I'd suggest killing them, cutting them into pieces, and shipping their parts to parts unknown immediately

Hilzoy, I surprised at you.

Every good American knows we need to waterboard them first, then kill, cut, and ship.

This raises the difficult question: what should we do with these would-be terrorists while they await trial?*********************************************

Find out what country they're from, and then invade Iran no matter where they are from. Torture them until they admit that they have ties to Iran. Then kill them, and release a notice stating that they have simultaneously committed suicide.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat... 300 times!

Ask Harry Reid who says, "we can't allow terrorists on US soil"...or try them in our courts. Get him our from under his bed and ask him if there is any plan he would approve of...and tell him thanks again for siding with publicans, in spite of the fact they never compromise for us on anything.

What an excellent post. Witty and spot on!

This would be funnier if my best friend's mom wasn't a member of one of those temples. I'm just glad the bombs were fakes.

Honestly, can comedy get any blacker than this?

I'm afraid our only choice as a nation is to disband and have everyone hide -- under bushes, rocks, behind sheets, whatever -- until this pants-shittingly terrifying threat has subsided. At some point in the future when this whole "terrorist-running-around-on-our-very-soil" threat is gone, we can, like timid rabbits sniffing cautiously an offered carrot, carefully come out of our shelters, and begin the task of rebuilding the nation and civilization itself. I see no other option.

Sending criminals into space only means that the terrorists will eventually land on another planet and, free from the sun's restraining influence, they will have super powers.

Sad, from an otherwise serious site.

Hilzoy, I can never tell when you're joking...

Congratulations to the FBI for a job well done! Sounds like fine police and investigative work. Hats off to the informants.

Our hearts are with Rabbi Rosenblatt and the members of Riverdale Temple. We are so glad they are safe.

New Yorkers are tough SOBs. They have learned the lessons of 9-11 and taken them to heart. The sissies whining about terrorists coming to the US can learn something from Yankees fans. I'm sure the NY courts will be glad to prosecute these stupid, conscienceless thugs.

They may have wanted them but did they have even a glimmer of a hope of obtaining Stinger missiles?

I am curious at the color of all of the so called terrorists. I am also curious about the fact they all 'converted' to Islam. Time to start watching all these radical black muslim groups.

Yes---we must, for the sake of the Republic, kill them, chop their bodies into tiny pieces, and feed them to the sharks---if for no other reason than to prevent them from becoming part of the all-star lineup of highly-paid, 'Murricah-bashing toadies at FOXnoise....

How about beaming them into the Phantom Zone? Or has Gingrich already suggested that?

Sophmoric. You've lost the argument.

O! between soph and moric stands for the President (who also knows you've lost the argument).

Let's stop looking backward, please.

Sophomoric--you've lost the spelling bee.

BTW, has anyone forgotten that from 1943 to 1946, the United States housed TENS OF THOUSANDS of NAZI pows within its borders? Not suspects or detainees, but NAZIs, taken prisoner while actively at war with US forces. How'd that work out?

Terrorists on American soil. Mercy me!

I suggest that our Fearless Leaders spend a few weeks in Israel, where 'terrorists' rub elbows with citizens every day.

Grow up, America. . .

Steve:

I'd forgotten exactly that. And your 'tens of thousands' sounded high, so I googled.

"... from 1942 to 1946 more than 400,000 German, Italian and Austrian Nazi prisoners were housed in over five hundred major camps and several satellite camps in many U.S. states, including Ohio, California, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Nebraska."

And my favorite, one reason we shipped them here "... was that once we captured the Afrika Korps, we were required to feed them. Food for the prisoners was brought from America by ship. Soon, it became obvious that the room used on the ships to bring food to the POWs was depriving American servicemen from being properly fed. So, the logical answer was to transport all the POWs to America."

Sophomoric--you've lost the spelling bee.
------------------------------------------------

Yes I did; but recovered directly on the very next post for extra "O! for Obama" credit.

POW status for beheaders is problematic. They've not got much of a welcoming home country to return to, and one in seven seem to "slip," as they say.

