U.S. President Barack Obama and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller
The U.S. government is currently squabbling over the release of classified information regarding terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Some Republicans are angered information was released by the Obama Administration and FBI Director, Robert S. Mueller, proclaiming Abdulmutallab has been cooperating with the U.S. government.
The world didn't have to know the U.S. government allegedly flipped Abdulmutallab. All the government had to do was appropriately act on the alleged intel.
I was amazed when said information was released and still believe pieces of the story are missing. Additionally, how can the government try people in court for releasing national security secrets, when they are essentially doing the same.
Furthermore, why do you guys in government argue so much. It's been over 8 years since the first major terrorist attack on this nation. The government should have gotten a lawful system down pat by now.
Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder
Yet what do we see - the wrong interrogators going in first, squabbles over Miranda rights and officials unadvisedly disclosing classified information before the suspect is even tried, all for political points.
Not only has it endangered his family, who have not been accused of any crime at this point, it could spark a retaliatory attack on Americans, with terrorists deeming you corrupted their boy.
As stated previously, it is wise detaining terrorists immediately and cutting off their communication with the outside world for a few days, in order to interrogate them. It is also appropriate that terrorists be tried on American soil, but as stated previously, in remote locations to protect innocent civilians from harm (also know as "the middle of nowhere").
It's not the greatest idea that the criminal justice system applied to civilians, be used to try terrorists. Terrorism is a serious crime. It is not a white collar offense. A military judicial system on U.S. shores, accountable to Congress and the American people, would be appropriate, as is a special, austere, isolated terrorist prison.
Terrorists also should not be tortured. No one should. It's a violation of the Geneva Conventions, which America and many other nations signed. However, repeatedly interrogating them, yelling at them and exposing them to loud music, as a form of punishment until they talk, is acceptable.
White House: Kit Bond Owes WH, Law Enforcement an Apology
February 04, 2010 1:44 PM - White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Thursday afternoon said that the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., owes people in the White House and in law enforcement an apology for alleging in a recent letter that the administration -- for political reasons -- leaked information it shouldn't have shared about Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab.
Bond, Gibbs said, "owes an apology to the professionals in the law enforcement community and those that work in this building...who work each and every day to keep the American people safe and would never ever, ever knowingly release or unknowingly release classified information that could endanger an operation or an interrogation."
Earlier today, Bond wrote to President Obama that on Monday afternoon, the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee as told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Abdulmutallab has been willing "to provide critical information" in recent days...
http://blogs.abcnews.com
