Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, points out Obama's deception.
Holder Gets Hammered
Yesterday I reported on Attorney General Eric Holder’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his decision to have five 9/11 conspirators, including mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, tried in civilian court in New York City. I was very proud of the way Republican senators on the committee aggressively questioned Holder about his decision. Below are highlights and some of my thoughts on the hearing.
- One issue not addressed was the guidelines military officers should follow on the battlefield regarding captured terrorists. Are they supposed to tell terrorists they have “the right to remain silent”? Will they be able to gather the necessary intelligence that could save Americans lives? Will terrorists be able to ask for a lawyer before an interrogation? All of these questions still need to be answered, and in the meantime American commanders are put in a very dangerous position.
- Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) mentioned that Holder has connections to lawyers who represented GITMO detainees. Kyl wanted to know if they were involved in any way in the decision. Not surprisingly, Holder dodged the question. According to Michelle Malkin, Eric Holder was a senior partner with a “prestigious” Washington D.C., law firm that represents 17 Yemenis who are held at GITMO.
- Holder also has a disturbing history: As a deputy attorney general in the Clinton Administration, Holder overrode internal opposition at the Justice Department and directed the Office of the Pardon Attorney to support clemency for members of the FALN, a Puerto Rican terrorist group.
- President Obama said Wednesday that he expects Mohammed to be convicted and executed. Defense attorneys for the terrorists could use these statements as evidence that their clients cannot receive a fair trial. Also, defense attorneys can prolong the jury selection process by arguing that it is impossible to find an impartial jury in a city where over 3,000 of its residents were killed. A motion for a change of venue seems highly likely.
- Senator Kyl asked Holder, “How could you be more likely to get a conviction in federal court, when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has already asked to plead guilty before a military commission, and be executed? How could you be more likely to get a conviction in federal court than that?” Holder said he “doesn’t know what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed wants to do now.”
Despite the risks for the country, and the message this decision sends to terrorists, the Obama Administration has refused to back down. It is becoming clearer by the day that Obama and his cronies care more about their radical agenda than they do about seeking the real justice that these thugs deserve, a death sentence decided in a military tribunal, not in civilian court.
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