Article III trials will be very rare, mostly to throw a tasty Ghailani bone Hilzoy's, et.al., way.

1) Very funny! I know when you are joking it is plain to see!
2) S.P. "TENS OF THOUSANDS of NAZI", nope, Germans. Not all of them had on lightning bolts. That would be like saying every Iraqi is a Baathist.

The tao of looking stupid

O! between soph and moric stands for the President (who also knows you've lost the argument).

Obama to Argue for Guantanamo Closure After Lawmakers Object

Why would the right be afraid of terrorist.
Didn't they elect Bush.

He's the leading death dealer of the 21st century.

2) S.P. "TENS OF THOUSANDS of NAZI", nope, Germans. Not all of them had on lightning bolts. That would be like saying every Iraqi is a Baathist.

Per the historical record . . .

Active Nazi party members among German army officers? 45%, minimum, upon enlistment, far higher with experience and promotion. Basic enthusiasm for Nazi goals? About twice that percentage.

Active support among common soldiers for a war to conquer Europe and to avenge the "stab in the back" defeat of 1918, secure "living space" to ensure a bright future for Germany? Probably in the eighties or nineties.

Awareness among soldiers that the war that Germany started would require the "ethnic cleansing" of most of eastern Europe, mass enslavement and/or extermination of millions of non-Germans, and imperial domination of much of Eurasia? Again, very, very high, though carefully rationalized among the more mild mannered landsers.

Chances that doubts about the war would have caused a German soldier to hesitate to shoot and kill an American soldier . . . close to nil.

The Germans of 1941-1945, and their right-wing defenders in the United States have an advantage over the Italians and Japanese in that we have a euphemism--"Nazis!"--to politely disguise the fact that they declared and made war on hundreds of millions of people who had no wish to be at war with them or anyone else.

Yes, we not only brought the German POWs to the US, but, we attempted to place them in areas which were similar to the climatic conditions of their capture. So, the Africa Korps was sent to the deserts of the Southwest. However, during the '70s there was a controversial documentary shown in West Germany made by a German author, who showed graphic photos of Wehrmacht personnel and letters from many sent back to their families of the Weharmacht being actively engaged in the slaughter of innocents. One photo depicted a Wehrmacht soldier holding up a child as he placed a weapon against the child's head. The soldier was laughing about performing the needed "killing". The documentary. which was heavily watched in Germany, flew in the face of the canard that it was merely the "Lightning Bolts" and their goons doing such killing. In the US, George Will and Pat Buchanan wrote reams attacking this portrayal. It was their classic, "But, they were Anti-Communistic warriors. How dare anyone besmirch them."

But, perhaps the Gitmos can be dropped off at some of our National Parks unarmed, where they can play amongst the natural predators, the homesteading AK-47 prepared survivalists and the gun toting NRA happy campers. Next time at Yosemite or Yellowstone, remember your various repellants, sun-block, hiking boots and Glocks.

You've been quite the amusing sassymouth lately, Hil. Keep it up.

New Yorkers are tough SOBs. They have learned the lessons of 9-11 and taken them to heart. The sissies whining about terrorists coming to the US can learn something from Yankees fans.

I was with you until you complimented Yankee fans. Nevertheless, it cannot be said too often: Notice how people living in our biggest cities do not run around peeing down our own legs in fear of terrorists. I know the GOP is always arguing that rural Americans are real Americans, but they're real scared Americans.

And speaking of our candyass countrymen...

But, perhaps the Gitmos can be dropped off at some of our National Parks unarmed, where they can play amongst the natural predators, the homesteading AK-47 prepared survivalists and the gun toting NRA happy campers. Next time at Yosemite or Yellowstone, remember your various repellants, sun-block, hiking boots and Glocks.

It pisses me off every time I think about it, and I'm really not happy with Feingold for voting for this (no surprise that Klobuchar and Kohl did). Yeah, I know that WI and MN are full of hearty outdoorsmen, but that's just the point: You don't use guns to do outdoor things in national parks and wildlife refuges, where hunting is prohibited.

