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Locals disagree over how best to deal with bin Laden By MELISSA MARTIN and JOHN DARLING When the United States finds terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, it should interrogate him and turn him over to Saudi Arabia's courts for an Islamic death sentence, a local Muslim believes. If Saudi courts ordered the execution of the leader of the al-Qaida, a loosely affiliated terrorist network, it would send the strongest message to the world's extremists, said Pete Seda Ghaty, an Ashland resident for 25 years. "If we get Islamic law to cut off bin Laden's head, imagine the message we are sending through the world and how many would-be terrorists would be deterred," said Ghaty, the education director for a mosque in Ashland. "It will be Islamic law - rather than America wanting to kill this man - and he will lose hero status and become a criminal. We won't get any copycats wanting to follow his footprints." Even after President Bush's declaration of war, Ghaty said, it's still possible to use Islamic courts to try the man that the United States believes is behind Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The United States also suspects bin Laden of masterminding the bombing of the USS Cole and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has refused Bush's demand to turn over bin Laden. Abdullah Cabral, of Mas Jid al-Tahweed, a Medford mosque, said a trial of bin Laden is unrealistic. If bin Laden were tried and executed, it would have little effect on terrorism because another terrorist would quickly take his place, Cabral said. "The military option is the only one we have right now. We got socked in the nose pretty good, and we've got to go after him and settle it. I support my country (the United States), but I don't think we will be successful in Afghanistan, except maybe to bomb them from a distance. "Afghanistan, as the saying goes, is where great powers send their armies to die." Trying bin Laden in Islamic court might be an interesting idea, but it's not likely to happen because the U.S. government wouldn't hand over a criminal to a religious court, a foreign affairs specialist said. To do so would bypass the American justice system, said Jay Mullen, Southern Oregon University history professor. "There is a civil process in which we would approach the sovereign state and request extradition within the jurisdiction of the state," Mullen said. "I think that's what we should be doing. Instead, we are offering an ultimatum, hand him over or else. If someone were to come to the United States and give us an ultimatum outside our civil process, we wouldn't accept or respond to it. "If we maintain the guy is culpable, we should demonstrate it through our court system," Mullen said. "It's an avenue that should be examined before we start committing our young people to harm's way." Bill Hughes, SOU political science professor, said Ghaty's proposal has merit from a moral and legal point of view but is "inconceivable" in the White House situation room today. "I doubt seriously if (National Security Adviser) Condoleeza Rice and (Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld are suggesting to the president that it would be advisable for long-term security to work things out in court. They have to strike while the political iron is hot." A trial of bin Laden under Islamic law is "not going to happen," Hughes said, because it would be a loss of face for Bush. And Hughes predicted that military action in Afghanistan would fail for the United States as it did for the Soviet Union because of barren, harsh conditions, especially in winter, and because the United States will eventually exhaust the patience of Arab states in which it operates. Hughes said the best scenario would be the establishment of an International Tribunal on Terrorism composed of most or all nations, which would hear evidence, argue cases and issue indictments. "But we're not going to do that," Hughes said, in part because many backers of such a court want to see war crimes indictments for such Americans as Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state during the Vietnam War. "Our hands are not clean," he said, "so there will be no serious consideration of that in the Bush administration." The Taliban's refusal to surrender bin Laden to the United States until proof of his involvement is presented has merit, Hughes said. "There's a legal argument to be made there. No one's proven the links between him and the attacks. To get the support of the international community, Bush has to make a better case." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.