We have a precedent, don't we?

I was going to start with the idea that it matters whom is in the Oval Office when Bin Laden is captured. But I don't think it matters. Even with a flaming left-wing ideologue like we have currently I don't think Bin Laden ever sees the inside of a US civilian court room. Case in point, Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

Mohammad Atta's uncle and mastermind of the 9/11 attack. It was just some months ago that the DOJ announced his trial to be set in New York, "near the tragedy", as Obama put it. Then all hell broke loose. Local and state politicians in New York (regardless of party affiliation) loudly (and publicly) opposed. Bloomberg raised safety concerns. 9/11 widows and orphans protested on television and in the street. Legal scholars scoffed at the idea that a man whom had not been marandized, had been subjected to military interrogations without the presence of counsel, and held indefinitely without offical charges brought, could ever be convicted if the letter of the law was to be applied. Not to mention the opportunity to spew propoganda, even those calling for attacks (plainly or in code), he would have when taking the stand. In addition, if Khalid was to get acquitted the CIA would be forced to summarily snatch him the moment he hit the street, eroding all the "we're a nation of just laws" karma the administration thought they were banking with the world. The move to try him outside a military tribunal is currently sitting in limbo. Can anyone even tell me where this guys sits, physically, as we debate this? Can anyone see this cluster-F bomb not occurring on a scale 100xs the Khalid fiasco were we to attempt to try Bin Laden in a civilian court? I believe far from closure it would rip open wounds, it's what happened with Atta's mass-murdering uncle and I can't begin to imagine the political, security, and legal logistics of going down that road with Bin Laden.

I understand the angle you're operating from Jambo, the idea of the public being able to "get their hands on him" so to speak via a public civilian trial, but either dead or a military tribunal, that's the only 2 options in my estimation.