November 17, 2009

Trying the Terrorists

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Andrew Sullivan on the prospect of trying the 9/11 suspects in civilian courts in New York City:

When you listen to the Fox News right speak about this, they reveal amazing levels of fear. They have been truly spooked by these men with long beards and chilling eyes. They are so scared of them they are willing to drop any and all legal principles that the West has historically used with respect to mass murderers. Their fear brought them to institute torture, and to engage in mass brutality against prisoners of war in every theater of combat in a manner that will tragically taint the honor of the US military for a very long time. It led them to establish Gitmo, to create for the world a reverse symbol of the Statue of Liberty, and imprint it on the minds and in the consciences of an entire generation of human beings, whose view of America will never be the same.

It’s not as if the right’s reaction to these trials is a surprise, not after listening to a year’s worth of wailing about death panels, socialism, birthers, dithering, Chicago thugs, and more.  The right wing base today doesn’t just oppose Obama, they’re aboslutely terrified of everything he stands for.

But they brought the New York trials on themselves.  I’m not categorically opposed to using military tribunals in cases like this, but that’s hardly an option anymore thanks to the Bush administration’s contemptuous efforts to turn them into obvious kangaroo courts.  Hell, even military lawyers couldn’t stomach them.  As for an international court, that would be fine too except that conservatives have blocked every attempt to make the United States a party to them.  The only real choice left, if you want ensure something within shouting distance of a fair trial, is a civilian court.

But does this mean there’s any chance they could get off?  In theory, sure.  That’s the whole point of having a fair trial.  In practice, forget it.  The evidence against KSM and the others is too strong.  A year from now, they’ll all be convicted, New York City will be intact, and we’ll get on with our lives.

And the right will move on to being outraged and terrified about something else.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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