Posted on 01/24/2010 7:47:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The Washington Post supported the Obama administration's treatment of Christmas day bomber Umar Abdulmuttalab as a criminal rather than as an enemy combatant. In an editorial published yesterday, It has nevertheless retracted its support. The Post writes that it "originally supported the administration's decision in the Abdulmutallab case, assuming that it had been made after due consideration. But the decision to try Mr. Abdulmutallab turns out to have resulted not from a deliberative process but as a knee-jerk default to a crime-and-punishment model."
The Obama administration's treatment of Abdulmutallab as a criminal accorded the constitutional rights of an American citizen is absurd and indefensible. Yet the administration persists in it.
It is highly unusual to see a prominent newspaper editorial board publicly change its mind. The stated ground for the Post's original editorial position is lame. It criticizes the decision on procedural grounds. Is the Post incapable of judging its substance?
A defective decision making process is more likely to have resulted in a defective decision, but who cares what process the Obama administration used to come to the wrong decision? The administration is full of world-class liberal chin pullers who would come to the same decision if they had taken more time to think about it. They are simply on the wrong track.
Yesterday's Post editorial also concludes on a lame note. The Post can't quite bring itself to the conclusion that the Obama administration's treatment of Abdulmutallab as a criminal is in fact a mistake. Maybe, maybe not. It professes to have an open mind on that question.
It notes, on the one hand: "The administration claims Mr. Abdulmutallab provided valuable information -- and probably exhausted his knowledge of al-Qaeda operations -- before he clammed up. This was immediately after he was read his Miranda rights and provided with a court-appointed lawyer."
That sounds bad. Abdulmutallab was singing like a bird until the FBI read him a Miranda warning. Reasonable people would conclude that he stopped singing because of the warning.
But here the Post injects a note of epistemological uncertainty befitting a college philosophy class. The Post asserts, on the other hand: "The truth is, we may never know whether the administration made the right call or whether it squandered a valuable opportunity." The truth is, we may never know this only if we are prohibited from employing the most basic common sense to assess the situation.
More importantly, however, the administration's decision to treat Abdulmutallab as a criminal is mistaken on its face. It cannot be defended on the merits in principle and the administration has not chosen to do so. It is an obvious mistake that can be rectified -- the administration can dismiss the criminal proceedings and remit Abdulmutallab to the custody of the armed forces as an enemy combatant -- but it would be helpful to have reasonable administration allies like the Post editorial board say that it should do so forthrightly.
If the administration now chose to treat Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant, he might well remain "clammed up." At that point we would have a good case in which to debate the folly of the administration's abandonment of the CIA's enhanced interrogation program.
When the next terrorist attack kills Americans, The WaPo wants to be as far from the messiah as it can make itself. Telling us we need to spill our blood to give terrorists Miranda rights will have seismic consequences.
So the WaPO is descovering that OBOZO HUSSEIN is a very Dangerous Decisionmaker when it comes to AMERICAN SECURITY!!
That certainly is Progress! Maybe they will soon realize he is a Muslim Terrorist far more Dangerous than OSAMA!
*Ponders the threat of waterboarding my CPU*
Either one.
LOL.
You’re one tough guy!
They needs threatses........
This might be a prelude to something else coming down the pike that they want to distance themselves from. I firmly believe the Ellie Light, Spivey, Leigh fake editorials are going to swarm this white house and haunt them for weeks once it comes out just who ordered these editorials and how much it cost tax payers.
Twin attacks would be fine with me......
Well, sounds like you understand the problem...heh.
I fired the news pukes (Times, Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, Time) near fifty years ago, and never looked back. The summer of '64 is what jelled it for me and finalized my decision.
Well as someone I know and love - you betcha!
That’s a great pic of Scott Brown. I hadn’t seen that one. Thanks for posting.
that is why it is called the Washington Compost. It has the inability to take a definitive stance on anything, until the political climate begins to change in the District of Criminals. shred the paper and utilize as compost or maintaining moisture when planting grass seed. the paper is nothing but a CrapTacular Supporter Of the DemoCrap Administration.
Obama: Making America less safe one stupid decision at a time.
Before or after Rahmbo?
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I think the motivation for the WaPo to do a one-eighty is that they're seeing terrorist activity ramp up and are betting that it's only a matter of time before they get us again. They'll play the "It's Bush's Fault®" game on everything from the economy to the weather, but one thing they can't pin on him is a subsequent attack after 9-11. If that happens then it's all over for their Golden Boy.
Makes all the sense in the world when you think about it.
They certainly don't need a High Value Detainee Interrogation Group if there are no such thing as terrorists and you intend to treat any man-caused-disaster as a criminal case [and a jobs program for out of work liberal attorneys!].
...somebody needs to worry about out of work water-boarding technicians!
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