National security flip-flop: Obama to retreat on KSM/Gitmo detainee civilian trials…for now
Scroll down for updates, warnings…
I want to take you back to November 13, 2009, less than four short months ago.
That was the day corruptocrat Attorney General Eric Holder announced he was bringing 9/11 jihadi mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and other Gitmo detainees to NYC for civilian trials. As I noted the day the news broke, it was a Friday. The president was flying off to Asia. Congress was not in session. It was the perfect time to drop a bombshell on the American people. Here is what I wrote at the time:
If this White House thought Tea Party activists were an “angry mob,” wait until they see the backlash from 9/11 family members and their supporters nationwide. We’re not going to sit down and shut up about the reckless, security-undermining Obama 9/10 agenda and conflict-of-interest-ridden AG Eric Holder.
Call them out.
Well, another Friday is upon us. President Obama will be flying off to Asia in a few weeks. Congress is tied up with health care. And now, the White House is retreating in the face of vigilant, unrelenting pressure from 9/11 families and national security groups.
AG Eric Holder, meet the undercarriage of Barack Obama’s bus. Thumpity-thump, via WaPo:
President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.
The president’s advisers feel increasingly hemmed in by bipartisan opposition to a federal trial in New York and demands, mainly from Republicans, that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some terrorism suspects in civilian courts as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the rule of law, critics have said military tribunals are the appropriate venue for those accused of attacking the United States.
…The administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the president’s legal advisers are finalizing their review of the cases of Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators. Asked about the process, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that “no decisions have been made.”
Privately, administration officials are bracing for the ire of disappointed liberals and even some government lawyers should the administration back away from promises to use civilian courts to adjudicate the cases of some of the 188 detainees who remain at Guantanamo.
“Even some government lawyers.” Yeah, thanks to Fox News, conservative media/blog pressure, and the 9/11 families backlash against Holder’s national security stone wall, we know which ones.
Along with KSM, the Gitmo detainees whom Holder had planned to dump in Big Apple courtrooms were Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni; Walid bin Attash, also a Yemeni; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a Pakistani who is Mohammed’s nephew; and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a Saudi. They were first arraigned in June 2008.
Now, here’s the catch:
If Obama accepts the likely recommendation of his advisers, the White House may be able to secure from Congress the funding and legal authority it needs to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and replace it with a facility within the United States. The administration has failed to meet a self-imposed one-year deadline to close Guantanamo…
…Top Obama advisers have been negotiating with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) — a vocal critic of trying the Sept. 11 suspects in civilian court — in pursuit of a deal that would secure his help in closing Guantanamo…
To close the detention center at Guantanamo, the administration needs funding to acquire and refurbish a prison in the United States, probably a state-owned maximum-security facility in Thomson, Ill. Because Congress has barred the transfer to the United States of all detainees except those destined for prosecution, the White House needs legal authority to move prisoners it plans to hold in some form of indefinite detention.
An interagency review of all cases at Guantanamo Bay concluded that about 50 prisoners will have to be held in some form of prolonged detention without trial, because the evidence against them was obtained through the use of harsh interrogation methods or because its revelation in court would compromise intelligence gathering. The government says the detainees are too dangerous to release.
So, even as they pull back from civilian trials in NYC, Obama is still trying to bring the Gitmolympics home to Illinois.
Keep calling them out. Keep America Safe.
***
Reminder – KSM’s confession. Pass it on:
***
Andy McCarthy calls a head fake:
The real agenda here is to close Gitmo. That’s the ball to keep your eye on. The Post is trying to soften the opposition to shuttering the detention camp by portraying beleaguered, reasonable Obama as making a great compromise that will exasperate the Left. The idea is to strengthen Sen. Lindsey Graham’s hand in seeking reciprocal compromise from our side.
This, however, is a matter of national security, not horse-trading over a highway bill. You don’t agree to do a stupid thing that endangers the country just because your opposition has magnanimously come off its insistence that you do two stupid things that endanger the country.
If a deal to grant military commissions in exchange for closing Gitmo happens, it is a major win for the Obama Left and an enormous loss for public safety.
We were headed inexorably toward military commissions for the 9/11 plotters. We don’t need to cut a bad deal to get it. Congress was not going to approve funding to transport trained terrorists to the U.S., nor to hold civilian trials. As I said, we’ve already got military commissions for some enemy combatants, and if we play this out, we are likely to get them for most if not all of the combatant war crimes trials. And we are likely to get them at Gitmo — the best place to have them, and the place on which the public has expended hundreds of millions of dollars to construct a safe, humane, fastidiously Islamo-friendly prison with state-of-the-art trial facilities.
Sgt. Tim Sumner: of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Secure America warns:
Last June was the last time the White House hosted a conference call with family members of the victims of 9/11 and the Cole bombing. During that call, the briefer said Senator Patrick Leahy would propose changes in the Military Commission Act, using the “Warner-McCain-Graham bill of 2006.”
