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What Hath Barack Obama Wrought?

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 11th, 2010 at 06:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

I know I am not the only one who has said we’re playing with idiocy in Barack Obama’s efforts to try terrorists in civilian courts.

Check out this news.

A federal judge has tossed out most of the government’s evidence against a terrorism detainee on grounds his confessions were coerced, allegedly by U.S. forces, before he became a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.

In a ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan also said the government failed to establish that 23 statements the detainee made to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were untainted by the earlier coerced statements made while he was held under harsh conditions in Afghanistan.

Poof. The judicial system just shut down one avenue of the government’s case. How many more avenues will get shut down?

Now we are sending to New York the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks to go through the same system of justice. And Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, unlike the terrorist detainee in the article reference above, was water-boarded.

How many Americans will die because of Barack Obama’s amateur notions of terror, war, and justice?

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COMMENTS

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  • fpete13527

    ….this administration is not merely incompetent, but rather they intentionally WANT the terrorist trials to fail to convict the terrorists.

    The War on Terror is what is actually being prosecuted. This adminstration wants to squelch any futher intent to prosecute the War on Terror….even though the terrorists are expanding their scope and ramping up around the world.

    And the predominant source of that terror is ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM…which this adminstration doesnt seem to want to acknowledge the existence of openly.

  • VizBiz

    Holder tells us that KSM will receive a fair trial and that if he’s not convicted he will never see the light of day. In other words he’s guilty even if he’s not guilty …… You know, fair trial. lol.

    I think most Americans can see through this nonsense. Everyone but the administration sees it for what it is. This will be Obamas Waterloo.

  • gunnerbs

    is grounds for the impeachment of our President, I think.

    I was sent a link to a petition for his impeachment the other day; ultimately I didn’t sign it, because of some disturbing “birther” type statements that I’m not going to put my name on. However, I do think Pres. Obama has committed numerous other offenses which are impeachable as well:

    -taking of private property without due process or just compensation, in violation of the 5th Amendment
    -interfiered with the management of private property in violation of the 5th Amendment
    -unlawfully interfered with private contracts

    These are just the things I can think of right off the bat. Unfortunately, the concept of impeachment, and reasons for it have probably been forever tainted by the impeachment of President Clinton, and the Progressive Movement.

    But the fact remains, President Obama, only one year into his term has failed his oath: he has demonstrated he does not intend to preserve the Constitution; he has on nemerous occaisions declined to protect the Constitution; and he has activley shied away from defending the Constitution.

  • bigalsouth

    for Obama to show some spine and actually DO something for a change in the GWOT. This is the perfect opportunity for Obama to have another press conference, which he loves, and state that he will direct his Justice Department to move the Underwear Bomber to GITMO for a Military Tribunal, pursuant to the Rules established by Congress and the UCMJ. Further, he should state that all future terrorists will be held there pending military trials.

    If not, the last speech about the “War on Terror” is . . .
    “Just words.”

  • bk

    If we let our judicial system free him, they will quit hating us.

    That approach has worked pretty well so far for Obama, hasn’t it?

  • fpete13527

    Political Correctness, as fostered by the left, is, in my oppionion the TRUE thing that should be on trial…and found GUILTY. It would be nice if we had a few members of the GOP who would push this. But oh I forgot….can’t work too late on important stuff….got to get home to dinner….even if radical socialist bills are being written.

    Here is a perfect example of what PC created……and this is AFTER eight years of war. (The Ft Hood Massacre)
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582732,00.html

    The Clinton years produced a deathblow to patriotism in this country like no other reign …short of the current administration. Clinton desecrated the military in size and strength ……and moreover he enlisted his team of “Holders” to do the MAXIMUM desecration of both defensive ACTION and defensive MINDSET. He did this by injecting so much INAPPROPRIATE cicilian based LEGAL restriction on military ACTION or even THOUGHT,, that military personnel would be penalized if they supported either. Even NOW, much of this mindset is still in place and hindering appropriate military action and processes.

    The result we got AFTER CLINTON and BECAUSE OF CLINTON is 911!!

    This administration is in the process of “attempting” driving a TRAIN through the desecration that CLINTON and the Alinsky crew created …and much worse.

