Inside Obama’s meeting with 9/11 and Cole bombing families
My friend Debra Burlingame was at last week’s meeting between President Obama and 9/11 and Cole bombing families. 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America reports: “During the meeting, President Obama was wrong on the law, wrong about what Boumediene v. Bush afforded the detainees held at Guantanamo, and stated the public’s perception about Guantanamo is confused with Abu Ghraib.” Obama also admitted that Gitmo is “a pristine, professional operation.”
Get the scoop here.
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Related: Here is Move America Forward’s Keep Gitmo Open petition.
Must-read today: Andrew McCarthy on Gitmo.
If we didn’t already have Gitmo, we’d have to invent it. There really is a war going on out there. President Obama admitted as much in his inaugural address, to the unspoken dismay, no doubt, of his most ardent supporters. We cannot rely very much on other countries to protect our national security.
It has never been possible, nor thought possible, to win a war in court. There are simply too many jihadists, with the vast majority operating outside the jurisdiction of our laws. When we are fortunate enough to nab one, that usually happens under fog-of-war conditions not conducive to Miranda warnings, police evidence-collection protocols, and the like. And it bears keeping in mind that the purpose of an American trial is to force the government to meet a very high burden of proof in a system developed for the benefit of American citizens enjoying the presumption of innocence. That is why we say we would prefer to see the government fail—i.e., prefer to see the guilty go free—than to see an innocent person wrongly convicted.
War is different. A war is fought—meaning that people are killed and prisoners taken—in order to achieve vital national objectives, particularly the protection of American lives. In that context, we cannot prefer to see the government fail. We need the government to prevail, or our lives and the rights we cherish are in jeopardy. That doesn’t mean the enemy doesn’t get due process, particularly if we decide to put some of them on trial for war crimes rather than simply detaining them for the duration of the conflict. There is, however, a reason it is called due process, rather than, say, trial process. We owe only the process that is due in the particular circumstances. War and peace are not the same circumstance. The process due Americans accused of crimes in civilian courts is not the same as the process due foreign combatants and terrorists captured during military operations.
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» Surrender, he whispered
(…to be used for political gain).”
In those three paragraphs, Andrew McCarthy has distilled the entire debate down to its core. You can’t win a war in court.
That is something that warriors have always known. But unfortunately, the Ivy League geniuses in the Administration have never had to get that dirty.
Obama shows just how clueless he truely is.
Someone should tell Harry Reid, et al.
and, therefore, the voters that put him there.
The voters voted for obamas slogans and voted against bush even though he wasn’t running.
I don’t think 80% of obamas sheep actualy know anything about the guy.
I
don’tthink80%100% of obamas sheep actualy know anything aboutthe guyanything.Thank you, Michelle.
So it will take a dirty bomb or bio-weapon to get their attention? If ever?
Obama will not close Gitmo. He may move it somewhere else and call it something else but he needs Gitmo. He is NOT going to release 245 murderous troglodytes just to have them commit multiple acts of terrorism within a year of mid-term elections and he certainly won’t release them within a year of 2012.
I don’t think Obambi is as smart as everyone else seems to think but I don’t think he is stupid enough to commit political suicide. He will claim he closed it, redefine it and move these monsters elsewhere and hope we forget about it.
With the above 3 paragrahs, could we please add that the Constitution is not, repeat NOT, a suicide pact!
Wow – anybody get the feeling that some little-leaguers are in town trying to play in the big leagues?
Charles Krauthammer had a fantastic column in my local newspaper yesterday, indicating that he had believed it would take 6 months for the left to wake up from the Obama campaign euphoria and smell the same-ole same-ole. . . but that it now looks like it only tood 2 1/2 weeks.
It’s got to be some sort of a commentary on the inability of many Americans to engage in critical thinking that got him elected in the first place. . .especially since so many of the rest of us clearly understood that there was no depth of experience or character there.
Charles K expressed surprise that it only took 2 1/2 weeks after his inauguration for his voters to start realizing this. . .I’m surprised and disappointed that it took THAT long.
You cannot win a war in court.
But apparently you can lose one there…
Obama is an enigma, kind of like herpes, you contact it through association, and once you have it, it will never go away. It will only flare up now and again to let you know it is still there.
Obama may have graduated from Harvard Law School, but his grasp of the constitution is somewhat vague, based on things he’s said during the campaign and his comments as both a state and US senator. Like all liberals, he doesn’t really think the law or the constitution have meaning independent of what he wants it to mean. All through last night’s abortion of a “news conference,” he kept using one rhetorical trick after another to demagogue his audience (us), and his approach to the law is about as sound as Joe Biden’s knowledge of history — essentially non-existent, in a really scary way.
Can I ask what you are basing that on? I believe his approval numbers are still quite high.
