Former Bush Official Defends Civilian Trial For KSM.

I just got off a conference call held by the Council on Foreign Relations, featuring former adviser to Condoleeza Rice, John B. Bellinger, and National Security expert Steve Simon. Simon has an op-ed in the New York Times today supporting the decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in civilian court.

Bellinger said that he thought the administration's "hybrid model" of military commissions and civilian trials makes sense given that some of the people the U.S. is holding were captured on the battlefield. Nevertheless, he also pointed out that federal courts have far more experience dealing with terrorism cases than military commissions.

Bellinger condemned the "demonization" of the military commissions by human rights groups, and argued that the commissions were "in fact a well functioning system with good judges and good lawyers who I think would have been fair," but that "none of the military lawyers were used to dealing with massive terrorism cases like this.” Bellinger said that the Bush administration had in fact planned on "moving to shore up the military prosecutors with people from the Justice Department."

“Federal prosecutors are really more used to doing this kind of thing anyway," Bellinger said.

Another point that Bellinger made was that military commissions cases can be appealed into the federal court system -- meaning that any lawyer who decides to appeal would have his client's case looked at by a civilian judge anyway. He said that even if KSM had been tried by military commission, his case would have ended up in federal court.

As for Simon, he pointed out that trying KSM and the alleged 9/11 conspirators by military commission would read poorly in the Middle East.

“In the Arab Middle East, these sorts of trials are carried out by the military, they are seen as the worst form of pseudo-judicial regime justice, and not the real thing," Simon said. "So when they would look at a trial conducted by the U.S. military, even though it would adhere to more than just a semblance of due process, they’re looking at men in uniform trying other men, and they’re going to draw certain conclusions based on mirror imaging.”

"They’re just going to say that’s what happens here.”

-- A. Serwer