Lloyd Austin steps up...

[K Frame]

US Defense Secretary overruled Pentagon prosecutors who arrived at a plea deal with the master planner of the September 11 attacks and put the death penalty back on the table.

In doing so, he also relieved of duty the official in charge of the military commission that crafted the plea deal.

Read the memo. Short, sweet, and VERY terse.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-revokes-plea-deal-9-11-terrorists


Of course, I have no doubt that there's going to be a HUGE hue and cry from the left that "all the United States cares about is revenge" and "we only want to murder these human beings! Execution is nothing more than murder!"

To which I say... you're goddamned right we want to execute these bastards. They should have been executed a decade ago.

[Bogie]

And the strategy of the progressive left is stymied...
 
"We're going to do this, and hope that nobody notices enough to stop it."

[WLJ]

Someone remembered there's an election coming up

[K Frame]

Someone remembered there's an election coming up

I thought about that, but from what I know about Austin, he's not the political animal that some Secretaries of Defense have been.

I think he did this primarily because he felt reaching a plea deal was reprehensible and morally wrong.

If this were only about politics, I'm thinking he wouldn't have relieved the head of the commission of her duties in this case (she remains in charge of other cases for Guantanamo prisoners).

NPR is saying that "many 9/11 families" welcomed the plea deals.

That's interesting, because the vast majority of what I've heard has been extreme displeasure from the families who lost loved ones in the attacks.

What annoys me is that these aholes weren't executed years ago.

[Ben]

A good question I heard on the news this morning: How the heck did something this big, get this far, without Austin ever being informed until after the deal was done? Which seems to be a question Austin himself is asking.

[K Frame]

I'd say it depends on the authorities granted to the head of the commission. It may well have been a case of "well, I'm not sure that I have total authority to approve this, but I'm going to approve it anyway."

But yeah, I'm thinking that something this monumental likely should have been rolled up through the chain of command first.

[HankB]

. . .
What annoys me is that these aholes weren't executed years ago.

Exactly.

And WHY any plea negotiations in the first place? Evidence is conclusive, no need to "negotiate" a plea to try and salvage a weak case. Looks like the terrorists aren't the only aholes involved.

[RocketMan]

Austin is definitely a political animal.  You don't get to be SecDef without being one.  After the backlash in the press and elsewhere, he knew the optics of the plea deal were bad for his soon-to-be new boss and nixed the deal.  This is also the simplest explanation for his action.

[K Frame]

Austin is definitely a political animal.  You don't get to be SecDef without being one.  After the backlash in the press and elsewhere, he knew the optics of the plea deal were bad for his soon-to-be new boss and nixed the deal.  This is also the simplest explanation for his action.

I never said that he wasn't a political animal.

I said that he's not the political animal that SOME SecDefs have been.

There's a difference.

[MechAg94]

Exactly.

And WHY any plea negotiations in the first place? Evidence is conclusive, no need to "negotiate" a plea to try and salvage a weak case. Looks like the terrorists aren't the only aholes involved.

It has been 23 years, so yes. 

Maybe they will just wait for him to die in custody and then issue a plea for time served.

[Jim147]

I'd say it depends on the authorities granted to the head of the commission. It may well have been a case of "well, I'm not sure that I have total authority to approve this, but I'm going to approve it anyway."

But yeah, I'm thinking that something this monumental likely should have been rolled up through the chain of command first.

I think there was a giant WTF scream when Pres Sec said the administration had nothing to do with the plea deal.

[Hawkmoon]

US Defense Secretary overruled Pentagon prosecutors who arrived at a plea deal with the master planner of the September 11 attacks and put the death penalty back on the table.

In doing so, he also relieved of duty the official in charge of the military commission that crafted the plea deal.

That's not quite what the memo says.

Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself.

I think any prosecutor willing to enter a pre-trial agreement with these murderous scum should be removed from duty, but this memo doesn't do it. We now know we can't trust him/them to mount a vigorous and effective prosecution.

[K Frame]

And the ACLU is coming out in opposition to Austin's move.

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-statement-on-defense-secretary-austin-revoking-plea-deal-for-9-11-defendants


"That's not quite what the memo says."

That was assessment was taken from this article:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/plea-deal-reversal-9-11-terrorists-wins-praise-demands-justice-from-victims-groups-republicans

"However, that deal was rescinded after Austin relieved the official in charge of the military commission who had signed off on the agreement and assumed their authority for himself. "

[Hawkmoon]

"That's not quite what the memo says."

That was assessment was taken from this article:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/plea-deal-reversal-9-11-terrorists-wins-praise-demands-justice-from-victims-groups-republicans

"However, that deal was rescinded after Austin relieved the official in charge of the military commission who had signed off on the agreement and assumed their authority for himself. "

So Fox News can't read. What else is new? My quotation was taken directly from Austin's memo:

Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself.

Seems pretty clear to me: The SecDef cancelled the prosecutor's authority to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserved that authority (i.e. the authority to enter into a pre-trial agreement) to himself, as the ultimate authority having jurisdiction.

Of course, even that is technically not correct, because the SecDef is a notch below the POTUS in the chain of command, but I doubt the White House wants that hot potato.