Cirque du Jihad: Coming to a federal court near you?

Cirque du Jihad: Coming to a federal court near you?
By Michelle Malkin • January 29, 2010

My syndicated column today expands on Tuesday’s blog post about the Aafia Siddiqui terror trial debacle in New York City (see here for background/links http://michellemalkin.com/2008/08/05/outstanding-fugitive-al-qaeda-fixermicrobiologist-aafia-siddiqi-caught-shot-extradited/ http://michellemalkin.com/2004/07/28/terrorists-dont-stop-at-the-rio-grande/) and what it portends for the future. Yes, I call it Cirque du Jihad. The White House and DOJ are now scrambling to cook up contingency plans for their jihadi show trials in the wake of mounting opposition to the Gitmo transfers. President Obama is still pushing to bring the Gitmo detainees into the U.S. federal court system.

But what’s happening in the Siddiqui circus can happen anywhere. Don’t let it happen in your backyard.


Imagine this nightmare courtroom scenario: Unhinged Jew-bashing, open mockery of American soldiers, juror intimidation, and coldly calculated exploitation of U.S. constitutional protections by a suspected al Qaeda defendant. Well, there’s no need to wait for the Gitmo terror trial circuses. New York City is already getting a glimpse of the future.

Jihadi scientist Aafia Siddiqui is on trial right now in a federal Manhattan court for the attempted murder and assault of U.S. military personnel in Pakistan two years ago. She’s an accomplished Karachi-born scientist who studied microbiology at MIT and did graduate work in neurology at Brandeis University before disappearing in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Counterterrorism investigators connected Siddiqui and her estranged husband, anesthesiologist Dr. Mohammed Amjad Khan, to Saudi terror funders. The couple’s bank account showed repeated purchases of high-tech military equipment and apparel, including body armor, night-vision goggles, and military manuals. Her second husband, fellow al Qaeda suspect and 9/11 plot helper Ammar al Baluchi, is one of five Gitmo detainees that the Obama administration is planning to transfer to New York for trial.

Siddiqui was identified as an al Qaeda operative, financier, and fixer by no less than 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed during U.S. interrogations. Al Baluchi is KSM’s nephew. Mohammed reportedly enlisted Siddiqui in a Baltimore-based plot to bomb gas stations, fuel tanks, and bridges, and poison water reservoirs in the greater Washington, D.C. area.. Siddiqui was taken into custody in Kabul in July 2008 after attempting to shoot U.S. military interrogators and FBI agents.

Now, the savvy “Terror Mom” of three is pulling out all the stops to win a mistrial. Among her Cirque du Jihad antics:

*Demanding that jurors be genetically tested for a “Zionist or Israeli background” to ensure a fair and impartial jury of her Jew-hating peers;

*Ranting about 9/11/Israel conspiracies during voir dire;

*Screaming out loud during the testimony of U.S. Army Capt. Robert Snyder, who was in the room in Kabul when Siddiqui allegedly grabbed an M-4 rifle and proclaimed, “Allah Akbar!” and “I hate Americans! Death to America!” Before being ejected from the courtroom, Siddiqui shouted to Snyder, “You’re lying!” She also babbled about torture at a secret prison;

*And blurting out “I feel sorry for you” to the witness in front of the jury before being led out of the courtroom again.

Siddiqui’s defense team, funded in part by the Pakistani government, asserts that Lady Al Qaeda is so mentally ga-ga that she should not be allowed to take the witness stand. Bleeding-heart human rights groups have dutifully rallied around Siddiqui. She’s Mumia abu Jamal in a burqa. Indeed, her supporters have launched their own “Free Affia” campaign. But two government-retained psychiatrists, working independently, determined last year that Siddiqui’s so-called symptoms of mental illness were attributed to “malingering” and “manipulation.” The judge in the case concluded that she is competent and understands full well the charges against her.

The Crazy Jihadi tactic is in perfect sync with the al Qaeda training manual advising its operatives to claim victimhood status if arrested and put on trial. This act is also in keeping with a long tradition of terror defendants invoking the insanity card – from “20th hijacker” Zacarias Moussaoui (whose lawyers chalked up his mass-murdering ambitions to a traumatic childhood) to Fort Hood massacre Nidal Hasan (whose defense will undoubtedly play up his lonely bachelorhood).

To make matters worse, the New York Post reported this week that an “unidentified man in a white headdress” mouthed an obscenity at the Siddiqu trial and cocked his finger like a gun at two jurors. The jurors were let go; it remains unclear whether the thug in white headdress will be charged and what relation, if any, he has to Siddiqui.

Would you answer a jury summons knowing you could end up sitting in front of a jihadi sympathizer on the loose mentally painting a target on your forehead? And would you trust the White House ringmasters and Justice Department terror-coddlers to protect you from harm?

