Free Republic

It's not true that the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist. Even dead terrorists aren't good. But at least they're dead. And that helps. But political correctness has possessed Washington. It's so bad that even Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who's done a great job in many other respects, parrots the cliché that "we can't kill our way out of this." Well, folks, there's no other way out of this all-or-nothing struggle with fanatics. Three thousand years of history teach that there's no alternative -- none -- to killing fanatics in large numbers when your enemies are ablaze with religious...

Of all the changes Barack Obama is trying to bring about, there is one that would have stunned and dismayed his most ardent supporters, had they foreseen it during the presidential campaign. After all his talk of American values and loyalty to the Constitution, Obama is positioning himself to become the man who brought indefinite detention to the United States. Under his leadership, we might soon have in our midst a group of people — accused terrorists currently residing at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — who are permanently imprisoned, yet have never been charged with or convicted...

THOMSON, Ill., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Thousands of jobs would be created in Illinois if the U.S. government purchases a nearly empty prison there to house terror detainees, a study indicates. The study, performed by the Obama White House Council of Economic Advisers and obtained by The Chicago Sun-Times, asserted that 2,290 to 2,960 jobs would be created in and around Thomson, Ill., in the first year after its conversion to house some of the prisoners now held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, the newspaper reported Sunday. Local residents in the Illinois-Iowa border town would be "good candidates"...

ALGIERS, Algeria -- An Algerian court on Sunday acquitted two former detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who were returned home to face charges of links to terrorism, their defense lawyer said. Abdelli Faghoul and Terari Mohamed had admitted in court to links with the illegal drug underworld, but denied any connection to foreign terrorist groups, defense lawyer Farid Abbache-Holder told The Associated Press. The two men were released from Guantanamo and handed over to Algerian authorities on Aug. 15, 2008 - nearly seven years after they were taken into custody and held without trial, the lawyer said. The defendants traveled...

According to POLITICO, Obama’s fans in the Beltway are shocked, shocked that he and his White House minions scapegoat White House General Counsel Greg Craig for Obama’s failed promise to close Guantanamo in one year. The closing of Guantanamo – as Obama’s critics have long predicted – ain’t gonna happen, because there’s no place else to put the hardcore terrorists currently housed there. When Obama announced his dubious executive order closing Guantanamo by January 2010, the Kool-Aid drinkers were ecstatic. “See?” they said, “This is why we elected him. We were so right.” No, they were so wrong. It was...

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to question Attorney General Eric Holder about his decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in criminal courts rather than military tribunals. As the father of Todd Beamer, who died on United Airlines Flight 93, I was able to attend that hearing. What transpired caused me great concern and shook my confidence in our current administration....How can we be assured that these enemies will be found guilty? Given that criminal courts are now the presumed venue for those captured on the battlefield, will soldiers need to read them their rights at...

President Obama has said it was Attorney General Eric Holder who decided to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind, and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian federal court in New York City. Yet, as a matter of law, that can't be true. "You know, I said to the attorney general, 'make a decision based on the law,' " the president told CNN. In Holder's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he confirmed that Obama had left it up to him: "This was a tough call, and reasonable people can disagree with my conclusion that these individuals should...

The Obama administration's absurd, unnecessary and dangerous decision to prosecute 9/11 terrorists in a civilian court is plumbing the depths of what Charles Krauthammer has labeled, "Bush Derangement Syndrome" (BDS): the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush. If they can convict some terrorists in the process, get ready for double fist-bumps all around. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, (KSM) the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and four co-conspirators face in a military tribunal at the detention center at Guantánamo Bay,...

By the looks of things at Guantanamo no one is shutting the place down. McDonald's this month has advertised a job opening at Gitmo: an assistant manager willing to relocate to the fast-food chain's only outlet on the communist island of Cuba, and one within sight of the razor-ribbon guarding the terror detainees' camp on the 45-square-mile U.S. naval base. In case you're wondering, McDonald's brings in frozen fries and burgers by barge from Jacksonville, Fla., in spite of the lingering U.S. trade embargo with Cuba, and feeds not only military and civilian government personnel stationed there but the 215...

This week, while "the most traveled president in history" was on his latest foreign adventure and bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito, the rest of the O-Team was busy kowtowing to political correctness. The headlines tell the story: "(Defense Secretary Robert) Gates Condemns Leaks on Fort Hood Investigation," and "Gates Says 'Shut Up' About Fort Hood." "Attorney General Eric Holder Announces Terror Trials in New York City for 9-11-01 Plotters." "Guantanamo Detainees to Illinois Prison." All three of these actions -- the Gates outburst, the Holder decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 conspirators in a Manhattan federal...

