Justice For 9/11?

So this happened:

Al-Qaida No. 3 Says He Planned 9/11

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed portrayed himself to a U.S. military tribunal as al-Qaida's most ambitious operational planner, taking responsibility for planning and supporting 31 terrorist attacks, topped by 9/11, according to an account of his confession.

[...]"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read Saturday during a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mohammed's confession was read by a member of the U.S. military who is serving as his personal representative.

[...]The military barred reporters or other independent observers from the sessions for the 14 operatives and is limiting the information it provides about them, arguing that it wants to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information.

Legal experts have criticized the U.S. decision, and The Associated Press filed a letter of protest, arguing that it would be "an unconstitutional mistake to close the proceedings in their entirety."

I do not believe that anyone doubts that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is guilty of being a terrorist and guilty of planning and supporting terrorist acts that include 9/11. That is why the Bush administration's decision to try him in secret is all the more confusing.

There was no need to torture him and try him in secret without legal representation and without habeas corpus. They could have conducted a completely open, fair, and legal trial under the presumption of innocence and still have convicted him.

What good is "justice" if we commit injustice in seeking it? What good is it to fight terrorism if we intentionlly or unintentionally use terrorist tactics like torture, starting wars based on false premises, or killing innocent civilians in the process?

I think that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is an evil man and deserves to be punished for his crimes, but not at the price of our humanity. I try hard to be a good person based on my Christian beliefs and to not be a hypocrite. That is why I feel that this "confession" by Mohammed is a bittersweet event. Bush is not a good Christian and he is a hypocrite, and I have lost all trust in him and his administration to be morally upstanding in their prosecution of Mohammed or any "enemy combatant". To them the ends justify the means no matter how evil or unethical the means are.

How do we know this confession wasn't obtained through torture and coercion? The Bush administration has given us no reason to trust them; they have lied or been wrong about everything.

The "end" of Mohammed being punished for his crimes holds a far lesser value if the means to that end include evils like torture, secret trials, and unconstitutional behavior. If Bush and his administration were doing what is right, they would have no need to hide their works, but they know that what they are doing is wrong, and that is why they feel the need to hide what they are doing.

By the way, while we are on the topic of seeking justice, it has been FIVE AND A HALF YEARS since 9/11, and Osama bin Laden has not been captured.