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RUSH: Now, continuing with the audio sound bites. Related to this there was a terror trial verdict in New York. Last Wednesday night on CBS Evening News — now, this slipped past most of the media, but it was pretty big, and I think this shows why we cannot allow terrorists to go to civilian trials, especially in New York. Remember when the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed civilian trial was first proposed? What did I, your host, suggest? I said, ‘Do you think it’s automatic that they can’t get a fair trial in New York? Do you think there aren’t some people in New York who hate America enough to find these guys not guilty? Hell, just go to the Upper West Side, you know, randomly pick people coming out of Zabar’s and you’ll find a jury that might acquit Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, certainly go down to the Village, any number of places.’


And now listen to this report. This is CBS Evening News, a portion of Correspondent Bob Orr’s report about the verdict in the trial of Al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Ghailani. Anchor Katie Couric says: ‘A major setback for the Obama administration and its attempt to show that terror suspects held at Guantanamo can be tried successfully in civilian courts. In what was seen as a test case, a federal jury here in New York today acquitted Ahmed Ghailani of the most serious terrorism charges against him, convicting only on a lesser charge of conspiracy. Justice correspondent Bob Orr has the very latest on this developing story.’

ORR: There’s no doubt at all this is very bad news for the government. Our CBS News security analyst Juan Zarate calls it ‘a disaster.’ This was to be a test case of sorts, as you mentioned, to prove that Guantanamo Bay detainees could be successfully prosecuted in civilian courts in the U.S. But the jury now has found Ahmed Ghailani not guilty on all but one of the major terror counts against him. Not guilty on four counts of conspiring with al-Qaeda in the U.S. embassy bombings back in 1998 in Tanzania and Kenya. Also he was found not guilty on 224 murder counts. This, obviously, could have a huge impact on any future plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators. For now they remain at Gitmo and with this verdict in all likelihood, they will remain there for the foreseeable future.

RUSH: Oh, really? Oh, they will? You mean Obama really wants a conviction here? Holder wants a conviction? Whether they get convicted or not these guys are gonna get years to bash this country from a New York courtroom. But here you have 284 counts acquitted, a New York jury, as predicted by me, your host, El Rushbo. They talked to Peter King, congressman from New York who said…

KING: How this evil terrorist could be acquitted of 284 counts, including hundreds of counts of murder, and only convicted on one count is — shows the absolute insanity of having these civilian trials in the first place. This is a terrible defeat for the Obama administration.

RUSH: Everybody thinks it is. But I don’t hear them bellyaching. Did Holder call a press conference and act like he was outraged over this? Did he? Wait a second. Holder’s spokesman said that the verdict showed why it was the right thing to do? Was a victory for the United States and our justice system that this guy was acquitted on 284 counts? Found guilty on one count. Victory for the United States. Eric Holder’s spokesman. Well, there you have it. That’s even worse. That means the full breadth of my prediction was true. Well, here’s Hillary on Meet the Press Sunday morning, David Gregory: ‘A lot of uncertainty in the criminal justice system, as you well know, as a lawyer and in a civilian case. My question is, are we committed with these terror suspects, and if they are acquitted, that they should be released?’

HILLARY: Well, no, and don’t forget, we’re not going to —

GREGORY: Then why — well, then why hold up the American system as the right route if you’re not gonna release them? That’s what the American system says you have to do.

HILLARY: But, David, first of all, our system is the best system in the world. We all know that. It is good enough and strong enough to either convict and sentence the guilty or even execute where appropriate, and where you can’t convince an American jury, which is certainly obsessed with terrorism, maybe there is a question about the strength of the case. And I think what we are trying to do is get the best result consistent with our laws and Constitution.

RUSH: A-ha. Now, better by accident or by design, Gregory asked a pretty good question. Well, why if you’re not gonna release ’em then why do this? And Bobby Jindal said the same thing. He was on Meet the Press, and Gregory said, ‘Do you think President Bush just got lucky with this?’

JINDAL: Go back to the Miranda rights for the underwear bomber. What evidence do they need? I mean they caught him with a device. What was the purpose — you asked a great question of Secretary Clinton. Why are we doing these civilian trials if they’re not gonna release them? Why are we compromising sources? But here’s the second point. You look at some of President Obama’s writing, you look at how he talks about, well, we need to understand the disadvantaged backgrounds, this is a matter of social justice and more foreign aid. Nonsense. The analysts have looked at the terrorists that are coming at us. The disproportionate share are educated, come from privileged backgrounds. The reality is this isn’t about people who don’t have enough jobs, who don’t have enough social aid. This is about fighting an enemy that hates our way of life.

RUSH: Yeah, why try ’em if we’re not gonna release ’em? What’s the point of the trial? Well, sadly, we know what the point of the trial is. We want people to stand up in court and indict the United States for the world to see, and this is how Obama proves to the world that we’re so strong, we’re so good and decent, we’ll gladly have our country raked over the coals by our enemies. We have no compunction about letting them go free, putting ’em on trial and having them acquitted. That’s how great a country we are. But, remember, as far as Obama and Reverend Wright, this is a guilty nation, we gotta pay the price for all of our transgressions over the course of our existence.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: So this Ghailani trial is a show trial, pure and simply a show trial. The only question is what is the show? You know, back in the Nazi days, the Stalinist days, there were show trials frequently, all over the place, but there was never any doubt that the people in those trials were ever going to be released. Same thing here. So what’s the show? In fact, in this particular trial one of the key witnesses was not allowed to testify because the prosecution only learned about the witness during the CIA’s interrogation of Ghailani. It was a Clinton appointed judge, and that judge ruled that permitting the testimony would have violated the terrorist’s Fifth Amendment rights. So it’s a show trial, and for what and for who is the question.

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