  • ModernAgeFan

    Barry is mostly doing this to placate the hard-core leftists in his camp. These trials will collapse from the weight of coercion and other evidence that will be in-admissible. Barry’s attempt to play to his base is going to backfire and they will not be able to let anyone go. You would think a lawyer could figure this out before hand by thinking it over. Maybe I just have too high of expectations for the President. A good result would be that no one in their right minds will ever attempt to use the criminal justice system to try terrorists in the future. That would cause the public to support the military tribunals. We could even revert back to supporting the Geneva Conventions by following them! I know, I have to quit getting my hopes up.

  • fpete13527

    Meant INAPPROPRIATE “CIVILIAN” based LEGAL restrictions not “CICILIAN” based.

  • maddog

    Do I have the wrong person or was this guy appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1982?

    Other gems by this person:
    Judge Hogan struck down the line item veto in 1998.
    Judge Hogan ordered the Library of Congress to continue printing playboy magazines in braille.

    I’d hate to think President Reagan would appoint a person with such flawed thinking.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hogan

  • vondutch

    however, it is the best in the world. I would not be surprised if KSM actually gets off free. The judge will have no choice but to expunge all evidence that is deemed to be coerced. Was KSM read his miranda rights? Of course not – and the judge may have to let him go on that issue alone.

    We are a nation of laws, not justice.

  • Brian Hibbert

    promise to hold all the terrorist even if they are found not guilty in these show trials.

    That’s a precedent I DON’T want set. They will fall into a class of people known as political prisoners. They will be held by the government because the government doesn’t like their views.

    Now political prisoners aren’t a problem for most socialists, communists and fascists. After all, every communist , fascists and other leftist regime ever created has had their share of political prisoners. They seem to love gulags and death camps. But for those of us who love liberty, it would be an act that can’t be tolerated.

    Imagine that taken a little bit further. Let’s say Brian Hibbert is accused of making statements against the government when I say “We need to remove this regime from power and return to the government the founding fathers envisioned.”. The court finds me not guilty, but Holder decides to hold me on “National Security” grounds. Once the precedent is set with the terrorists, it can be used for anyone.

    It’s yet another reason why the terrorists and enemy combatants should have been tried in a military court where the rules are set up to deal with such people and where they would be returned to their home country if found not guilty rather than released out the front door of the NY City court house.

  • mbecker908

    Number one, it’s not treason. Nor is any of the other stuff you’ve listed.

    Number two, the votes wouldn’t be there even if it was.

    This is a total waste of time.

  • mbecker908

    stuff I like. I hope the judge tosses all the KSM evidence and the judge lets him walk. First, I think that will drive a stake in the heart of the idea that these people are “criminals”. Second, I really, really, really want to see Holder find a way to keep them on ice after being released by the court.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Try winning elections instead. That means backing Republicans even if they’re *gasp* RiNOs.

  • kmacwayne

    Just got through donating to Scott Brown

    https://www.icontribute.us/scottbrown/initiative/moneybomb

    Walk the walk and talk the talk – make some calls for Scott!

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Are you suggesting any of these decisions was wrong in its interpretation of the law and the Constitution?

    I don’t see that.

  • sacody

    Basically, if the exploded underwear no longer fits, the jury must acquit. Good luck in trying these guys by this administration. And, you thought the O.J. Simpson trial was a mess.

  • 6eorge Jetson

  • Brian Hibbert

    Allowing the government to continue holding people that have been found Not Guilty scares me more.

    If they’re going to keep them on ice no matter the outcome of the trial, then the whole trial is a farce. This goes well beyond poor judgement on Obama’s part.

    So much for the group that deliberates about all the issues before acting….

  • fpete13527

    Obama will not say Islamic Terrorism he will only say Al Qaeda.
    (American Thinker) http://bit.ly/5CatmW

  • antisocial

    The issue here is a terrible decision by Obama and Co. The judicial system is designed to protect innocents at all costs. These courts are going to throw any coerced statements out. The courts can not set a wrong precedent.

    Lay the blame with Obama and Co.

    Thank you.

  • Duke

    a resolution for impeachment has to be brought in the House of Representatives. Just what degree of ‘light of day’ do you think that’s gonna get after what we’ve seen out of the gang of corrupt, mentally ill liberals that are in the process of assisting the Obamanation with the demise of America? I would suggest none.

  • antisocial

    then you must allow government to continue holding people that have been found Not Guilty. Or maybe have government pressure judges into discarding the established procedures.

    Surely they don’t have witnesses of KSM committing a crime. No fingerprints. No video. No weapon used for crime.

    This is a loser no matter what way you look at it.

