BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW, WHILE THEY'RE AVAILABLE - AT 8:16 P.M. ET:  The producers, directors, and screenwriters for the trial of the century are already doing advance publicity.  At least they're honest about what they have in mind.  From the New York Post:

NEW YORK — The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy," Fenstermaker said.

"Their assessment is negative," he said.

Yes, I would imagine it is.  Of course, the Justice Department, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Obama White House, is unconcerned.

Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the men in a New York City civilian courthourse have warned that the trial would provide the defendants with a propaganda platform.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said Sunday that while the men may attempt to use the trial to express their views, "we have full confidence in the ability of the courts and in particular the federal judge who may preside over the trial to ensure that the proceeding is conducted appropriately and with minimal disruption, as federal courts have done in the past."

COMMENT:  Well, it depends on which judge you get.  And the jury matters.  And...will the trial be televised?  Will Lance Ito give commentary?

The whole thing is rotten.  Bad decision by Eric Holder.  But he couldn't have made it without the boss's approval.

November 22, 2009