Citing the verdict in the Casey Anthony case to justify trying terror suspects in military tribunals sounds like a stretch, but that was what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested Sunday and it's put the commonwealth's senior Senator under increased criticism."We found with the Caylee Anthony case how difficult it is to get a conviction in a U.S. court," McConnell said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."Across the web, political observers are lambasting McConnell for the comparison between a local murder case and federal detention of terror suspects, saying he's attempting to draft the child's death and her mother's case into the War on Terror.From Barefoot & Progressive:How far is Mitch McConnell willing to go when it comes to the blatant partisan hypocrisy and fearmongering on the terrorists charged in Bowling Green?
From Huffington Post:Never mind the old American principle about convicting and sentencing only those who have actually been proven guilty. According to McConnell on Fox News this past Sunday, and then former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson in the National Review, we need a court where we can guarantee in advance that any suspected terrorists, arrested anywhere in the world and regardless of whether they pose a threat to the United States, will be convicted and sent away for life (or perhaps executed).
From Salon:Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says we cannot try terror suspects in federal courts because 9/11 Casey Anthony
From Miami New Times blog Politicks:The legality and ethics of military tribunals is certainly a serious and complicated issue, and trying to bring the Casey Anthony trial into the discussion is something we'd hope would be beneath the dignity and intelligence of a high ranking American senator.
And lets be honest, its not really that hard to get a conviction in a U.S. court. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world by a long shot. So it seems to us certainly someone is getting convicted in the United States.
Thoughts?