And Justice For Some

January 04, 2010  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

In all the commotion over the would-be bomber of Flight 253 in December, the one most mind-blowing, ridiculous arguments the right has come up with is that President Obama is weak on terror because he has the audacity to try the alleged terrorist, Umar Abdulmutallab, in a court of law. Just like in the Bush-Cheney Administration case of Richard Reid the "shoe-bomber," there's no talk of sending him to Gitmo. There's no talk of a separate, uneven, unreliable system of justice for him, like there are with the military commission trials. The President is doing the right thing, yet the issue of where Adbulmutallab should be tried has become yet another political cudgel to bludgeon the president with on national security.

From the Washington Post:

Much of the criticism Sunday, however, centered on the decision to try him in civilian court rather than hold him as a military prisoner. "If we had treated this Christmas Day bomber as a terrorist, he would have immediately been interrogated military-style, rather than given the rights of an American and lawyers," Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said on CNN. "We probably lost valuable information."

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said it was a "very serious mistake" to send Abdulmutallab to federal court.

These statements came despite the fact that Adbulmutallab could still be interrogated even though the rule of law was followed and he was read his Miranda rights. And right wingers are acting like our justice system is some revolving door for terrorists would be laughable if it weren't so malicious a slander. The fact remains that 532 Guantanamo detainees have been released by the Bush administration; 195 terrorists have been tried and convicted in American courts since 2001; military commissions have only convicted three people in eight years; and the U.S currently holds more than 300 terrorists, both foreign and domestic, in our prisons. Obama chief counter-terrorism adviser John O. Brennan went on the Sunday talk shows, arguing that there should be no argument when it comes to trying a terrorism suspect on U.S. soil and that Gitmo should be closed.

From the Washington Post:

"We have different ways of obtaining information from individuals" in the criminal-justice process, Brennan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "A lot of people . . . understand what they're facing, and their lawyers recognize that there is advantage to talking to us in terms of plea agreements, [and] we're going to pursue that." Brennan told CNN's "State of the Union" that other terrorism suspects have "given us very valuable information as they've gone through the plea-agreement process."

Brennan called Guantanamo Bay "a propaganda tool for al-Qaeda" and countered that 532 Guantanamo detainees had been released by the Bush administration, including some who have subsequently appeared as senior officials in the al-Qaeda organization in Yemen. He said Obama has released 42, including seven Yemenis sent home.

All this concern and fearmongering over Abdulmutallab is misguided at best and pure politics at worst.

From TAPPED blog by Adam Serwer:

At what point does it become clear that people who think trying Abdulmutallab in a civilian court is a bad idea simply want a separate legal system for Muslims accused of terrorism, whether or not they happen to be American citizens? It's not like anyone on the right is demanding that James von Brunn be charged by military commission.

 

blog comments powered by Disqus