Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempting to blow up a flight last Friday en route to Detroit from Amsterdam, should not be given the rights afforded to other criminal defendants.
“I think that the administration has made a mistake by treating this terrorist as a common criminal — by putting him into the criminal justice system,” King said Tuesday during an appearance on NBC. “I wish they would have put him into a military tribunal so we could get as much intelligence and information out of him as we could.”
The New York Republican, who has been one of the GOP’s foremost point men on national security issues, said that by affording Abdulmutallab due process, the government was missing out on potentially vital information from the alleged bomber, who is said to have ties to al Qaeda.
“My concern is that we did miss the opportunity, because once we put him into the criminal justice system, he gets a lawyer and Miranda rights,” King explained.
Abdulmutallab was charged by the Justice Department on Saturday while in the hospital, where he is recovering from injuries sustained during his attempted attack.
And while you would expect Democrats to rally around the president, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) made it clear he wasn’t all that thrilled with the actions of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. He said he’d give her another chance, but “I will be watchfully waiting to see what she has done and what she will do,” he said. “The terrorist watch list is not up to snuff, plain and simple, and the terrorist watch list doesn’t include enough people who are dangerous.”
(Source: The Hill / WCBSTV)
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8 Responses
Why not try him for several hundred counts of attempted murder? He’s a lot better off in Gitmo than a regular prison. There aren’t even any “loopholes” (since the exclusionary rules NEVER cover actions taken by private citizens in making an arrest). If we ever want to exchange him for an American prisoner, the President has the authority to do it even if he is a convicted felon. Why give in to al Queda’s goal of undermining our system of law, which is based on our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights?
As for the reluctance of the various agencies to act on intelligence that he was coming to engage in terrorism (and for the army officer who was in contact with the enemy before engaging in terrorism), all the president has to do is apologize for questioning the legality of actions taken by civil servants in the scope of employment. He authorizes his Attorney-General to prosecute civil servants for doing their job, and surprise, they don’t do their jobs anymore. This is what the Republicans need to criticize (which does not involve tampering with our own civil rights).
just goes to show more into the mindset of this administrator. if this continues-get your passports ready
pretty soon there will no longer be referred to as terrorist
akuperma, the President wants to create chaos which you are intentionally ignoring.
akuperma,
The Constitution and our Bill of Rights are made for CITIZENS of the country and NOT for TERRORISTS. You are falling for the Obamanation of this process. These are not your common crooks on the streets of NY. These are ENEMY COMBATANTS and need to be treated as such.
#3 and #4 akuperma is a far left liberal,so do expect anything better from him.
yehudah y d, I know he is. It is even worse. akuperma is not one individual but many. They are all connected with the Association for Communities Organizing for Reform Now and the Service Employees International Union. They all share the P.I.N. number with each other and monitor this continually. Just look at the tone and style of all the akuperma entries and you will see major variations between them all.
#4 Mark Levin – Although I totally agree with what you are advocating, there is a pitfall in calling them “enemy combatants”. If, indeed, they were to be processed as enemy combatants, they probably would be afforded the protections of the Geneva Convention. I advocate that terrorists and their actions be reclassified to a new legal level that would afford them none of the rights of an enemy combatant, and with that categorization, they should be tried by the military of the USA and afforded none of the rights that law-abiding citizens get. One of the biggest problems facing us here in the United States is the apologistic mentality of a leftist-leaning liberal administration headed by an inept President and a bunch of his power-hungry minions. G-D BLESS AMERICA!!!! We will prevail!
Gee whiz Flatbush Bubby, you are tough! I’m glad we’re on the same side.