Try 9/11 Mastermind in Washington

New York doesn’t want the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed to take place in lower Manhattan, so bring the proceedings to the nation’s capital, writes Thomas Penfield Jackson. After all, “KSM’s crimes were committed against the entire nation,” so a trial in Washington is only “fitting,” contends Jackson, a retired federal judge who presided in DC.

Jackson worries that New York’s demurral may result in an inappropriate military trial for KSM. “His crimes were civil,” he writes in the Washington Post. “His weapons were four stolen commercial aircraft,” and “he was not captured on a battlefield.” Terrorists should be convicted “as the common criminals they are. There is no more appropriate forum than the DC federal district court.” (More Khalid Sheikh Mohammed stories.)