MADNESS – AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  It's hard to believe that the fanatics in the Obama administration haven't learned a thing, but fanatics rarely do:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is considering a criminal trial in Washington for the Guantanamo Bay detainee suspected of masterminding the bombing of a Bali nightclub that killed 202 people, a plan that would bring one of the world's most notorious terrorism suspects just steps from the U.S. Capitol, The Associated Press has learned.

Hey, welcome to Washington.  I'm sure they'll give him the 20-dollar tour also, the one that lets you climb the Washington Monument.

Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, was allegedly Osama bin Laden's point man in Indonesia and, until his capture in August 2003, was believed to be the main link between al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror group blamed for the 2002 bombing on the island of Bali.

Other terrorism trials also may occur in Washington and New York City under a proposal being discussed within the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials briefed on the plan, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private planning meetings.

Authorities already have begun discussing the intense security measures needed to bring Hambali and others before a Washington federal judge, the officials said.

And who do you think will be paying for these "intense" measures?  If the defendants were tried at a military base, a fortune could be saved.

Conducting a trial in the nation's capital would be a symbolic repudiation of the policies of former President George W. Bush, who portrayed Hambali as a success story in the Bush administration's program of interrogating terror suspects in secret CIA prisons overseas.

Of course, that's what it's all about.  Repudiate BUSH (!!), and, especially, CHENEY (!!!!+)

COMMENT:  This is really nuts.  A Washington trial is, by definition, a show trial.  Every crackpot group in the country will be outside that courtroom, and CNN cameras will accommodate them. 

And what if, despite overwhelming evidence, there's an acquittal, or a hung jury, or a crazy decision by a liberal judge that hampers the prosecution?  What would the Obamans do then?  Send Janet Napolitano out to say that the system worked?

And another note:  Washington is overwhelmingly African-American.  That brings up the very awkward question of who will serve on the jury.  In a way, it is unfair to the African-American community. 

But when the only objective is to show a contrast with Bush, who cares about those things?

January 15, 2010