  • Duke

    The thwacking the Demoncrats are going to get next November will more than assuage the need some among us have for revenge and retribution. Just looking at the reported closeness of the Kennedy Senate seat, the November 2010 election will be a virtual political bloodbath!

  • blooch

    It fits like a cheap hotel now, but he don’t need the ballroom anymore, anyway…no Cocoanuts in the Grove.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Having been acquitted of criminal charges doesn’t stop him from being an illegal combatant.

  • louisiana

    Everytime this admin. makes a decision, I always ask why & what do they have to gain. The worst mistake we can make is to underestimate them. You have to learn to look at the river and not just see water, but the pirahnas below. One of my concerns regarding this trial is the safety of the jurors. No way will their idenitities remain secret. The gov.’t might be able to keep them safe during the trial, but what happens after the trial is over?

  • blooch

    KSM overpowers a female deputy in a courtroom detention cell, takes her gun, shoots her dead, drops a couple more folks in a rampage before being wounded, sues the Feds for inadequate courtroom security, and Nappy tells us the system worked again.

  • patriotparty1

    Every republican we send to Washington MUST be sent with the mandate that they are there to do OUR work.

    That mandate must be to stop in it’s tracks the destructive agenda of Obama.

    His unconstitutional czars must be brought up, and thrown out.
    Holder must be prosecuted for his unconstitutional actions regarding the panthers, and the terrorists.

    Obama and Holder must be brought up on charges of treason for negotiating with terrorists, for cavorting with code pink, for their breach of the oath of office they took.

    Prosecute and impeach must be the mandate we send them with.

  • Brian Hibbert

    illegal combatants after having said they aren’t?

    I think he’s mucked this one up too much. He should have left their status as illegal enemy combatant and let the courts martial deal with them.. Unfortunately he’s bending to his leftist propaganda and is trying to show that Bush was wrong. If he reverses after a civilian acquittal he’ll have to admit that Bush was correct after all.

  • Brian Hibbert

    Exactly. This is what scares me. Once the executive starts pressuring the judicial branch to ignore established laws and procedures, we’re in even more serious trouble. It’s a BAD precedent.

  • 10ksnooker

    That most people have by their contact with the real world and the people who live there — Common Sense.

    Typical of egg head professors.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    It doesn’t take courage not to release the 9/11 mastermind if you have a re-election campaign to run.

  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics
  • http://dreamsfrommyforefathers.com RoguePolitics
  • Brian Hibbert

    This whole thing was poorly thought out…..for a guy who “deliberates all alternatives before acting”. This fricking show trial is going to cause FAR more problems both domestically and internationally than holding KSM in GITMO indefinitely would have created.

    He’s creating public relations problems and legal problems everywhere.

    I’m still worried about the legal precedents he’s going to establish. Nothing good can come of a leftist show trial.

  • Third Street

    this move isn’t wrong, either. Judge Hogan is doing his job, and performing a proper intepretation of which evidence against the defendant who is to appear in his court is and is not valid.

    We’ve seen more than enough instances of judicial activism; what I hope conservatives (and everyone else) realize is that Hogan is acting properly within his role as a U.S. District Judge, and that this action illustrates what a catastrophe it is to put terrorism cases into civilian venues to begin with.

  • itrytobenice

    Relax, guys, this is just a show trial. (I thought that was a bad thing until President Lightworker supported it.)

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    I have no confidence that the administration will do anything remotely principled or respecting of the rule of law and the Constitution.

    I have total confidence that they’ll abandon any principle or promise they have to in order to keep Obama’s poll numbers from tanking.

  • itrytobenice

    or something like that.

    And John McCain told us we didn’t have anything to be scared of.

    We weren’t even scared *enough*.

  • E Pluribus Unum
  • Common_Cents
  • Common_Cents

    With our legal eagle President and AG guaranteeing a conviction and/or promising never to release the terrorist regardless of outcome will be a huge recruiting tool the left always seems to complain about i.e. Gitmo.
    “America is corrupt and unjust!” Obama and Holder have created a no win situation.

