Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Gets a Break

Mohammed, the Al Qaeda big shot involved in planning the 9/11 atrocity, is perhaps the biggest terrorist ever captured by America.

As you may know, he was waterboarded and gave up some of his Al Qaeda colleagues, who were then taken into custody. For the past three years, Mohammed has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, where he should have been tried in front of a military tribunal.

The man is a war criminal. He killed thousands of civilians. That's what war criminals do. It is hard to believe the Obama administration does not understand that.

So now Mohammed will be tried in a New York City civilian court, and New York Congressman Peter King is outraged:

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REP. PETER KING, R-NY: Absolutely no purpose to be gained by this. It's going to put Americans at risk and probably most importantly, it's going to be giving constitutional right to war criminals who are not entitled to them. This, I think, will go down as one of the worst decisions any president has ever made.

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But the Obama administration sees it differently:

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ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm a prosecutor myself. I've looked at the evidence. I've considered the problems that these cases present, and I'm quite confident that we're going to be successful in the prosecution efforts. To the extent that there are political consequences, well, you know, I'll just have to take my lumps to the extent that those are sent my way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

"Talking Points" believes that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will not be on trial in New York City; waterboarding and the CIA will be. The exposition is likely to be a fiasco. It will take years. It will cost tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Again, why are we doing this? Do you think the 9/11 families want to see a circus? Do you think they appreciate the fact that an Al Qaeda killer and his lawyers will get to spew all kinds of anti-American propaganda? Because that's what's going to happen.

President Obama should explain this thoroughly. Instead the announcement is made while he's in Asia. Does that tell you something? Why didn't he wait until he got back? I'll tell you why: because this is indefensible.

War criminals should be tried by military people. If you don't know about the trials at Nuremberg, look them up. Hermann Goring was not taken to New York City and tried before a civilian jury because that would have been insane — just as this is.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

As you may know, Sarah Palin is promoting her new book "Going Rogue," and Oprah asked her about the father of her daughter Bristol's baby, Levi Johnston, coming for Thanksgiving dinner:

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SARAH PALIN, AUTHOR, "GOING ROGUE": He is a part of the family. We want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too. I think he needs to know that he is loved. He has the most beautiful child, and this can all work out for good. It really can. We don't have to keep going down this road of controversy and drama all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Forgiveness is the hallmark of a true patriot, but we still don't know whether Mr. Johnston will be invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the Palins.

By the way, the governor will be here on "The Factor" next Thursday and Friday.

On the pinhead front, the balloon boy parents were in court Friday. Richard Heene pled guilty to felony charges of attempting to influence a public servant to avoid the deportation of his wife Mayumi to her native Japan. She pled guilty to lesser charges of false reporting.

You may remember the Colorado couple told authorities last month that their 6-year-old son was trapped in a runaway weather balloon. They are still in civil trouble over that and remain pinheads.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com