The heinous act of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 24, formerly Carlos Leon Bledsoe, a prison convert to Islam, is a perfect example of why terrorism cannot be fought using police procedures and is more effectively fought under military auspices. The fact that Muhammad was under FBI surveillance and already under suspicion of possible terrorist activities but got away with murdering one soldier and seriously injuring another is a lesson of how police procedures are prone to failure in stopping terrorism.
Many on the left in America lambasted President Bush for utilizing military tribunals and for his contention that the capture of foreign terrorists was a military matter. They said that these terrorist’s “civil rights” were being violated by the quick military actions and they abhorred the limited availability to legal council such procedures offered to suspects. The solution the left commonly offers is for the full American justice system to be placed at the disposal of foreign terror suspects. The left claims that doing so makes our own actions “consistent” with our traditions of justice.
However, to be consistent with our own civil court system, authorities are required to investigate, gather evidence, vet that evidence with legal council, apply for warrants through judges, and ultimately arrest and try suspects. This is an expensive and time consuming process during which time any number of leaks of information to the press and breakdowns of the system can occur. Sadly, we see these failures in the shooting incident in Arkansas.
This is a well written piece that shows some of the weakness our civilian justice system has in trying to prevent terrorism in this country.
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