Republican Intellectual Dishonesty on Terrorism Continues [UPDATED]
By Larry Johnson on February 4, 2010 at 10:11 PM in Current Affairs
The Republican spin machine is going full tilt in its bogus campaign to discredit Barack Obama and Eric Holder on their handling of terrorism. I cannot believe the number of prominent folks who use the lame excuse that “we are facing a different terrorist threat” to justify ignoring the law, particularly the Constitution, and insist that someone arrested on U.S. soil is not entitled to their Miranda rights. Yep, the threat has certainly changed. Unlike the 1980s, when there were at least five major terrorist attacks against the United States in a single year, we now face sporadic, largely unsuccessful attacks. But who is counting? The Republicans and the media certainly are not. They just insist that terrorism is getting worse and, without a single shred of proof, accept the assertion as proven fact.
Initially Republicans insisted that we failed to get adequate intelligence because Abdulmuttalb was read his rights. I guess they wanted the military to spring up out of nowhere and grab him and haul him off to Guantanamo. At least we have proved a couple of things. When it comes to the issue of armed agents of a state dragging people off to prison in Cuba without any recourse to a lawyer or a court, the Republicans are devoid of irony and shame. That is stuff Castro does. Remember, Fidel has a long track record of declaring people “enemies of the state” and “terrorists” and then argues that he is protecting Cuba’s national security. In fact, he locked up the guys we organized and funded at the Bay of Pigs but why bring up that unsavory history. Every society, especially those commanded by tyrants, can always find an excuse to justify their excess. I just never thought I would see modern Republicans so eager to do a reprise of the lunacy of Senator Joe McCarthy.
Of course many of the Republicans also conveniently forget that George W. Bush employed the same methods against shoe bomber Richard Reid in 2001. What happened then? He was read his Miranda rights, he lawyered up and the FBI ultimately persuaded him to cooperate. He pled out. Information about Al Qaeda’s methods and personnel was collected. Did not hurt us one damn bit.
So Barack Obama and Eric Holder do the same damn thing. And what happens?
Republicans get a case of the vapors and swoon like acrophobics being dangled over the edge of the Grand Canyon. In fact, keen “intellects” like Mitch McConnell drive off into crazy land and insist that Georg W. Bush was wrong to arrest and prosecute Richard Reid. And if Bush was wrong then Obama certainly is off-base. Yet once again the FBI does what the FBI does best–they interrogate and they investigate and, drawing upon their unique experience in this arena, use every Law and Order trick in the book and persuade Abdulmutallab to cooperate.
When the Obama team announces that Abdulmutallab is cooperating and providing valuable intelligence then the Republicans deftly pivot and immediately insist that Obama is hurting national security by revealing that Abdulmutallab is cooperating. JESUS CHRIST!!! What the hell is the matter with these people? They don’t worry about convincing our enemies that we are weak on terror because we dare to use the rule of law. No way. They make a Federal case of the matter. Insisting that Barack and Holder are surrender monkeys bent on putting the United States in jeopardy just because they happen to believe in the quaint notion that the rule of law means something.
Let’s see. When Republicans want to impeach Bill Clinton then there is nothing greater or more important than rule of law when it comes to impeaching a guy for lying about a blow job. But when the FBI, with the backing of the Department of Justice, performs its job by the book and the Constitution then, all of a sudden, we cannot afford the rule of law.
This ought to outrage every American who cares about the Constitution, the rule of law and that cherished American principle of the rights of the individual.
I would say I was shocked (but I’m not) over the media’s willingness to repeat endlessly the Republican’s baseless charge against Obama. But we’ve seen their shit before. They, for the most part, ignored torture and violations of human rights under Bush. Only a few, like Sy Hersh and the boys at Knight Ridder, dared challenge the notion that the Government could do what it wanted, where it wanted, without having to answer to anyone.
The issue of where and how to do the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and his cronies is a legitimate argument. For my money we should be doing a military tribunal. There is no way we could have a civilian trial in New York City. First, after what we saw in the case of Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh, local prejudice forced the trial to be moved to Denver. A civilian case in New York City for the mastermind of the attack on the World Trade Center would have to be moved to another venue. Second, finding an objective jury will be tough.
Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama deserve a kick in the gonads for failing to come up with a clear policy for using military tribunals against terrorist targets. While I understand and have some sympathy for those who argue we should not run away from a civil criminal trial, I think the circumstances surrounding the capture and detention of KSM makes the military tribunal a more palatable option.
I am thoroughly amused by those who argue that the CIA is much better at getting info/intel out of suspects/terrorists than the FBI. That is pure, unadulterate HORSESHIT. CIA has no expertise at this. Not only does the FBI have legitimate expertise in this arena, but their track record with both Communists and terrorists is light years ahead of the CIA. A simple review of historical facts will establish that case. CIA analysts have no training or work requirement to interrogate people. What about field operatives? Nope. They do “debriefings,” which is an entirely differnt animal. Debriefings occur with cooperative subjects. The FBI routinely deals with lying scumbags who start off with little desire to give up any sensitive information. Yet, year after year, the FBI does a good job of getting information out of these people.
The Bureau has done it again with the Underpants Bomber. The stupid kid who started off with a tough guy act finally flipped. And he flipped despite all of the belly aching and fetal position pissing by the Republicans who apparently believe that Al Qaeda and its operatives are so smart, so tough, so clever and so well-trained that our only salvation is to torture them to get suspect information.
Republicans better wake up and re-read the Constitution. Otherwise they are in danger of behaving like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Joseph Stalin. Not my idea of heroes.
UPDATE–This was so obvious, which is probably why I forgot to include it. Saddam Hussein, at least as far as the George W. Bush administration was concerned, was a terrorist. Dick Cheney was so convinced of this fact that he peddled the now disproven notion that Saddam was the culprit behind 9-11. Anyway, when he was captured by the U.S. military, he was carted off to Guantanamo and subjected to a military tribunal. Right? HELL NO. He was arrested and ultimately tried in a criminal court in Iraq. Guess George W. was soft on terrorism, just like Barack.
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