CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
Nov. 13, 2009 – 1:54 p.m.
Congressional Republicans Furious Over Decision to Try Gitmo Detainees
Congressional Republicans reacted with outrage to the Obama administration’s decision on Friday to put five Guantánamo Bay detainees on trial in federal court in New York City, saying the move could compromise intelligence and possibly allow some conspirators to walk free.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. ’s announcement Friday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees alleged to have been involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be tried in Manhattan was met with swift and intense GOP criticism. Democrats, in contrast, offered muted praise.
“This misguided decision is based on the false belief that the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans in one day on U.S. soil are common criminals, not war criminals,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky. “But there are needless risks from this decision: classified information can be inadvertently leaked, as it was in the first World Trade Center trial; our cities will face enormous security problems; and our communities will be potential targets for attack.”
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said the administration’s “irresponsible decision . . . puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause.”
Few if any congressional Republicans, other than Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have shown any willingness to work with the administration to transfer Guantánamo detainees and close the prison. Graham helped with provisions in the fiscal 2010 defense authorization law that rewrote the rules for military commissions to try detainees.
But Graham adamantly opposes federal court trials for the alleged plotters. He offered an amendment to the fiscal 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science spending measure that would bar the use of Justice Department funds under the bill to prosecute in a regular federal court anyone linked to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Comments
As to McConnell's observation, I'm reminded of the Marx Brothers response to the gypsy scene in Il Trovatore..."Boogey boogey boogey". And, as to the Minority Leader's comment, that's quite an indictment of our legal system. The military doesn't have to worry about such things, ya know...as long as you come close to proving the guilt...kinda like horse shoes. Could the Republicans act anymore like children?
To believe that Republican leadership would support any action that legitimizes administration policy is wishful thinking. I hope the administration now recognizes that and will be more pragmatic in its search for bi-partisan support. Unfortunately the Republican party flounders on true leadership. To think that our justice system and a jury is not capable of delivering an appropriate verdict and frightening people into believing these criminals would be free to walk the streets is insulting to vast, vast majority of Americans. Patriotism isn't based on fear. It's based on courage, on love of our country and support of the institutions that bind us together. Not political strategies that seek to divide us and tear down our institutions. Fear tactics of the previous administration have played themselves out. Inciting fear is the same tactics that terrorists use.
Last time a looked at the Constitution, it said something like we are a nation of laws, not men. The sorry example of Bush, Cheney, and the right wing wackos to "detain" people without trial for years is a scary example of what could happen. Someone named Hitler dumped people into concentration camps because they were not aligned with the totalitarian regime. I certainly am not in favor of letting people who would harm the USA run around and hide behind our laws. The pathetic right-wing wackos, however, would incarcerate anyone who was not like them. Since I am a Democrat, I sleep easier that they cannot impost their cuckoo agenda on the country.
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