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Joshua Marquis's avatar

I spent several weeks at GITMO as an "official observer" over two periods in 2012.

While the pace of the Military Commission trials are maddeningly slow, KSM is a fundamentally evil man and one of the truly rare killers who deserves the death penalty.

Watching his arrogance in the courtroom, and realizing his key role in murders both specific (Daniel Pearl) and massive (9/11) he deserves the ultimate penalty. I was surprised and impressed that Lloyd Austin stepped in and vetoed the flacid plea bargain that lower level Pentagon bureaucrats had agreed to. Like many others, I have been skeptical of advancing a general officer to SecDefense, but in this case it may well have made sense!

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Bob Park's avatar

Secretary Austin did the right thing this time but don't forget his role in our woke military or his being AWOL from his job for nearly a week. One correct call does not make him a hero or even a good SecDef in my book.

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Joshua Marquis's avatar

It may have been bad policy for him not to alert POTUS when he had prostate cancer surgery, but I don't think that made him AWOL...

I was still surprised.

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