“Trying the mastermind of 9/11 in New York City? This Obama is a
disaster of Biblical proportions,” a fellow murmurs to me in the
synagogue, although he offers no sources in Scripture for his
assertion. Presumably he means nothing more than to compare our
President to some of the less highly-regarded kings whose
exploits are rendered in the holy texts. But his line gave me
pause: who does Obama bring to mind among those figures? And is
the handling of Khalid Sheik Muhammad specifically violative of
Biblical norms?
My first thought was of King Amaziah in Kings II Chapter 14. This
was at the time when there were two Jewish kingdoms, Judea and
Israel, dividing the territory of the original Holy Land and
maintaining an uneasy peace. Amaziah was king of Judea, the
smaller monarchy. He successfully prosecuted a war against the
neighboring country of Edom and, flushed with victory, he sent
emissaries to King Joash of Israel challenging him to a war.
The message Joash returned is a classic (verse 9 and 10): “The
thistle in the forest sent the cedar in the forest a request for
their offspring to be grafted together, until a group of wild
animals from the forest passed through and trampled the thistle.
You defeated Edom and your heart is carrying you away. Settle
down and stay home and don’t look for trouble which will bring
you and your people down.”
Here is a wonderful image to describe a young whippersnapper who
wins an election and thinks he can conquer the world. He may have
worked his way into the big forest but he is still a thistle, his
lack of experience and lack of substance leaving him a fragile
target for the vicious creatures who roam the dark woods.
To see Obama swagger his way into the center of every major
issue, from Mideast negotiations to restructuring the entire
American health-care system, expecting full resolutions in a
short time with a few easy steps, is to see those verses come
alive.
AS FOR THE DECISION to bring Khalid Sheik Muhammad to a civilian
trial in New York City, a different story in Kings I applies
vividly. King Ahab, husband of Jezebel, led the kingdom of Israel
for some years, behaving in reprehensible ways. He encouraged the
spread of idolatry and he stood by while his wife rounded up the
legitimate prophets and executed them.
Yet God tolerated King Ahab and allowed his rule to be fairly
effective, with the exception of a period of famine designed to
wean the citizenry from trusting the illicit fetishes of
fecundity. According to tradition, Ahab was granted wide latitude
because he was a uniter who brought factions together
harmoniously.
Then he made his first really false move, in Kings I Ch. 20, when
his men captured Ben-Haddad, the vicious, marauding king of Syria
(Aram), who had intended to wipe out the country and enslave its
young. Ben-Haddad’s men advise him to soft-pedal his
conversational tone when confronted by Ahab, because the Jewish
kings want to be seen as nice guys. Sure enough, Ahab cuts his
counterpart slack and restores him to his throne.
At that point, the prophet tells Ahab God will no longer forgive.
“Because you released My antagonist from your hand…” (See Kings I
20:42.) This establishes a classic principle. Although the leader
is held liable for guiding the people along ill-conceived moral
and cultural paths, the one unforgivable act is sacrificing the
safety of his charges for the sake of his image as a man of
tolerance.
THIS IS CLEARLY what we are witnessing here with this perverse
determination to try Khalid Sheik Muhammad in a civilian
proceeding. By doing this, his prior guilty plea in a military
tribunal is voided. Any attorney would now advise him to plead
not guilty and recant his confession. Instead of the mountain
going to Muhammad, it will more likely shrink to a molehill.
If indeed Muhammad claims now that his prior admissions were
elicited by torture, he will have the explicit backing of the
President. Obama has indicated not only that waterboarding
qualifies as torture, but that no fair-minded attorney could
possibly have reached the opposite conclusion in good faith.
That’s right, just saying that waterboarding a terrorist prisoner
is legal has been imputed to be a criminal act.
By definition, then, Obama and Holder have thrown out the
evidence in advance of a trial. The fruit of the poisoned tree is
not going to get you very far in the Big Apple. Time
magazine hastens
to assure us that there is still a slender chance that the
government will somehow pull it off, because whiz-kid prosecutor
Preet Bharara is on the job. Good grief!
For some years, Khalid Sheik Muhammad was the Moby Dick of the
American intelligence community. Now Moby has met Captain Ahab
and, lo and behold, he seems ready to throw him back into the
water.
