Garren Shipley of NV Daily obtains a powerful statement by Jim Webb opposing the Obama administration’s position on the detainee trials in civilian courts.
“I remain very concerned about the wisdom of doing so,” Webb says in a written statement. “It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts.
“Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor,” he says.
Military commissions, not civilian courts, are the place for accused terrorists apprehended on the battlefield to see justice, Webb said.
“We must be especially careful with any decisions to bring onto American soil any of those prisoners who remain a threat to our country but whose cases have been adjudged as inappropriate for trial at all,” he said.
“They do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts, and they do not belong in our prisons,” Webb said.
Webb is not the first Senator to express concern about the trials but, given his standing and reputation on military-related issues, his dissent is especially significant.
There have been a number of arguments about about why, for example, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, should be tried in a civilian court, ranging across notions that the outcome will be more acceptable in the court of international public opinion, that it was American civilians that were attacked on 9-11, to the belief that a civilian courtroom will treat KSM like a common criminal, not the military martyr he fathoms himself to be.
But Webb is making precisely the opposite point.
In essence, he is asking that if KSM- the mastermind of 9-11- cannot be treated as an enemy combatant, who should.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many Virginians who’d like a good answer to the question that Webb is posing.
Damn. Twice in one day I’ve liked something written or said by a Democrat (the first was Barnie Day’s column). Actually, for what it’s worth, I voted for Sen. Webb. And, in case anybody wonders about the origins of Sen. Webb’s military expertise …
“The Navy Cross is presented to James H. Webb, Jr., First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as a Platoon Commander with Company D, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 10 July 1969, while participating in a company-sized search and destroy operation deep in hostile territory, First Lieutenant Webb’s platoon discovered a well-camouflaged bunker complex that appeared to be unoccupied. Deploying his men into defensive positions, First Lieutenant Webb was advancing to the first bunker when three enemy soldiers armed with hand grenades jumped out. Reacting instantly, he grabbed the closest man and, brandishing his .45 caliber pistol at the others, apprehended all three of the soldiers. Accompanied by one of his men, he then approached the second bunker and called for the enemy to surrender. When the hostile soldiers failed to answer him and threw a grenade that detonated dangerously close to him, First Lieutenant Webb detonated a claymore mine in the bunker aperture, accounting for two enemy casualties and disclosing the entrance to a tunnel. Despite the smoke and debris from the explosion and the possibility of enemy soldiers hiding in the tunnel, he then conducted a thorough search that yielded several items of equipment and numerous documents containing valuable intelligence data. Continuing the assault, he approached a third bunker and was preparing to fire into it when the enemy threw another grenade. Observing the grenade land dangerously close to his companion, First Lieutenant Webb simultaneously fired his weapon at the enemy, pushed the Marine away from the grenade, and shielded him from the explosion with his own body. Although sustaining painful fragmentation wounds from the explosion, he managed to throw a grenade into the aperture and completely destroy the remaining bunker. By his courage, aggressive leadership, and selfless devotion to duty, First Lieutenant Webb upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.[”.