrorists should be tried in military tribunals

My, how things have changed. The Washington Times dug up some old testimony of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). In 2001 the senator said that those who attack the US don’t deserve the same due process of Americans. I wonder what changed?

Immediately following the attacks of September 11th, in December of that year, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss the idea of prosecuting terrorists in military tribunals. According to the hearing’s transcript, Schumer was in favor of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects.: 

There are also those prisoners of war who we have captured and will capture in Afghanistan and other countries who will receive a trial of some sort. It is clear we need to try those suspects in a forum that achieves two primary goals—two goals, I might add, that may not conflict. First, the Government must have the power to use even the most sensitive classified evidence against these suspects without compromising national security in any way, shape, or form. In addition, those who commit acts of war against the United States, particularly those who have no color of citizenship, don’t deserve the same panoply of due process rights that American citizens receive. Should Osama bin Laden be captured alive—and I imagine most Americans hope he won’t be captured alive. But if he is, it is ludicrous to suggest he should be tried in a Federal court on Center Street in Lower Manhattan.

The senior senator from New York has changed his tune greatly since 2001. Schumer not only believes a 9/11 terrorist suspect like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should be tried in a civil court six blocks from the ruins of Ground Zero, he also wants seventy-five million dollars a year reimbursement for the city of New York, which he says would cover the costs of terror trial security. Eight years after the 9/11 attacks, the New York Times reported last spring Schumer said the following.:

“Bottom line is we have had terrorists housed in New York before,” he said at a news conference at the Capitol with other Democratic leaders. “They’ve been housed safely.”

Mr. Schumer noted the “blind sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman as one example. “The main concern is bringing these terrorists to justice and making sure the public is safe,” Mr. Schumer added. “I have faith that the administration will do both.”

 Apparently, Mr. Schumer’s pre-9/11 mentality is where the Obama administration wants to return to. Louis Pepe would disagree with his senator’s position. Pepe was a federal prison guard in New York City eight years ago (ten months before the attacks of September 11th). He was severely maimed and disabled for life by terror suspect Mahmoud Salim. Salim was waiting to be tried before a civil court for suspected involvement in the bombings of U.S. emabssies in East Africa three years prior. After being sentenced to thirty-two years in prison for brutally assaulting Officer Pepe, Salim was dropped from the terror trial he was originally brought to the United States for, thanks to a judicial technicality.

See the video below. The Washington Times asked the senator why military tribunals aren’t appropriate to try terror suspects. Watch Schumer run away as he ducks the question. Follow the link above for more – including how Schumer’s former chief counsel headed up the investigation of the Bush administration’s firings of US attorneys and how Schumer told Rachel Maddow he wants the prior administration investigated for torture. Can we surmise that Schumer was for military tribunals until he realized civil trials are a much better way of getting back at political enemies?

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