New York Terror Trials (UPDATED)

Another bad idea in a litany of bad ideas:

• The move to put the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind on trial just blocks from ground zero raises a host of legal, political and security questions, chief among them: Can a fair-minded jury be found in a city still nursing deep wounds from the attack on the World Trade Center?

  Some also worry that the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will make New York an even bigger terrorist target, and that he will use the proceedings to incite more violence against Americans.

  The loudest protests Friday came from relatives of the victims, many of whom oppose any civilian trial for terror suspects - especially at the federal courthouse 1,000 yards from the spot where nearly 3,000 people died.

Democrats continue to treat terrorism as a "police" issue and not as a form of asymmetrical warfare. These people declared war against the United States. Civil courts are ill-prepared to deal with this type of enemy combatant and bringing them into the United States, let alone New York City, will just give the extremists another reason to target a city that has borne the brunt of terror so far in this country.

And just imagine if one of these jagoffs gets off on a technicality.

UPDATE: The Illinois connection:

• A near-empty prison in rural Illinois has emerged as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said Friday.

  As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago.

  With Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and other key officials warm to the idea of a federal purchase of the prison, federal officials have stepped up investigations into turning Thomson into a super-maximum facility with a unit for former Guantanamo detainees.

The Sun Times also has an article up.