But What About Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa?
Out of respect for his victims, I am refraining from jumping on the bandwagon (at least with both feet) of pundits who are cracking wise over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s claim that he was responsible for everything from masterminding the 9/11 attacks to tutoring shoe bomber Richard Reid to the Bali nightclub bombing to beheading Danny Pearl.
But it does beg credulity that a man whom my buddy blogger Will Bunch says looks like Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire� has been in custody for four years and has just gotten around to spilling all those beans.
The release of his confession certainly has nothing to do with trying to divert attention from the dire state of the scandal-sodden Bush presidency. Nooo.
It seems even more incredible that KSM had a hand in 31 terrorist plots in a line of work that is notoriously compartmentalized, and some of his claims are most certainly bogus. The big question is, how many?
Then there is the matter of the U.S.’s own credibility in prosecuting terrorists.
Was KSM coerced into his multiple confessions?
And how many times have grandiose claims been made by the White House and Justice Department about the dastardly deeds of alleged terrorists (read Jose Padilla) that later had to be rescinded after being scrutinized?
We can expect more of the same after the self-promoting KSM is put under the media microscope.
(If you don’t have a clue about who Judge Crater is, click here to find out.)
6 Responses to “But What About Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa?”
“But it does beg credulity that a man whom my buddy blogger Will Bunch says looks like Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desireâ€? has been in custody for four years and has just gotten around to spilling all those beans.”
That the beans were just made public does not mean he just spilled them. He likely talked long ago but only now, because of the tribunal, is the actual information becoming public.
“The release of his confession certainly has nothing to do with trying to divert attention from the dire state of the scandal-sodden Bush presidency. Nooo.”
Look at the big picture. The released transcript was for a tribunal that took place last Saturday. So if you’re suggesting this information was released to divert attention, then you have to assume that Bush called down to Gitmo and ordered themselves up a tribunal, stat! The fact is, this tribunal has been scheduled for a long time, but was significantly delayed by the SCOTUS Hamdan decision and previous legal wrangling and then the new Congressional law as a result. Arguments that this release was politically motivated are just as specious as the same arguments made by the right against Clinton when he was in office. If you have any evidence at all to even remotely demonstrate that the tribunal and release of its info was politically motivated, then let’s see it.
There’s legitimate debate on what KSM was responsible for and what he was not (for the best one-stop-shop, visit the danger room at: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/03/911_confession_.html ) , but consider this: Prior to our invasion of Afghanistan and killing/capturing the majority of the top AQ leadership, AQ was a much more centralized organization that it is today. KSM was the “chief of operations” if you will and he had a hand in most AQ plans. Pre-9/11 AQ cells were compartmentalized, but not from the top leadership like KSM, UBL, etc. because they were the ones who provided each cell with the resources necessary to conduct their attacks. Like many in the link above suggest, it’s likely that KSM was only tangentially involved in, or perhaps just aware of, some plots. It’s important to note that many of the plots he is claiming credit for never made it past the preliminary planning stage. However, there’s no question about his involvement in 9/11 and some of the other major attacks that actually did take place and frankly, I think it’s fair to question your motives for attempting to downplay this confession or somehow suggest KSM was a little fish when in reality he is the biggest fish we currently have.
He doesn’t look like Stanley, he looks like Mitch.
Entropy:
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. We’ll see how solid the government’s case is regarding these 31 alleged acts when and if KSM ever goes on trial.
I am not fooling myself. KSM is a very bad man. But given the administration’s record, one has every right to be skeptical.
And if I ever need an excuse for anything, I’ll be sure to look you up.
“..the matter of the U.S.’s own credibility..”
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This is the worst piece in the puzzle.
Here is a man who truly is one of Cheney’s worst of the worst’, but instead of just wondering about the facts, we have to wonder also about what went on during those years of his imprisonment.
That doubt will besmirch any resolutions that result from these cases.
Parts of his “confession” were redacted.Was he saying “stop torturing me” in those blacked out lines? Until his confession can be read in it’s entirety it’s worthless.
Albert, read the transcript. Names were redacted and what went on while he was in the custody of the CIA was redacted. Nothing else was. He claims he was abused by the CIA while in their custody – that part was NOT redacted. According to other reports he was water-boarded while in CIA custody and broke after 2 1/2 minutes. He makes no claim to ill-treatment at GITMO and he’s been there for at least 6 months – probably longer.