Thank you Michelle. I’ve searched all the media outlets to find out what actually transpired during Obama’s meeting with the families of the 9/11 & USS Cole victims and what little bit of info out there released by MSM are just window dressings for Obama. I’ve forwarded this article, specifically the link to the radio interview, to eveyone in my address book to make them aware of what really happened during that meeting.
Aside from his Leftist disdain for all things US military, I believe this is a prime example of Obama’s inexperience and lack of qualifications to be president. He speaks and thinks in platitudes and far-left rhetoric and doesn’t seem to grasp that as C&C, a certain amount of military respect and pomp is part of his job.
Likewise, did anyone notice how Obama danced around the CNN guy’s question about allowing cameras to photograph returning fallen soldiers? He either did not know how to answer it or is incapable of giving straight forward answers, and that’s just sad.
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President Obama (PBUH) really is an unknown to all persons-not just to the liberals. He takes any position and expounds on it as he thinks it will impress the current audience. He cares not about any of his previous statements or positions (videotaped or not) that exist. The Left Wing Media (not MSM) just covers it up and declares it as a TRULY INNOVATIVE STRATEGY.
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It was sad to see the good Black lady who lost her brave son in the U.S.S. Cole bombing wake up to the Obama truth.
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She was invited to the White House to provide POLITICAL COVER for the O’Bummer’s decision to halt the Gitmo military trial for the head Cole bombing suspect. She refused to go and stated, “I voted for President Obama. I never would have done so if I had known what he would do!”
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The Cole and 9/11 attack families who went to the White House were used by the Messiah. Their loved ones–dead and injured–will never receive justice.
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The Jihadis will be released due to lack of evidence and due to the long time they were held at Gitmo.
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President Franklin Roosevelt showed how military justice should work when we captured a dozen WW2 German saboteurs in our country. A few months passed from the time of their capture to their trials, executions, or imprisonment. This was perfectly legal under the Geneva Convention. These Nazis could have been shot as soon as they were captured on the beaches–they were illegal out of uniform combatants.
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John Bibb
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Or he hasn’t decided yet what should be the policy.
Just a thought.
I do not have access to the audio, can anyone explain what Ms. Burlingame said that Obama said with respect to Boudemine and summarize her explanation of how it is wrong?
These soldiers belong to their families, it isn’t Obama’s place to allow the press to plaster them all over the front page for titillation or shock value. He should stay the $%$# out of it — but he won’t because he’s a horse’s a**.
If the families want to allow the press at the funeral then that is there prerogative.
On February 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am, chapoutier said:
As the issue has been chatter for the MSM since President Bush first instituted the policy, and as Obama is supposedly the “smartest guy in the room,” one would think he’d thought that one through and taken a position before the oath was administered.
I tend to agree with this first part, but it is hardly an issue of some prurient interest in seeing dead coffins. I am sure everyone would agree that the true cost of war should be known. Some feel, not unreasonably, that images showing rows of flag drapped coffins is a powerful way to do this.
I am sure you agree that thinking something through when it amounts to basically an intellectual exercise is far different from actually having to pull the trigger, figuratively or literally. I do not think that being able to form an opinion outside of actual experience (assuming he had) and then stepping back and reconsidering once your opinion has actual consequences is hypocritical or a bad thing.
No, you can not win a war in court. But then does anyone here believe President Obama has any intention of defeating his mohammedan allies and brethren?
Yes indeed President Obama’s approval numbers are right around 67% this morning among Americans. The poll numbers of his jihadist cousins is not known. Close Gitmo, release the detainees and let the chips fall where they may. The American people have chosen; they want a nanny not a war time leader. God Bless the 9/11 and Cole bombing families, Obama won’t.
We are on our own as the Fifth Column controls the White House and both Houses of Congress. Wait for the knock on the door and be prepared.
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“I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials.” -George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 425-426.
Well Dr K didn’t do much to keep Obama out of office – and I like the good doctor.
It struck me this morning like a bolt from the blue. We’ve all been missing the point with the POTUS. It isn’t that he is as clueless as he appears nor as misinformed. The unfortunate and more likely truth is specifically the direct opposite!
He wanted to be POTUS and made promises to people without consideration of the legalities or moralities involved, he traded his new job and in return agreed to repay his supporters with all of the communist/socialist crap that has been proposed in the last 40 years. After all, “That’s the Chicago way!”
Does he care in the least what happens to those currently in custody at Gitmo after he closes the base? No. Does he care about your future medical care under Daschle’s socialized medicine? Not in the least. Abortion on demand at taxpayer expense? Losing in Iraq and Afghanistan? Turning our grandchildren’s inheritance into a third-world, bankrupt country? Quite possibly paving the way for a non-violent take over of the US by foreign money?
