An emotional debate is raging over the Obama administration's decision to try five 9/11 suspects, including "mastermind" terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), in the city they attacked. While some say holding a transparent civilian trial in New York City will provide closure, others counter that a drawn-out "circus" will reopen painful wounds. National polls show that a majority of Americans reject the idea, even as New York mayor Michael Bloomberg supports it. Is trying 9/11 perpetrators so close to Ground Zero a masterstroke — or a nightmare? (Watch Rep. Peter King (R-NY) criticize the decision to try KSM in New York)
Why make New York more of a target? The trials will only encourage another terrorist attack on Manhattan or a "jailbreak effort," says Dan McLaughlin in The New Ledger — not to mention "what promises to be many months of grandstanding by the terrorists." Why let them preach their propaganda for the sake of "empty symbolism"?
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