As a native New Yorker, hearing all the “controversy” and “outrage” over the decision to try the 9/11 suspects in Federal Court here, has me scratching my head. The city has been the location of big trials before, one more isn’t going to change things very much. The need to do something with the suspects is acute, (as Gitmo has proved to be more trouble for the USA than its worth), so I’m happy that these cretins will have their day of judgement, whether here or someplace else.

Frankly, this will be a little bit like the Nazi trials at Neurenberg, as the guilt of many of the participants was never in question there either. Rather, it was a chance to show the world that evil acts would not be tolerated by civilization, and the perpetrators would get a fair justice they never extended to their victims. While these dudes and acts don’t quite rise to the enormity of Nazi horror, the USA still needs to show the world that we are better than the holders of primitive ideology by not descending to their level of arbitrariness and totalitarianism.