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder attempted to defend his indefensible decision to provide Khalid Sheik Mohammad and four other 9/11 terrorists with all of the rights afforded to American citizens by putting them on trial in our federal court system -- mere blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City. Holder was grilled repeatedly about his stated rationale, at times grappling to justify his own tortured logic.  We’ve put together some of the most telling moments from the hearing in transcripts, all of which are edited for length. Early on, Sen. Herb Kohl...

If you were in Washington DC earlier in the week, you would have seen an extra twinkling object in the night sky over the Capitol building. That twinkle was just the Fairy of Stupidity spreading his stupid dust over the office of Senator Pat Leahy. And that fairy dust is working very well on the Senator, maybe too well. Yesterday during the Senate questioning of Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Lindsey Graham asked the AG whether bin Laden should be afforded due process in courts if he were captured. "The big problem I have is you're criminalizing the war, that...

After his Senate testimony today, Holder was confronted by a woman who lost a son Flight 93. She accused him of giving the military commissions short shrift and enabling a media circus in which KSM will be allowed to rant and put the country on trial. Once again, he failed to address the issue. He tells her he did not give them short shrift and that the defendants ranted in the commissions too. Funny, I don't recall breathless liberal news organizations gleefully giving endless blow-by-blow of those antics. Maybe that is because the military doesn't allow circuses to take place...

Its a time-honored tradition,starting way before President Obama took office. Politicians break bad or embarrassing news (for them) late on a Friday afternoon or even better on a Saturday Night. The hope is the story will get very little play from reporters on their way home from a tough week, or from the weekend shift. The hope is that the Sunday News shows have already been booked to cover other topics and by Monday it will be old news. For example when Director of Homeland Security announced that the President was going to grant amnesty to Illegal Aliens it was...

War On Terror: Sen. Dick Durbin calls a plan to transfer 100 Guantanamo detainees to northwest Illinois "a dream come true." It would paint a bull's-eye on America's heartland in time for the 2012 Iowa caucuses. It seems the question of where to put the Guantanamo detainees is being settled as we speak, with liberal Democrats in the very blue state of Illinois welcoming them with open arms and outstretched hands for the federal dollars that will come with them. Federal officials last Friday inspected the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a town of 500 on the Iowa border,...

There's nothing like a retiring Representative to hold nothing back. He lays into Holder and the Administration for having no plan, no decision methodology, and no logic for their approaches to the KSM NYC trial, the Ft. Hood terrorist attack, and the closing of Gitmo. Here's the raw audio of the conference call Bill and I just finished. The full interview runs just under 30 minutes:

Latham intends to formally introduce the "Keep Terrorists Out of the Midwest Act” on Thursday. He has sent a personal letter to each of his colleagues in the 11 states affected by the legislation. Latham hopes his fellow Midwest Congressmen will join him in taking the lead

Iowa's two Republican Congressmen, Steve King and Tom Latham, are fighting against an Obama administration proposal to transfer the Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison to the Iowa-Illinois border. But Democrat Bruce Braley supports the plan and believes Club Gitmo Midwest could have a "substantial economic impact" on the area.

Live Senate Hearing on holding terrorism trials in NY. Erik Holder being brought in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee

Picking up the Sunday paper Nov. 15 could make a reader a little airsick -- even while standing in the driveway. The Washington Post "news analysis" on the front page carried the headline "9/11 trial could become a parable of right and wrong: Before worldwide audience, both prosecution, defense seek control of narrative." Does The Washington Post really think that the death and destruction of 9/11 "could" be right, or "could" be wrong? Liberals cannot stand it when the national media won't simply declare contentious debates over and their viewpoint settled truth. Take, for example, the allegedly inevitable impending destruction...

The Senate on Tuesday rejected an attempt to bar using funds from a defense spending bill to build or modify prisons in the United States to hold detainees from Guantanamo Bay, a move that suggested congressional Democrats may be lining up behind President Obama's vision for closing the military prison. The Senate vote, largely along party lines, came days after the administration announced plans to bring five alleged terrorists, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to New York for trial. The GOP-backed measure was attached to a $134 billion plan that funded programs...

The government is going to be in a position where it either has to defend the process that brought the Sheikh to court or seek ways to prevent these issues from arising. However, because Mr. Obama promised that Mr. Mohammed would enjoy the most exacting demands of justice, they probably will be given a full airing. We await a further explanation from the president to clarify how this makes the country safer, particularly if Mr. Mohammed leaves New York a free man.

