Yesterday I was looking in my inbox at a statement from Joe Lieberman on the idea of trying KSM in a civilian court in New York, and I found myself surprisingly sympathetic to his first sentence: “The terrorists who planned, participated in, and aided the September 11, 2001 attacks are war criminals, not common criminals.” Then, of course, Lieberman winds up veering in the direction of saying that we need to try KSM in some special kangaroo court military commission.
But really if the United States were willing to some day come to its senses and join the International Criminal Court it seems to me that this would be a good venue in which to prosecute major international terrorists. Barring that, I think a regular criminal court will do. But part of working toward a long-term solution to the issue of safe havens ought to be a formal process by which an individual can be declared an international outlaw who all governments have a responsibility to apprehend and hand over for trial to an international court.