Trying Bin Laden

Over the weekend, I posted this on why attacking Dean for his comments referencing the importance of trying Osama Bin Laden are ridiculous. To be honest, I'm a little horrified that they are even controversial. Conservative rhetoric has made "fair trials" into a sort of unfortunate gift to criminals. In reality, it is in a fair and open trial that people become answerable to society. The purpose of a transparent jury-based judicial system is to ensure that criminals are answerable to the people, not the government.

Frequently in the modern world, trials of major figures have been a moment of pride for the ones doing the trying. That is why putting Saddam Hussein on trial in Iraq has such emotional resonance, and why the trial of Milosevic in The Hague a moment of international celebration. To use an extreme example, one of the key events of modern Israeli history was when they put Adolf Eichmann on trial for his role in the Holocaust. If they can handle and take pride in trying a Nazi, we certainly can a terrorist who, in the grand sweep of human history, is small change. Fortunately there's still a candidate in the race who understands these basic principles and will see that terrorists answer to the American people and not an executive order.