A Military Tribunal in Cuba. That is what Barack Obama called for in 2006 while he was in the Senate (see video above) and that is what voters said to Rasmussen in the latest poll released today. Only 29% of American voters support President Obama's decision to transfer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSL) and his band of thieves to NY for a civilian trial. 51% prefer that KSL remain in Gitmo to be tried in a military (19% had no opinion). Putting aside location for a moment, only 30% of Americans said suspected terrorists should have access to U.S. courts, while...

I am off on another trip to nowhere, and won't have time or ability to search for a respected journalist who will stumble onto what I think is the biggest risk associated with this ridiculous decision to try KSM and friends as civilians.

Some folks in this dying Mississippi River town would rather take their chances with suspected terrorists in their backyard than watch their neighbors continue to move away in despair over the lack of jobs. News that the federal government may buy the nearly empty Thomson Correctional Center and use the maximum-security state prison to house Guantanamo Bay detainees has given people in Thomson hope that things might be about to turn around in this woeful town of 450. "This town is slowly but surely dying off, and I mean that literally because the people that are retired are dying off...

Ill. town would rather get Gitmo prisonersBy Deanna Bellandi, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago THOMSON, Ill. – Some folks in this dying Mississippi River town would rather take their chances with suspected terrorists in their backyard than watch their neighbors continue to move away in despair over the lack of jobs. **SNIP** "This town is slowly but surely dying off, and I mean that literally because the people that are retired are dying off and there's no young people coming back in to take their place. There's nothing here to draw them," said Richard Groharing, a 68-year-old retired...

King is trying to prevent the transfer of Guantanamo Bay terrorists to a prison near the Iowa-Illinois border. He has asked 1st District Congressman Bruce Braley, whose district is closest to the prison, to join his efforts.

The Two Rivers Detention Facility in Hardin is still making national headlines as Sunday's CBS Evening News featured the controversial multi-million dollar jail that has sat empty since it was built. (cut) But, President Obama has yet to decide where the Guantanamo detainees will go and the folks in Hardin say "bring 'em on".

Obama's Democrat allies in Illinois support this decision. Senator Dick Durbin calls it "a dream come true". Meanwhile, Iowa's elected representatives have been completely silent. It is time for Iowa Governor Debt Culver to show some backbone and speak out against this travesty.

In a reversal of the not-in-my-backyard approach many lawmakers and communities took to the idea of housing the detainees stateside, the thirst for prison-centered employment has caused several U.S. towns to plead with federal officials to let them host dozens of detainees. It's like the Olympics host-city selection all over again. A handful of towns are locked in tight competition for the privilege of hosting international guests -- only instead of Olympians, they're jockeying to welcome Guantanamo Bay detainees to their home towns. The reason? Jobs. In a reversal of the not-in-my-backyard approach many lawmakers and communities have taken to...

The prosecutors face several barriers that would actually guarantee an acquittal or the charges to be dropped in most trials.

Our guests from Gitmo are going to be tried in New York. The people of New York will again have to be exposed to Islamic Extremists. Fear and paranoia will grip some New Yorkers. Some feel that by bringing these guys in will bring added threats from those who sympathize with them. And for what? Aren’t trials for people who have been charged with crimes? If fighting against the U.S. is a crime that terrorists have to go to court over, then how much longer will it be, before this wacko politically correct attitude mandates that our boys also be...

This morning on Fox & Friends, three 9/11 family members debated President Barack Obama's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other top attack conspirators in a federal court just six blocks away from the World Trade Center. The three were Debra Burlingame, James Riches Sr., and Charles Wolf. (See the video after the jump.)

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R AZ) issued the following statement on the Obama Administration’s decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four other Al-Qaeda terrorists suspected of planning and executing the September 11th attacks in the United States Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York: “I am extremely disappointed with the Obama Administration’s decision to try in U.S. civilian courts the Al-Qaeda terrorists who planned, supported, and conducted the September 11th attacks. These terrorists are not common criminals. They are war criminals, who committed acts of war against our citizens and those of...

In anticipation of the Obama administration’s move to close down Guantanamo Bay, House Republicans introduced legislation that would have prevented Gitmo detainees from being brought to the United States. But the Democrats, who have a majority in Congress, did not allow the legislation to move out of committee.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says selling a prison in the state's rural northwest is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create jobs...

