Obama Nominee for Deputy Attorney General Says 9/11 Attacks Not Acts of War, Likens Them to...

CNSNews ^ | June 14, 2010 | Fred Lucas

[jazusamo]

(CNSNews.com) - Despite a resolution by Congress authorizing war against those responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President Obama’s nominee to be the number two official at the Justice Department, James Cole, wrote an op-ed in 2002 likening the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to the domestic crimes of murder, rape and child abuse, while arguing that the attackers ought to be treated like domestic criminals.

“But the attorney general is not a member of the military fighting a war--he is a prosecutor fighting crime,” Cole wrote in a Sept. 9, 2002 article in Legal Times that critiqued the way then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft was handling the 9/11 case.

“For all the rhetoric about war, the Sept. 11 attacks were criminal acts of terrorism against a civilian population, much like the terrorist acts of Timothy McVeigh in blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City, or of Omar Abdel-Rahman in the first effort to blow up the World Trade Center,” said Cole. “The criminals responsible for these horrible acts were successfully tried and convicted under our criminal justice system, without the need for special procedures that altered traditional due process rights.
 
“Our country has faced many forms of devastating crime, including the scourge of the drug trade, the reign of organized crime, and countless acts of rape, child abuse, and murder. The acts of Sept. 11 were horrible, but so are these other things,” Cole wrote in his op-ed.

Cole did concede in his Legal Times piece that an “arguable difference” between domestic rape, child abuse and murder and the 9/11 attacks was that foreign organizations and perhaps even countries were involved in the latter. “But we have never treated such influences as a basis for ignoring the core constitutional protections ingrained in our criminal justice system.”
 
He pointed to the war on drugs as an example where significant damage to the United States has been done, where foreign powers have been involved, but where the U.S. still used its domestic justice system for dealing with the problem.
 
“The ‘war on drugs’--a longer term and far more devastating disaster for our country in terms of the number of affected people has been facilitated by foreign organizations and governments,” he wrote. “Yet, even after Panamanian President Manuel Noriega was arrested by U.S. military forces in Panama, he was brought to the United States, tried in the federal courts, and had full access to counsel, a trial by jury, the right to cross-examine witnesses, and the right to present his own defense.”
 
Cole’s Sept. 9, 2001 Legal Times op-ed is included in materials (pdf) he submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of his confirmation process. He is scheduled to appear in the committee on Tuesday for a confirmation hearing.

Cole is a partner with the law firm of Bryan Cave in Washington, D.C.

The group 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America opposes Cole’s confirmation. 
 
“Mr. Cole has gone on record opposing military commissions for any detainees, stating that military commissions are an inferior form of justice which do not provide defendants with adequate due process protections,” said Debra Burlingame, co-founder of the group, in a statement. “In light of the fact that the Obama administration continues to drag its feet on an announcement regarding the forum and venue for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other admitted 9/11 conspirators, Mr. Cole's nomination is an alarming signal.  The public is overwhelmingly opposed to holding these trials in New York federal court.  Clearly, the administration needs to hear from us again.”
 
A Sept. 14, 2001 resolution by Congress authorized the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against those involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[P8riot]

Anything to keep money flowing to trial lawyers.

[K-oneTexas]

That worked so well fighting terrorism as a law enforcement concern under Clinton.

Not!

Terrorism is beyond the pale and grasp of armed bank robbers. Even John Dillinger.

It is a different mindset, a different kind of enforcer is needed.

[Don Corleone]

These people reflect OBAMA thoughts on all subjects. They are truly anti American in every sense of the word.

[Texas resident]

And folks who gather at tea party rallies are the real terrorists? Birds of a feather. All these pukes are on the side of bad guys of the world who want to bring this country down. What they don’t realize is if they succeed, they will be the first to go. Usefull idiots is what they are.

[jazusamo]

These people reflect OBAMA thoughts on all subjects. They are truly anti American in every sense of the word.

Absolutely! Holder and this Cole are joined at the hip.

[freeangel]

It’s REALLY too bad that cole and his family were not victims of 911.

[wiggen]

The only reason Noriega was bought back to trial was he chose to. He could have resisted and been buried where he stood. When the leader of a foreign country decides not to surrender we have Iraq. I bet that’s not a choice he likes to consider.

[cranked]

Another libtard idiot.....

[rlmorel]

This, my friends, summarizes perfectly why liberals should never, EVER be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.

Ever.

[jazusamo]

BUMP!

[dalebert]

ping

[dalebert]

I hope Democrats everywhere are proud of what they put in office and can explain it to their children.

[Czar]

This clown will make a perfect #2 for Hussein...

[ronnyquest]

They always have to mention McVeigh first, don’t they? Twist the barb.

[Waco]

The taxpayer has paid dearly for ships, subs, planes, tanks, bombs, satellites, nuke weapons and their support. It’s time to get some good out of them and kill millions of Arabs over and again. Instead the RAT/Commies are patiently waiting for thousands more Americans to get killed ala 9/11. Time to make an example of the ragheads instead of getting more of our sons and daughters killed.

[little jeremiah]

Puke.