The next boxer bomber
President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have decided that the man who attempted to blow up a plane in midair and kill nearly 300 people is a common criminal who deserves all the rights granted citizens of the United States.
In an interview yesterday on “Fox News Sunday,” assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism John Brennan attempted to make the case that this was the proper decision to anchor Chris Wallace. He failed.
WALLACE: But wait, wait. Let me ask you specifically. After Abdulmutallab got lawyered up, did he stop cooperating with authorities? Did he stop talking?
BRENNAN: I'm not going to address exactly what he did before or after he was -- talked with his lawyer. We got information. We continue to have opportunities to do that.
As you talk with the lawyers and you talk with the individuals, as they recognize what they're facing as far as the charges, conviction and possible sentence, there are opportunities to continue to talk about it.
FBI has some of the best interrogators and debriefers in the world, and so I'm confident that we're going to continue to be able to work this system and see whether or not...
WALLACE: But once he gets his Miranda rights, he doesn't have to speak at all.
BRENNAN: He doesn't have to, but he knows that there are certain things that are on the table, and if he wants to, in fact, engage with us in a productive manner, there are ways that he can do that.
So, the counterterrorism “strategy” appears to be to threaten Abdulmutallab with hard time and then, after months and/or years of negotiations, get him to tell us a bunch of stale information in return for his release before he’s eligible to collect Social Security.
This is stupid.
Worse, it is dangerous.
While Abdulmutallab is cooling his heels in a medium security prison, there are, by the administration’s own accounting, others out there with similar plans. But Obama and Holder, according to Brennan, are in no real rush to find out what more he knows.
So, what exactly will the excuse/explanation be if the next attack is successful and occurs on a quicker timeframe than that allowed by the Obama administration?
If you guessed “Blame Bush” you’d be right.
For all of the criticism that President Obama and his minions have heaped on George W. Bush for his handling of everything over the last eight years, they now appear determined to blindly repeat his mistakes.
As justification for their handling of Abdulmutallab, they point to shoe bomber Richard Reid who was also provided a lawyer, clammed up and was convicted. Of course, Reid’s attempted attack occurred shortly after the 9/11 attacks and long before the Bush administration and Congress had set up the military tribunal system. (For more on this subject, check out this article by former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy.)
Obama is also determined to repeat Bush’s mistakes on the release of detainees. Bush was wrong to release hundreds of detainees in a genuine effort to do the right thing – after all, many of these individuals were just “in the wrong place at the wrong time” according to the Democrat left. It turns out, of course, that a good portion of them actually were terrorists and they’ve gone back to the fight.
Bush released the ones there were doubts about, but Obama, in his rush to fulfill his campaign promise and close Gitmo, is determined to repatriate about 90 Yemenis to that unstable nation. Remember, this is the same nation that once prosecuted the people behind the USS Cole bombing, but released some and allowed the others to break out of jail. There’s little confidence that Yemen could hold onto these terrorists even if they were inclined to do so.
And just so you know I’m not being partisan on this one, both California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Jane Harman are with me on this one.
There seems to be an earnest belief among those in the White House that by simply closing Gitmo the United States will cease to be a target for radical jihadis. That belief is stupid and dangerous.
If Obama persists on this course, undoubtedly more Americans – and as is usually the case, nearby Muslims – are going to die.
One comment on “The next boxer bomber”
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I have been alarmed at the lack of mention of how many people on the land and how much property would be lost. I constantly hear about the 300 in the plane but to be absolutely accurate we must realize they were not the only target of this terrorist. I agree with the "next bomber" story and how this administration is driven by a ideology that has the potential to destroy many Americans here and abroad.