The only reason to take a firearm to a national park is that you're a paranoid fool who freaks out in the woods at night and thinks that behind every tree lurks an Appalachian Trail murderer. If you're that much of a baby and that ignorant about actual vs. perceived risk, stay the hell home.

It was a tasteless post.

The appropriate response to generalizing, overblowing and over-responding to terror, is NOT to generalize that there is none, nor that the only possible responses are "light on/light off".

The individuals are accused of a serious crime, will be prosecuted, and if a jury determines that they are guilty, they will be imprisoned.

Please don't in any way dismiss the severity of attempted mass murder.

"New Yorkers are tough SOBs. They have learned the lessons of 9-11 and taken them to heart. The sissies whining about terrorists coming to the US can learn something from Yankees fans."

yeah we're too busy trying to live our lives rather than going on book tours and radio talk shows. The next attempted attack is just gonna piss us off even more. Thank God we have a competent police force on the job, and not some incompetent cowywoy contractors hopped up on a 24 marathon.

Sheesh, who are all these ringers?

"It was a tasteless post."

You know what's even more declasse? Stomping all over habeus, crapping on international treaties and fucking torturing people. Man, those things are (lowering voice to scandalized whisper) tacky.

habeas. Ugh, I always do that.

Mea Culpa, tossing in a "lightning bolt" reference when discussing bombing of Temples was bad form. I fully understand and am repentant for causing this distress.
However, to impugn the entire German Army of 1939-45 by calling them Nazis is to fall into the same "either your with us or with the terrorist" rhetoric as Dubya.
In order to convert enemies to friends, one has to understand them, respect them and then teach them why your way is better. Not to call them "evil doers" as now they are no longer human.

The appropriate response to generalizing, overblowing and over-responding to terror, is NOT to generalize that there is none, nor that the only possible responses are "light on/light off".

You have managed to miss the point entirely Richard Witty. hilzoy's point is not that this demonstrates that there is no terrorism but that the recent response to terrorism wherein we treat Gitmo prisoners as if they are supervillians who cannot possibly be dealt with within the confines of our own justice and incarceration system is pretty stupid when taken to its logical conclusion. In other words, if we are supposed to be deeply frightened to house current Gitmo "detainees" on American soil as the GOP and now apparently the craven Democrats are arguing, then how can we reasonably respond to the criminals in this case? She is ridiculing the incoherency and the current lack of seriousness in our terrorism policy, not belittling the actual criminal acts.

or radicalize other prisoners

Considering that's what happened to most of these terrorists in the first place - they were radicalized in prison - there's a pretty good chance of that happening.

Why did the NY Times wait until paragraph nine to tell us these terrorists were Muslim? Is it because they don't want to equate Islam with terrorism or do they figure we all know by now the religious affiliation of a terrorist?

Hilzoy, I am surprised at you. The only responsible response to this is to invade a Middle Eastern country.

Who would have thought? An ongoing eleven month investigation about a possible terrorists plot on US soil that was passed on to a new administration who ACTUALLY TOOK THE THREAT SERIOUSLY!

Why, this happens all the time, doesn't it? I mean, you can't go a day without a prosecutor getting on the news and saying "well, we would prosecute this serial killer, but he's kind of dangerous and we're askeered of him so we'll have to decline to prosecute and send him somewhere else in the world where they're better with scary stuff."

All the time, really.

Considering that's what happened to most of these terrorists in the first place - they were radicalized in prison - there's a pretty good chance of that happening.

Supermax prisoners are almost always in isolation cells 23 hours a day and only speak to prison personnel the other one. But you, under all your handles here, knew that.

we all know by now the religious affiliation of a terrorist?

Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph are Muslims? Who knew?

Richard Witty: I take terrorism very seriously. I would not have written this post in response to shoplifting.

some hitherto unknown al Qaeda trick might allow their reanimated body parts to slither around in search of one another and, eventually, reconstitute themselves

Well, it's working for AT&T.