What does Khalid Sheik Mohammed have in common with O.J. Simpson? Conservatives seem to think a great deal.
First, there was Sen. Chuck Grassley, who said this during Attorney General Eric Holder's Senate testimony last week:
I think a lot of Americans thought O.J. Simpson ought to be convicted of murder rather than being in jail for what he's in jail for now. It seemed to me ludicrous. You know, I'm a farmer, not a lawyer, but I just want to make that observation.
Indeed, a lawyer for one of the detainees has said that all five intend to plead not guilty “so they can have a trial and try to get their message out.” Were it not for Holder, they'd be on death row instead of preparing for a trial that will take years and make the O.J. Simpson case look like a traffic court hearing. And Holder chastises President Bush for delaying justice for 9/11 families?
Holder himself told the Washington Post that the coming New York trial will be “the trial of the century.” The last such was the trial of O. J. Simpson.
“What was the last crime of the century?” Kristol cried. “OJ Simpson . . . it's disgusting to me that Holder used that term . . . crime of the century means a circus . . . it's always been used for these tabloid show trials . . . now we're gonna have another OJ Simpson trial in New York.”
This card is starting to get a little dog-eared, fellas. And just so we're clear, according to Human Rights Watch the score on terrorism convictions over the past eight years is criminal courts 145, military commissions 3.
-- A. Serwer
