Embassy Bombings: Don't hide trial

In a bizarre turn of events, the Pentagon has decided to seek a war crimes tribunal to deal with a Tanzanian man involved in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa -- three years before our "war on terror" started.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2004 and was detained in parts unknown overseas for about two years before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, was indicted in the embassy bombings by a federal grand jury in New York City. Others involved in the bombings received life sentences without parole in October 2001. If a military tribunal convicts Ghailani, he could face the death penalty. This move is seen by some as one that's intended to do an end run around the criminal justice system, possibly to obscure CIA interrogation tactics used on Ghailani, who was once considered a "ghost prisoner" in CIA custody.

Susan F. Hirsch, who was injured in the Tanzania attack (that killed her husband), has come forward to question the Pentagon's decision. She told the Los Angeles Times that she'd prefer to see Ghailani tried in an open, civilian court.

"The indictment could have been enforced the moment he was arrested in Pakistan," said Hirsch. A spokesperson for Human Rights Watch told Agence France-Presse that the group was concerned that Ghailani could be put to death using "evidence obtained through highly abusive interrogations, and lacks established rules and procedures." Whatever his alleged crimes, Ghailani deserves the same public treatment as others involved in the bombings.