Only, no such bill ever existed. Yet it did reveal that Senator Graham was already secretly negotiating with the White House. The actual bill was one by Senator John Warner, with no co-sponsors, that four Republicans voted in committee to allow to be brought to the Senate floor as a substitute amendment for the Military Commissions Act. When the substitute was put forward, even Warner voted against it (as did Graham) and both McCain and Snowe did not vote.
We have been conned before by this White House so do not believe everything you read in the newspaper. We need to soon hear from Senator Graham the details of what he is proposing.
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Categories: Eric Holder,Gitmo
Riehl World View
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I think the Cheney’s deserve some props for this outcome as well.
I can think of two people who, between the two of them,
Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn should be locked up in Gitmo along with 9/11 jihadi mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohamed.
They may already know each other better than you think.
If Ayers and Dohrn were simply protesting the Vietnam War, then why did they give their two sons Islamic names?
Published: September 11, 2001
In the New York Times
This is the domestic terrorist who groomed Obama.
The domestic terrorist who helped Obama get into Harvard Law School.
The domestic terrorist who got Obama his position on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
The domestic terrorist who launched Obama’s first campaign in his living room.
The domestic terrorist who Obama claimed was just “some guy in his neighborhood”, yet after the election Ayers confirmed that he and Obama are “Family friends“.
And this is the domestic terrorist whose name just happened to show up on the White House visitor logs.
… but we’re told that was a different Bill Ayers, and the Jeremiah Wright on the visitor logs is a different Jeremiah Wright.
Sure… I’ll believe that when they make public exactly who those supposedly different Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright are, and what official business they had at the White House.
***
President Bush 43 looks smarter and smarter all the time. And Comrade Obama (PBUH) makes himself and his ilk look dumber all the time.
***
And the photo of the evil KSM just cries out for a Saddam Hussein style long drop with a short rope. A Texas “necktie party” in Gitmo will do nicely.
***
John Bibb
***
No worries Eric. You will have plenty of company under there.
Took them long enough. And even then, one can infer from the delay that they are only doing it because they have to, not because its the right thing.
Ever double-clutching, this administration has trouble finding the right gear.
Another chapter in the tale of a clueless, young Chicago crook who assumes power over the world’s most powerful nation.
May God help us.
Will Congress use “reconciliation” to get this through too, and dispense with the need for Scott Brown to be a deciding vote?
Okay, if KSM won’t get that civil trial, that time slot is empty. Now, due to double-jeopardy, Bill Ayers (SPIT!) can’t be tried again. So, instead, let’s try Eric Holder (SPIT!) for corruption and conflict-of-interest.
So Obama says no to a KSM trial in the US and for doing so wants GITMO closed. Of course if GITMO is closed and they more all the terror suspsects to Illinois then there would be no need for funding from Congress to try all of the suspects in a civilian court….
…Top Obama advisers have been
Can you say gang of 14 Redux…..
He truly is a child playing in a grown up world. God help us indeed!!
Obama is flip-flopping to save his political office and “legacy,” not to save Americans living in NYC or where these terrorists end up. Of course, Holder’s comments that the Gitmo guys would end up with the death penalty would result in a mistrial, deportment, and rejoining of terrorist groups. A win-win for radial Islam, two words you will not hear from this adminstration.
The 9/11 families will not give up. Good for them that they weakened the wall of distrust.
Start the countdown:
976 days left until the 2012 presidential election, on 11/6/12
http://www.change2012.org/
What is the purpose for President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama’s trip to Asia?
Here are two activities I have grown to expect from the person who is support to represent us, be the Commander-In-Chief, the Chief Executive of the United States of America, serve and protect the citizens of the USA, serve and protect the Constitution of the United States, and represent the interests of US citizens:
I expect him to:
Grovel to other nations and their leaders, citizens, and radical groups.
I expect him to:
Speak in a negative manner about US citizens, US culture, US history, and the US government, except himself.
I expect him to bow before someone, or several someones.
I expect him to promise that our nation will bow in humble submission, that we are a disgraceful people, that we will surrender to their wishes, and, if the topic of military might, security, and defense comes up, he will promise to disarm, weaken our nation, and in support the agenda of other nations.
I also expect our President, Barack Hussein Obama, to praise Islam, praise other nations, especially those with Socialist, Communist, and Fascist structures, and I expect him to ignore the misogyny, abuse, graft, and disgracefulness of many other nations and their thuggish leaders.
I expect this now because our President has demonstrated such behavior numerous times even before he was elected President of the United States of America.
I am not looking forward to his tour.
I dred his excursion and the further damage he will bring upon our nation here, and abroad.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t POTUS say that those decisions belong to the AG, when holder made the decision in the first place?
Another sign that this administration is clueless. Saying things on the campaign trail is way different than being in the White House with people actually watching what you do and say.
I never heard GWB’s advisors whining about Democrats hemming them in. Boo, frickin’ Hoo!
Oh this one will be back. These people never quit. They are like the theif who constantly roam the hotel corridor looking for an unlocked room.
This issue will never be over as long as the Progressives are in power.