One hundred of the worst terrorists in the world are coming to Barack Obama's two favorite states, Illinois and Iowa. Obama is from Illinois. His victory in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses provided Obama the springboard to the Presidency. How will he reward those states?

WASHINGTON — A nearly empty state prison in northwestern Illinois has emerged as a possible site to house detainees transferred from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba, the Obama White House told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday. Gov. Quinn and Obama discussed the federal purchase of the Thomson Correctional Center when Quinn was in Washington on Nov. 4 and visited the White House. Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will outline proposals for the future of the prison at press conferences in the Quad Cities, Chicago and Rockford on Sunday. Durbin’s office has been quarterbacking the potential sale of...

<p>CHICAGO — A White House official says the Obama administration is considering buying a northwestern Illinois prison to house a limited number of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, along with federal inmates.</p>

...if one were to follow the logic of trying the Gitmo guys for trying to hurt us then why is it ok to fire back on them? Isn’t that wrong? In a Civil Court of law, what applies to one party, applies to the other. Aren’t the soldiers being fired on, taking justice into their own hands by firing back? I mean after all, according to the Civil Justice System that the Gitmo terrorists will be held to, isn’t a person considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? And if they are innocent, then what right do...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who led an effort last week to prevent the Obama Administration from doing just what it did today in directing prosecution of the alleged Sept. 11 plotters into federal court, says he's keeping mum about that decision for now at the request of the White House. "I have been asked by the White House to withhold comment about today’s Guantanamo decision until I can meet face-to-face with the President after he returns from Asia," Graham said in a statement released by his office. "As our Commander in Chief, I will honor his request. I look forward...

A near-empty prison in rural Illinois has emerged as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said Friday. PHOTOS As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago. With Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and other key officials warm to the idea of a federal purchase of the prison, federal officials have stepped up investigations into turning Thomson into a super-maximum facility with a unit for former Guantanamo detainees....

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III:1 President Obama, we are at war. The Islamic Terrorists are not cooperating with your transformation of our society into a Politically Correct Utopia with nomenclature that neutralizes the ugliness of war. They do not chant Obama, Obama, they do not faint on cue, they pay no attention to subjective pandering by sexually mis-oriented news journalists like Chris Mathews. Their war is a fanaticism that welcomes death while destroying us, the Infidel. Although you may see yourself whispering Allahu Akbar during your death and accruing your place in heaven, the vast majority have no interest or...

November 14, 2009Exclusive: Decision to Try 9/11 Masterminds in New York a Slap in the Face to All Americans Pam Meister In an act that further makes a mockery of the Islamist threat that faces us, the administration has decided that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Gitmo detainees will be sent to New York City to stand trial in a civilian federal court for their role in the 9/11 atrocity. According to Attorney General Eric Holder, prosecutors will seek the death penalty.   No word yet if Lynne Stewart has offered to be on the defense team.  ...

In a move expected but feared, self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be brought to trial in a civilian federal courthouse in New York, blocks from site of the devastating 2001 terror attacks. Prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty. While the opponents of the move are fearful of moving the trial from a Military Tribunal in Gitmo, to a civilian court in NY may make it easier for the terrorist be found innocent, that is not the real problem with the move. Neither is the worry that New York will become...

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Be Sent to New York for Trial

Eight year ago today, on November 13, 2001, my family laid to rest a 9/11 hero on what would have been his 46th birthday. Outside the church, along with hundreds of friends and neighbors and 1,200 firefighters tearfully saluting their fallen brother, we felt our nation standing as one. Today, we ask that you stand once more, for your families and with ours, to support our troops, and in the common defense. We have appealed directly to the President. Below is that letter. If you wish to add your name to it, PLEASE CLICK HERE. (Note: 911FamiliesForAmerica.org is partners with...

Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, an Obama administration official said Friday. The official said Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce the decision later in the morning.

Source: 9/11 Terror Detainees Face Trial in N.Y. Friday, November 13, 2009 WASHINGTON — Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, an Obama administration official said Friday. The official said Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce the decision later in the morning. The official is not authorized to discuss the decision before the announcement, so spoke on condition of anonymity.

White House Counsel Greg Craig is expected to announce on Friday that he plans to step down from his post following a rocky tenure, people familiar with the matter said. Craig, the top lawyer at the White House and a close aide to President Barack Obama, has helped lead the administration's efforts on several national-security policies that initially enjoyed popular support but have since become liabilities for Obama. These include the planned closure of the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the release of Bush administration-era national-security documents.