Union Leader - Ayotte's Fight: Military Trials for Terrorists

News Article

By Editorial Staff

Freshman U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte made national news last week when Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta forcefully opposed an amendment she introduced to an appropriations bill. She lost the fight on Friday, even though she was right.

Ayotte's amendment would have prohibited funding for civilian trials of enemy combatants. Coming soon after the killing by missile of two American al-Qaida members in Yemen, its timing was perfect. Without even having to say it, Ayotte raised the obvious points: If we can legally kill American citizens by missile attack because they are enemy combatants, then what are we doing putting terrorists in the civilian court system? Shouldn't combatants of an organization that has declared war on the United States be tried in military courts?

The answer, of course, is "yes." But the Obama administration is fixated on the strange idea that we can win hearts and minds overseas if we try captured al-Qaida members in civilian courts. He thinks it shows that we're fair. If so, then what does blowing them up with drone-fired missiles show?

Ayotte's amendment was voted down on Friday, but she isn't giving up.

She is trying to amend another bill to create a presumption in the law that al-Qaida terrorists be tried in military tribunals. She needs to keep fighting because she knows what the administration refuses to acknowledge: We are at war, and bringing that war into our civilian courts is a big mistake.

Source