Posted on 03/10/2013 4:05:18 AM PDT by Libloather
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) dismissed lawmakers’ criticisms over trying a former al Qaeda spokesman in New York City as partisan politics and said he’s confident that the trial won’t present a security risk.
“I suspect a lot of the controversy will be partisan controversy, part of the political games that are played in Washington,” Bloomberg told CBS.
Bloomberg did not second-guess the Obama administration’s decision to try former al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in federal court rather than taking him to Guantanamo Bay and trying him before a military tribunal.
The decision has drawn attacks from a number of Republicans.
“It's up to the federal government what they want to do. And we'll make sure everybody is safe in New York,” he said in an interview on “Face the Nation” that will air Sunday.
Bloomberg noted that his police department has major resources that can be marshaled, if needed, to assist federal officials.
“Keep in mind, a prisoner of the federal government will be in a federal detention center, will go to a federal courtroom through tunnels under the street, never seeing the light of day. So from a security point of view, there isn't that much extra much extra we want to do,” he said.
“Ray Kelly, our police commissioner, has an enormous number of resources at his command, and if the federal government asks for security help or if there are crowds outside the courthouse, we certainly know how to control that,” Bloomberg said.
The New York City police have 35,000 uniformed officers and 1,000 officers devoted to intelligence and counter-terrorism, he said.
The decision to bring Abu Ghaith, who is the late Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law, to New York has drawn criticism from Republicans who say it’s a security risk, and say detention at Guantanamo, where suspects have fewer rights than the civilian court system, is preferable.
“At Guantanamo, he could be held as a detainee and fulsomely and continuously interrogated without having to overcome the objections of his civilian lawyers,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday.
Bloomberg declined to weigh in on detainee policy.
“In terms of whether this guy should be tried in federal court or interrogated in Guantanamo, I'll leave that to the president. He doesn't need me weighing in. He's got a tough enough job as it is,” Bloomberg said.
It's a game.
Bloomber is a fu*ing communist.
He’s positoning himself for higher office thats why. Dont want to step on any toes now.
We saw how Bloomberg handled the OWS crowd. Yeah they know hoe to handle crowds in New York.
Bloomberg coalims partisan politics.
Lets see what we have here.We have a liar and and Democrat in disguise in New York. He joined the Republican party just to run for Mayor and now as he lies and calls himself Republican he reneges on his party and goes with Democrats.
I suppose the New Yorkers deserve him, and I hope they are happy with him should any Muslim attack be launched in New York in protest of this trial.
The blood will be on Bloombergs hands.
I am sure security is tight around the courthouse where the Osama kid is being held ,but New York is a big city.
bloomberg and soros are the same side of the same coin on both sides. They make me sick.
Bloomberg is a snotty little martinet.
Yeah, being the White House event planner is “tough.”
I fear this will end badly.
I am not as concerned about the process as I am about the trial.
Will the courts issue a death sentence?
The answer is no. Progressive mollycoddlers will allow a plead down to life imprisonment.
The last time the feds tried a terrorist in NYC, we had the first World Trade Center bombing. Bloomberg was obviously given his marching orders from Zero. Remember that when they wanted to try KSM in NYC, Bloomberg got his panties in an outrage. They sure muzzled him this time.
Nothing good will come of this. This opens the floodgates to release all the Gitmo detainees into the court system.
This opens the floodgates to release all the Gitmo detainees into the court system.
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That is probably why the head Muslim in the White House is doing this.
A lot of lawyers are going to get rich.
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