Bloomberg Reverses: Don't Try KSM in NYC; Try Him At a Secure Location Like a Military Base

When you're on a sinking ship, you know how to find the higher ground?

Follow the stream of chittering, panicking rats.

Rats are stupid vermin, but they are survivors.

The Obama administration on Wednesday lost its most prominent backer of the plan to try the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in Lower Manhattan when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the trial should not be held in New York City.

The mayor’s reversal was a political blow to the White House’s efforts to resolve a landmark terror case a few blocks from where Al Qaeda hijackers rammed planes into the World Trade Center, a trial that the president saw as an important demonstration of American justice.

Mr. Bloomberg said that a more secure location, like a military base, would be less disruptive and less costly. His remarks echoed growing opposition from Wall Street executives, the real estate industry and neighborhood groups, who have questioned the burdens that such a trial would bring to a heavily trafficked area of the city.

“It’s going to cost an awful lot of money and disturb an awful lot of people,” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference in Brooklyn. “My hope is that the attorney general and the president decide to change their mind.“

Administration officials expressed chagrin at the mayor’s statements, which appeared to come as a surprise. But there was no immediate talk of revising the decision to hold criminal trials for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his co-defendants in New York.

Of course there was no talk of revising the decision. The Great Oz never errs. Just ask him.

Via Gabe's Tweets again. On fire.

Not to belabor this point, but that is, after all, what I do here: Belabor points.

So, not to belabor this point, but Obama continues doubling down not just on his policies but on the PR tactic of selling himself as inevitable and invincible.

Reminds me of the Untouchables -- I want to write "Evitable" and "Vincible" on the wall.

(Not in blood, of course. I disown that part of the analogy. But yeah -- Evitable, and Vincible, you jackass. Peddle your Irresistible Force fantasy to your cultists.)

posted by Ace at 01:01 PM

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