DICK BRENNAN
For those caught up in the debate over bringing terrorists to trial in New York, consider how one of America’s greatest presidents handled the terrorists of a different era.
On June 13, 1942, four Germans landed a submarine in Amagansett, Long Island. After a brief encounter with a Coast Guard officer, they took a train to New York City.
Six days later, four more Germans landed a sub in Verda Beach, Florida.
Their plan, known as Operation Pastorius, was to place firebombs and explosives in places like hotels, department stores and train stations.
However, the scheme unraveled when two of the plotters got cold feet and one turned himself in. Soon, all eight were in custody, and President Roosevelt took charge.
In his book, Roosevelt’s Secret War: FDR and World War 2 Espionage, Joseph Persico writes that FDR had been long pre-occupied with sabotage and had no mercy for suspected saboteurs.
He sent his Attorney General, Francis Biddle, a memo that said, “The death penalty is called for by usage and extreme gravity of the war aim and the very existence of our American government.”
Persico also writes that FDR forcefully insisted on a military tribunal, saying the accused had forfeited any right to a civilian trial because “these men had penetrated battle lines . . . And were waging battle within this country . . . I won’t hand them over to any United States Marshall armed with a writ of habeas corpus. Understand!”
Interestingly, the men had not yet committed any acts of sabotage, and probably could have gotten only three years for conspiracy in civilian court.
Persico’s book points out that defense lawyers tried to get the trial moved there. The issue went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the military tribunal.
The verdict was pre-ordained. All eight were convicted and sentenced to death. Roosevelt commuted the sentences of the two who had cooperated.
However, the six others were executed in the electric chair. According to Persico, one witness reported, “they had gone to their deaths stunned, as if in a trance.”
FDR told a friend that his only regret was they had not been hanged.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his cohorts will go on trial in civilian court.
It is quite clear what our 32nd president would do in this case.
As for the 9/11 thugs, let us hope they ask for a change of venue. Moreover, let us hope it is granted. To somewhere in the South. Like Texas. They will no doubt get a fair trial. And a punishment to fit their monstrous crimes.
