It was also one of the more bizarre twists as Mohammed and four other co-defendants appeared Thursday for the beginning of their tribunal and for the first time in public after years of secret confinement.”

So now it comes to pass that a terrorist named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as well as several major American telecoms including Verizon and AT&T and others (but not Qwest?) are being offered a gift by the US federal government - to spare their individual and corporate lives.

We are led to believe that both sets of criminals could suffer death sentences if they talk.

We are also led to believe that both sets of criminals are being offered the carrot of continuation of life if they keep their mouths shut. That's a powerful carrot - the most powerful carrot.

In both cases, the government appears to be the one wielding the carrot of life, and the stick of death, for the terrorists and the telecoms.

The parallels are troubling.

Let's start blowing away the smoke once and for all. Enough of the damned secrecy already.

I really don't care if a terrorist dies as the result of a fair trial in our justice system. I really don't care if a criminal corporation dies as the result of a fair trial in our justice system. Good riddance, I say. Don't let the door hit you in the ass, I say. To hell with the both of you, if your actions really were deserving of the sentence.

As if my government needs to protect my sensitive ears from what the criminals have to say now, after the dirty deeds are long done. Puh-lease. I am perfectly able to hear whatever the criminals have to tell me about their past deeds. The damage is done. I'm a big boy now. So let's get real.

It's not really in MY interest to be prevented from hearing what the accused have to say for themselves, is it? No, because maybe that's just a line. So let's cut the crap already. Politicians are full of crap, it's in their blood. Our government is behaving less like a justice system and more like a politician. Bad politicians blow smoke up your ass.

I do not know that these accused parties are deserving of such sentences quite yet, however.

The American public, who are the real victims of these criminals, have a right to hear what they have to say about the details of the harm they have done to the public.

Let real criminals have real trials, with all that implies.

Enough of the military tribunals which are closed to the public. Enough of the pleas for congressional amnesty or forgiveness for ambiguous past crimes. What crimes? It's only an assumption at this stage.

Both sets of crimes, since the allegations still have not been established in front of a jury and a judge, are still surrounded in fog and smoke, and therefore subject to many assumptions. And we all know what happens when we assume.

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