Peter King Rips Obama on Ghailani Verdict
Weekly Standard
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani killed 224 people and the Obama administration couldn’t convict him on a single count of murder.
The first civilian trial of a Guantanamo detainee ended yesterday with the stunning acquittal of an alleged Al Qaeda operative on all but a single count.
A federal jury convicted Ahmed Ghailani, 36, of conspiring to destroy U.S. buildings and property in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
But the jury – after 4 1/2 days of deliberation – cleared Ghailani of more than 280 other counts, including the top charges of murder and murder conspiracy.
Even though the charge he was convicted of carries a mandatory 20-year-to-life sentence, Ghailani appeared relieved, hugging his attorneys after the verdict was read in Manhattan Federal Court.
Peter King rips the Ghailani verdict as a “total miscarriage of justice today in Manhattan’s federal civilian court.” He says it demonstrates the “absolute insanity of the Obama Administration’s decision to try al-Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts.”
“I am disgusted at the total miscarriage of justice today in Manhattan’s federal civilian court. In a case where Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was facing 285 criminal counts, including hundreds of murder charges, and where Attorney General Eric Holder assured us that ‘failure is not an option,’ the jury found him guilty on only one count and acquitted him of all other counts including every murder charge.
“This tragic verdict demonstrates the absolute insanity of the Obama Administration’s decision to try al-Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts.
“This case was doomed from the beginning when the judge excluded DOJ’s key witness who admitted selling the explosives to Ghailani. Where is the justice for the more than 200 people killed and 4,000 injured in the terrorist bombings of our U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania?
“This is a tragic wake-up call to the Obama Administration to immediately abandon its ill-advised plan to try Guantanamo terrorists like the admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in federal civilian courts. We must treat them as wartime enemies and try them in military commissions at Guantanamo.
“As the next Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, I intend to hold hearings and conduct the necessary oversight on this critical homeland security issue in the 112th Congress.”
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Col. Ralph Peters discusses why recent hearings have shown the military tribunal is necessary to try terrorists.
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Wild Thing’s comment…….
Obama and Holder got their way… they saved one of theirs.
Our enemy is islam. We are at war with islam. We need to profile muslims. Until our leaders accept this fact, we will lose this war. Our enemies are muslim terrorists. They don’t wear uniforms and they hide behind women and children. They are not common criminals. They are militant terrorists who violate the Geneva Convention and the laws of land warfare. They should be tried by military tribunals, not civilian courts.
We are so politically correct and attuned that we don’t even shoot pirates on the high seas(except for the Seals and the Russians).
The leftest mantra is appeasement and this is what you get, more of the same. How that jury couldn’t find this guy guilty of anything is ridiculous.
Great video though it won’t make a difference with this egotistical administration. His ass should have been led into a room and executed. I’m so sick of the pussification of America. Time to make an example of these people. Let’s go after their loved ones. They obviously don’t care about themselves. Let’s hit them where it hurts!
Tom, I wish all you said would be how they do it. They need to wake up big time about Islam and these terrorists.
Mark, I agree. The Judge is following his agenda and could care less about doing the right thing. The same with the jury, it must have been loaded with old hippies.
Greg, I agree, that is exactly what should have happened to him.