  • http://www.laborunionreport.blogspot.com LaborUnionReport

    http://dienekesplace.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-happens-when-terrorists-go-free.html

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    will be “impeached” the week before the midterms by “angry democrats” (who are worried about reelection) and then the proceedings voted down a week later, like the day after the elections are done. Simple move, they groan and complain about incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility to their voters and then turn around and put the articles of impeachment up for an initial vote… All the Dems up for re-election vote yes and then schedule for the final vote for after the election where they vote it down by a simple loud voice vote they can’t all be held accountable for… or something…

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    constitution should be scrapped and teaches Alinsky tactics for taking out the opposition? Using the Courts to help destroy the country by aiding and abetting Terrorists? Say it isn’t so…

    btw the Geneva canoventions only apply to OUR side… the other side is not a signatory to them. They ARE criminal organizations in nature but they are ALSO military in their aims and some of their methods… but even so, if we apply the Geneva convention to them as written they fall under the category of spy/saboteurs and can be executed on the spot or pretty much at any time after capture if they are not wearing a uniform (barring arguments that their dress code is a uniform etc).

  • sarge324

    the country is in danger from obama,media,terrorist,and the liberal congress and the liberal senate.look what the american people are fighting against.dont lose this fight and vote them out in 2010.stay mad please.

  • http://www.helpawhiteguy.com livefreenh

    You would think that a law professor would have seen this coming.

    Oh, wait.

  • proudmarinemom

    ” A lawyer asked a judge in New York City to toss out charges against the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be brought to civilian courts, saying he was tortured and denied trial for nearly five years.
    Lawyer Peter Quijano told Judge Lewis Kaplan that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani’s rights were violated when he was sent after his July 2004 arrest to a CIA-run interrogation camp abroad. Kaplan di dnot rule.
    Ghailani was indicted in the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 225.”

    So, this guy blew up our embassies in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi and he may walk.

  • gmann2009

    Your comments about failing his oath are on target..your comments about the birth certificate issue are not. Here’s why…

    To be eligible one must fulfill the real criteria. Obambi has delayed, spent over $700,000 fighting this issue, documents have been produced from Kenya, and NOT from Hawaii..all creating far more questions than answers…NOW there has been real proof raised that Obambi under his real name Barry Sotero or Sotoro received funds for school as a foreign student..not a citizen

    No person can be President unless they are Natural born citizens..no repatriated citizens, born elsewhere can be and I will refuse to allow this violation, as will all of america.

    Think about this..if its a non-issue..why all the delay, subterfuge and camouflage by Obambi??? Why not product the birth certificate..once and for all..no birth announcement..no eye witnesses..and be done with it?

    Because ..he CANNOT!

  • http://www.jeannie-ology.com jeannieology

    to register other sleeper cell terrorist and illegal aliens to vote in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

    www.jeannie-ology.com

  • mutantone

    By putting the Terrorist in the civilian courts he has given them aid in their efforts to further their propaganda. He has given them the comfort and care of the Constitutional rights, that we as citizens have under the Constitution of the United States, when they as foreign combatants should be given only the standards as allowed under:
    1942 Quirin case
    The term unlawful combatant has been used for the past century in legal literature, military manuals and case law[3]. The term “unlawful combatants” was first used in US municipal law in a 1942 United States Supreme Court decision in the case ex parte Quirin.[26] In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the jurisdiction of a U.S. military tribunal over the trial of several German saboteurs in the US. This decision states (emphasis added and footnotes removed):
    By universal agreement and practice, the law of war draws a distinction between the armed forces and the peaceful populations of belligerent nations and also between those who are lawful and unlawful combatants. Lawful combatants are subject to capture and detention as prisoners of war by opposing military forces. Unlawful combatants are likewise subject to capture and detention, but in addition they are subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals for acts which render their belligerency unlawful. The spy who secretly and without uniform passes the military lines of a belligerent in time of war, seeking to gather military information and communicate it to the enemy, or an enemy combatant who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property, are familiar examples of belligerents who are generally deemed not to be entitled to the status of prisoners of war, but to be offenders against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals.
    Instead of Impeachment of the sitting president this should be given over to the Charge of Treason
    United States Code at 18 U.S.C.?2381 “whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

  • outspoken

    many have been set free and sent back to their countries, only to have been recaptured or found to be fighting again; not just those set free from the US but from other countries.

  • http://uslibertyjournal.blogspot.com/ daezy

    that should be held here! We persecute Americans for defending their country and their constitution, and their faith, while we roll out the red carpet for terrorists.

    Have we gone completely made?!?
    This country is upside down, and I hope to hell America cries out in protest.

  • http://uslibertyjournal.blogspot.com/ daezy

    that should be held here! We persecute Americans for defending their country and their constitution, and their faith, while we roll out the red carpet for terrorists.

    Have we gone completely made?!?
    This country is upside down, and I hope to hell America cries out in protest.