The traitor remains at large:
Leave a commentNow, CBS News’ Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad writes that earlier reports the detained individual was Gadahn proved false. According to a Pakistan security official who spoke with CBS News on condition of anonymity, the arrested individual is in fact “a Taliban militant leader who is known as Abu Yahya.”
The official said evidence compiled from an interrogation of the suspect and information exchanged with U.S. officials verified the man’s identify.
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Legal Insurrection notes the silly response of some lefties to news of Adam Gadahn’s capture:
But wait for it: This proves Obama’s anti-terrorism strategy is better than Bush’s -
- What, you mean working with your allies as opposed to trying to run roughshod on them actually works? Who knew?
- It’s like the commander in chief is focused on fighting terrorism or something.
Because al-Qaeda terrorists never before have been captured in Pakistan (other than Khalid Sheikh Mohammend and other people we can’t figure where to put on trial).
Whatever it takes to get them cheering for America. A few years ago they would have been defending Gadahn.
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Osama plays to the anti-capitalist, eco-nuts on the left:
Osama bin Laden sought to draw a wider public into his fight against the United States in a new message Friday, dropping his usual talk of religion and holy war and focusing instead on an unexpected topic: global warming.
The al-Qaida leader blamed the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change and said the only way to prevent disaster was to break the American economy, calling on the world to boycott U.S. goods and stop using the dollar.
It remains to be seen whether he will be as successful as Lenin in recruiting useful idiots.
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Look how well the system work:
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.
American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.
For a rabid jihadist, death is their only therapy.
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An outrageous case of PC self-destruction:
Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.
The three, all members of the Navy’s elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral’s mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.
Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named “Objective Amber,” told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.
Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.
Good for them for demanding a court-martial. Every single person involved in bringing these charges ought to be immediately punched in the lip.
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Jake Tapper asks the question, but more interesting to me is this answer by Eric Holder:
Attorney General Eric Holder brushed off the question, saying, “I would not have authorized the bringing of these prosecutions unless I thought that the outcome — in the outcome we would ultimately be successful. I will say that I have access to information that has not been publicly released that gives me great confidence that we will be successful in the prosecution of these cases in federal court.”
What is the purpose of a trial if you will only use it when the verdict is assured, but won’t release the accused when it is not? The idea put forth by the left, that civilian trials are necessary for justice, is completely undermined here.
All prosecutors consider the likelihood of a guilty verdict when bringing a trial, but normally the choice is between a trial or letting the defendant go free. KSM is not going to go free regardless of whether this trial is held, nor should he. We already know he is guilty.
The decision, only made when a guilty verdict is assured, to hold a civilian trial in lieu of a military tribunal shows just how pointless such trials are. They are a stage act – pure theater put on for the benefit of the hard left. Eric Holder has essentially admitted that there is no justice-based reason why KSM is being tried in civilian court instead of the adequately equipped, and better suited, military tribunals established for the purpose. He is doing it simply because it provides opportunity to pander to an untenable position hatched in thoughtless opposition under President Bush.
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The latest Friday news dump involved the announcement that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, along with four other terrorists, will receive a trial in civilian courts in New York City. This unwise decision is not about justice.
Mohammed has already confessed to his crimes – over two years ago. This “trial” will provide him an unnecessary platform on which to pontificate, grandstand, and spread his Jihadist filth. Our enemies will handed a magnificent propaganda tool for no good reason.
Leftist commentators, in defending this move, have suddenly found Constitutional religion while pointing to our founding document’s protections as justification. But these protections apply to Americans or residents, not foreigners apprehended overseas for waging war against our country. Affording them Constitutional protections when they have no obligation to uphold the duties it places on the rest of us is what would really make a mockery of it. It is a contract upon which they have never signed, and would just as soon spit on as do so. Why should they receive its benefits?
It is not only the administration’s opponents that are troubled by this decision. Democratic Senator Jim Webb said in a statement, “Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts.”
This is not to say that there should be no due process; merely that it need not take the same form as those provided for Americans. As it turns out, that process already exists through military tribunals that have already been established – over much political wrangling. Why jettison them now? Our tribunals were more than capable of rendering fair verdicts in a situation where sensitive information and methods would not be exposed to our enemies. But that has been tossed aside in favor of a show trial in New York. And we can rest assured, this trial will be quite the circus – one which we’ll all likely leave with pie on our faces.
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The story of the Fort Hood shooting isn’t all that complicated. Muslim radicalizes and becomes jihadist. Radical jihadist then kills 13 infidels. It’s quickly becoming as common as boy meets girl.
The story of the lead-up to the shooting is far murkier. As the evidence continues to trickle out about the degree to which authorities were aware of Nidal Hasan’s radical beliefs, a single question emerges: just what the hell were they thinking by allowing this jihadist to remain in the military?
Hasan often railed against both U.S. wars in the Middle East and was known to have anti-American views and a propensity for seditious commentary. He also had ties with a radical mosque connected to the 9/11 attacks, and sought to communicate with a terrorist supporting, anti-American imam. Given what the FBI knew of Hasan’s views and actions, it is inexcusable that no action was taken. One can only conclude that excessive multiculturalism contributed to this failure. Questioning or removing a Muslim soldier for radical views would just be too insensitive.
This episode illustrates perfectly our self-imposed incapacity to deal with radical Islamic jihad. Yet we do not learn. Immediately after the attack, as with all radical jihadist attacks, our leaders wring their hands about an “anti-Muslim backlash” that is often predicted but never materializes. Everyone knows this isn’t about Muslims or Islam in general, but a particular and toxic strain that wages war against us. The denialist culture that allowed an outspoken, anti-American jihadist to remain in the US military despite frequent seditious outbursts continues unabated. When will we get serious and treat jihadism as the enemy that it is?
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Obama supports extension of soon to expire Patriot Act provisions:
The Obama administration supports extending three provisions of the USA Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress. The provisions give the government the authority to access business records, operate roving wiretaps and conduct surveillance on “lone wolf” suspects with no known link to foreign governments or terrorist groups. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said the administration was willing to consider stronger civil rights protections in the law “provided that they do not undermine the effectiveness” of the three provisions.
I’m not going to get into the merits of these provisions. I’ll make a different point instead.
There’s a good lesson here about not focusing too much on individuals as difference makers in politics. Yes, they matter, but so much of what government does depends not on who is in charge, but on how the institutions are structured and their relative powers arranged. The most powerful way to affect change is to reshape those institutions, not elect a sharp-tongued demagogue who is only specific when claiming to have better intentions than the last guy.
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The U.S. has reversed drug policy in Afghanistan:
Washington is to dramatically overhaul its Afghan anti-drug strategy, phasing out opium poppy eradication, the U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan told allies on Saturday.
Richard Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilising Afghanistan, also discussed efforts to support its August 20 election. Washington has nearly doubled its troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and provide security for the vote.
“The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work,” Holbrooke told Reuters after a series of bilateral meetings in Italy.
This is a welcome development. Attacking poppy fields in Afghanistan was self-defeating for our larger mission. We need to be less concerned about forcing anti-drug morality on Afghanistan farmers than we are about establishing a secure Afghanistan and stopping the reemergence of the Taliban.
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I am a libertarian-conservative blogger living in the DC area. I have a Master's degree in Political Science, but please don't hold that against me.