These suspects belong in controlled military tribunals, not federal courtrooms that are being turned into al Qaeda p.r. platforms. The O.J. Simpson spectacle of a smirking murder suspect, preening defense attorneys, a showboating judge, and the judicial process run amok on cable TV 24/7 was bad enough. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial, which gave the bin Laden network a multi-million-dollar, tax-subsidized legal team, free translation services, personal dry-cleaning services, race-baiting defense witnesses, and access to information that was allegedly used by jihadists to evade surveillance, was even worse.

The specter of 10 or 15 or 20 Siddiqui-style courtroom carnivals – at a cost of at least $1 billion to taxpayers – threatens to throw our civilian courtroom system into complete chaos. America can’t afford to clown around with national security.

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/01/29/cirque-du-jihad-coming-to-a-federal-court-near-you/

Well, lookey that. Obama administration is now back pedelling on sending 9-11 terrorists to NYC.



Retreat: White House plays jihadi musical chairs
By Michelle Malkin • January 28, 2010 09:37 PM


President Obama’s rhetoric meets reality, again.

After pushing hard to try Gitmo detainees in New York City, the White House has now ordered the Justice Department to try and find other venues. They are still insisting on shipping suspected jihadis to federal courts on U.S. soil.

It’s going to be a long, pointless game of jihadi musical chairs:

The White House ordered the Justice Department to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.

The White House took the action hours after Mayor Bloomberg called Attorney General Eric Holder to say he would “prefer that they did it elsewhere.”

“It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that’s too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood,” Bloomberg told reporters.

“There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City.”

State leaders have railed against a plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan federal court since Holder proposed it last month.

The order to consider new venues does not change the White House’s position that Mohammed should be tried in civilian court.

“President Obama is still committed to trying Mohammed and four other terrorist detainees in federal court,” spokesman Bill Burton said Thursday.

As I said in November in a post on coming jihadi show trials:

If this White House thought Tea Party activists were an “angry mob,” wait until they see the backlash from 9/11 family members and their supporters nationwide. We’re not going to sit down and shut up about the reckless, security-undermining Obama 9/10 agenda and conflict-of-interest-ridden AG Eric Holder.

Note well:

“They’re in a tizzy at Justice over Bloomberg,” a federal law enforcement official said. “It’s like a half-baked souffle – the plan is collapsing.”

Meanwhile, a source told The News that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was the driving force behind the push by Manhattan business leaders to change the mayor’s mind on the trial.

Kelly made an “extremely powerful” speech to a roomful of 150 prominent business leaders about how disruptive and costly the trial would be for lower Manhattan at an annual police charity event on Jan. 13, the source said.

“What turned this around was when Ray made a presentation to the Police Foundation,” the source said. “Everyone went from thinking, ‘Justice will be served’ to thinking ‘We are screwed.’”
***

More on the rising political opposition to civilian show trials on both sides of the aisle from Allahpundit.

And more on the search for new jihadi musical chairs from the NYT:

Mr. Burton said the president agreed with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that civilian trials were the right choice. “Currently our federal jails hold hundreds of convicted terrorists, and the president’s opinion has not changed on that,” he said.

Finding a site for a trial rejected by New York City could prove a challenge. Other Southern District locations appeared to pose problems. Some officials mentioned the Eastern District of Virginia, where terror trials have been held, or the unused Illinois prison where the administration has proposed to move detainees from Guantánamo.

A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, said Thursday night that there had been no decision to shift the trial from Manhattan. He said department officials were confident that the Southern District, where the department’s most experienced terrorism prosecutors work, could handle the case “while minimizing disruptions to the community to the greatest extent possible consistent with security needs.”

City officials have estimated security and logistical costs could total more than $200 million per year for a trial that could last several years, and some politicians have complained that a trial could make the city an even more attractive target for Al Qaeda.

Mr. Bloomberg, who in November had strongly backed Mr. Holder’s decision to bring the Sept. 11 defendants to the city they were accused of attacking, surprised administration officials on Wednesday by saying he had changed his mind. On Thursday, he elaborated, not closing the door to a Manhattan trial but expressing strong preference for another location.

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/01/28/retreat-white-house-plays-jihadi-musical-chairs/

jw wrote:I heard that and aren't they still thinking of having it at Gitmo?

No. I think they're still looking at other cities in the US although no one wants them in their town and are saying they SHOULD be held in Gitmo. Obama is offering $200 million for security (I think) to any city that is willing to hold the trials there. I also heard not only will it be costly for security during the trials but then the judge, all of the jurors, witnesses, prosecutors, etc. will need round the clock protection for the rest of their lives. In addition the city where the trials were held would be a target for a terrorist attack.

I don't know what this administration is thinking.