This is what you get when you elect a Chicago street punk with delusions of grandeur to be President of the United States. Obama has a priority list and the American People are not that high on it. Instead, his legacy (health care) and playing with his favorite toy (Air Force One) are at the top of the list. What a sorry disappointment Obama has turned out to be.
As I have written before any AG does not even go to the restroom without approval from the POTUS.
Sorry, Holder is a puppet and Obama is the string puller here. His monkey!
Remember; OBambi,et al are liars. Nothing they say has meaning, their actions do not mirror their words. Therefore don’t think that they are retreating from any of their agendas.
Just a bit of adjustment….
Slightly off topic:
…takeover of healthcare.
The street runs both ways.
On March 5th, 2010 at 8:12 am, tre said:
It is true that the same Mark Felt who, as “Deep Throat”, played a direct role in causing an anti-Communist Republican President to resign, is the same Mark Felt who played a direct role in causing the self-admitted Communist Revolutionary Bill Ayers to get off “Guilty as sin, Free as a bird!”
But those charges were for the attacks on Washington, D.C.
Ayers and Dohrn have never been tried for the murder of the police officer. And there is no statue of limitations on that.
statute, not statue
There should be one of each
I’ve got a better idea. Bring the detainees to a somewhat remote location in the US, spraypaint them blaze orange, and turn them loose, with a $5 bounty on their heads. There aren’t too many things left to hunt until spring turkey season, and the bounty would cover the cost of ammo.
What, too harsh?
Didn’t Barry say they would be found guilty and sentenced to death anyway?
Ok, jangar,
On a serious note again,
The whole idea of the civilian trial for KSM came from two sources that mean everything to Obama: the editorial department of the New York Times and Anthony Romero of the ACLU. The Obama administration has never stood up to the editorial board of the NY Times. Never. The NY Times editorial board already had a counterattack today demanding that the trial be civilian and be in New York City. NYC, especially Manhattan, is the most liberal community in the US where nobody supports the death penalty and everybody hates George Bush. It would only take one holdout juror to prevent a death penalty. And the trial would be held before a liberal federal judge, who would let the defense lawyers bring up CIA, FBI, Israel, the whole left wing agenda. Expect Israel to be put on trial. And no attention has been given to Holder’s position that each of the defendants be given a free death penalty lawyer to do the death penalty phase. Holder will also allow free jury consultants to each defendant. There is no chance of securing a death penalty. Holder knows it.
And Obama never stands up to the ACLU either. Expect the New York Times to get its way with this case. Trial in NYC around 2012, with KSM convicted of some offenses but not given the death penalty.
Why is this even a question? Why wasn’t this animal shot immediately after interrogation was completed?
He has the right to remain dead. See that he uses it.
Even Obambi realized (finally) that this was going to be yet another failure on his part, and would turn the city of NY and the legal proceedings against terrorists on their heads.
He probably always knew it, but now it is politically “inconvenient”. One can only hope the deficit becomes similarly inconvenient.
1. Why do the donks need Lindsey Graham to close Guantanamo Bay? I thought they were running things these days. Do they need a super-majority vote?
2. Worse, if he’s supposed to be “a vocal critic of trying the Sept. 11 suspects in civilian court,” then what is Graham doing playing footsie with the donks to make that outcome more likely?
Aside from a few possible show trials, one wonders what Graham is angling for.
We need to demand ‘Comprehensive Terrorism Reform’
The Iraq War, Afghanistan, Gitmo, DontAskDontTell, ShowTrials, Iran, Somolia, et al – all into one nice little bundle and its an ‘all or nothing, up or down, simple majority vote’
Yes, I proposed that last year. Just let me take the detainees out for a little walk in the woods – no questions asked. But I get 10% of the overall cost savings. Its win-win all around and even the detainees get to become a martyr in private.
Uh-huh…but it does show how he hates the military – and thinks a military tribunal is not committed to the rule of law.
Or he just hates everything about us…
RabbidSquirrel
Yeah, why should we fritter away more of the taxpayers money by renovating a facility here?
Leave the gun. Bring the cannolis.
.45 acp rounds are $.30 a piece. We could empty Gitmo for far less than what was found in Rep. Jefferson D-LA’s freezer.
geeze are those shoes uuugly…..
Ya gotta think outside the box and take a little lesson in economics from Sheriff Joe down in Phoenix.
.45s would just be gratuitous. Im thinking more on the lines of old school Rawanda and Daniel Pearl
An acid bath could make everything so much easier.
“Hey, Kalid, would you like to take a bath. You do look filthy, and you stink like the south bound end of a north bound Hugo Chavez, Usama bin Laden, Janeanne Garafolo, or Kalid Sheik Mohammad.”
That “bath” would eliminate the problem, down to the bone.
Snirk, snirk, snort, snort, cough, cough, titter, titter, tee, hee.
I hope Holder gets along with President Obama’s “typical white person” late grandmother and the “Reverend” Wright. Otherwise things could get nasty under the bus.
ECS