NO HE DOESN’T!!
What he, Dizzy Harry Reid and Princess Nancy care about, the ONLY thing they care about, is their own power right now today, keeping that for as possible and increasing it anywhere and everywhere they can. Enriching themselves and their cronies at the expense of the rest of the country.
If I sound paranoid or like I’m ready for my home-made foil hat, think it through again. Point out where I’m wrong, show me one instance where any one of these three leeches has put country before self and I’ll change my mind.
In the first place, she probably knows how to spell “Boumediene”. You’re a lawyer like lgm is a math teacher.
Great piece by McCarthy. Thanks for sharing.
You’re on a roll today. Have you ever seen a “live coffin”?
The new President’s approval ratings have fallen from a stratospheric 83 per cent to a more modest – 51 per cent.
IN TWO WEEKS!!!
I believe JustAThought is right.
Imagine, if you will, the reaction of the American people to photographs of the rows and rows of flag-draped American coffins off-loaded from Navy transport ships during World War 2. On D-Day, June 6, 1944: “The breakdown of US casualties was 1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured. Of the total US figure, 2499 casualties were from the US airborne troops (238 of them being deaths). The casualties at Utah Beach were relatively light: 197, including 60 missing. However, the US 1st and 29th Divisions together suffered around 2000 casualties at Omaha Beach.” http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm One day.
The anti-war activists, those who want to “show the true cost of war,” want this as a propaganda tool. They don’t know a damn’ thing about the “true cost of war,” and they don’t care. End of story.
ECS
“During the meeting, President Obama was wrong
on the law,wrongabout what Boumediene v. Bush afforded the detainees held at Guantanamo…just worng.
Chap has his GITMO like Rusty had his Leviticus. I like to think of it as misplaced passion.
The only ‘true cost of the war’ they harp on is that it is something like 62 billion dollars cost so far (for the war, say, in Afghanistan)…
Now; compare that to what they’re asking us to fork over for this ’stimulus’.
They never talk about it in the same report.
Yeah, yeah. Real powerful. I’m sure it would change things.
Look people… First, I said I would probably agree with those that wanted to bar photos of coffins being taken. However, it is not so simple a case. And its only propoganda when you disagree with it. Pro war activists invoke the images and memories of dead soldiers to make their points as well.
And I am still waiting to hear what Malikin’s friend’s insights were into Obama’s position on Boumediene .
What exactly is he wrong about with respect to that case?
Yeah. The images coming from Vietnam of dead soldiers had no part in turning the public against that war.
–Oliver Wendell Holmes
The latter would be my bet. He’s a well conditioned socialist, Marxist, do they really have the ability to answer a question never mind answering it truthfully?
NO!
I like pollster.com for tracking public opinion polls because they aggregate a bunch of different polls. They currently have his approval rating at 62.5% down from a high of 70% (which occurred before he took office!) Two weeks ago he was closer to 65%. That doesn’t seem like too drastic of a jump to me, especially considering how tough the stimulus package has been.
I’ve felt that way since November 4th. I used to have confidence that the American people would do the right thing, until reality set in on Nov. 5th.
As if the public isn’t against the war now without images of dead soldiers. Try again.
Those who gave their lives defending this country in a war most of them supported deserve more respect than being used as propaganda by those who would just as soon spit on them…something they also did during the Vietnam war.
Any time you hear a Commie talk about how horrible Gitmo is, remind them that Clinton used it as a prison for Haitian refugees all through the ’90’s with the same basic purpose – preventing them from touching US soil where asylum laws might apply. Of course, he continued the open door policy for Cubans (until he had to be “tough” with a young boy). No one cared back then. Of course, with a Democrat in the White House, it’s amazing how things like blacks in detention camps, urban outdoorsmen (a.k.a. the Homeless) and lack of funding for AIDS research (both Bush’s put more money in to AIDS research and prevention than the big C) cease to be issues.
I say this in serious concern that some DemoCommie operatives are reading this blog and I will be tracked by URL and hassled out of a job because I don’t “love the Emperor” as they used to accuse people during the Napoleonic period. Based on what the Policeman in Iowa is going through, it sure seems to be a looming issue.
I can see where the “he’s a muslim” ideas come from but I respectfully disagree. For the same reason his “Change” message is a joke – He is so beholden to the ultra Left (what Dems call “Moderates”) that he has no choice but to close Gitmo. They will turn on him like a pack of hungry dogs and he knows it. Nothing worse than being fresh out of friends in DC – ask Carter with a 21% prime rate in ‘78. He couldn’t get a cup of coffee back then.
I still have more respect for him than the turncoat Senators with R’s behind their names (can’t bring myself to call them Republican) who voted for what I like to call the “Print it, Spend it, run away with whatever’s left over!” bill.
My rant for the night.