Eric Holder: Osama bin Laden won't be brought in alive

Politico ^

[Sub-Driver]

Holder: Osama bin Laden won't be brought in alive By: Josh Gerstein March 16, 2010 05:28 PM EDT

Attorney General Eric Holder told a congressional panel Tuesday that the question of reading Osama bin Laden his Miranda rights is absurd – because he won’t be brought in alive.

“Let’s deal with reality,” Holder said. “You’re talking about a hypothetical that will never occur. We will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Obama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom. That’s the reality….He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people, so he’s not captured by us. We know that.”

Holder’s comments came during a hearing where Holder and a Republican congressman debated whether bin Laden and notorious killer Charles Manson deserved the same legal rights.

During a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, Holder invoked Manson to counter Republican arguments that the administration wanted to stage civilian trials that would give alleged 9/11 plotters the same Constitutional rights afforded to the average American.

“These defendants, many of whom are charged with murder, would be treated just like any other murder defendants,” Holder said with evident exasperation. “The comparison….the question is: Are they being treated the way any other murderer would be? They have the same rights Charles Manson would have.”

While Holder thought the Manson comparison would make Americans feel more comfortable with the idea of civilian trials for terrorism suspects, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) disagreed and sensed an opening.

“Osama bin Laden, in your opinion, has the same rights as Charles Manson?” a dubious Culberson asked.

[carenot]

Yes, he has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnychOXj9Tg

[BunnySlippers]

Well, we will kill him. We are too humane to Waterboard him.

[A_Former_Democrat]

LOL at these Affirmative Action Jacksons

They’ve so boxed themselves into a corner . .

Some “lawyers” ROFL

[ATX 1985]

TennTuxedo
They will have to dig all of the rock off of him at Tora Bora first.

I don't think there is any proof that Bin Laden died at Tora Bora. We can only hope that was the case, otherwise that was one of the most tragic blunders in the history of American justice. Instead of surrounding Tora Bora with America troops, the area was mostly guarded by Pakistanis who are obviously easier to corrupt or were more loyal to Bin Laden.

calex59
That’s because the pri** is already dead, and has been for years, anyone who thinks otherwise has no brain or is incapable of using it.
Ok? So, what are you, some sort of conspiracy theorist? I believe there is a chance that Bin Laden is dead, but there is a similar if not greater chance that he recovered from his illnesses. If the videos released over the years aren't fake, I would say that is the case. In the videos, current events are mentioned and special technology can authenticate his voice.
Would you say that General Stanley McChrystal is incapable of using his brain for saying Bin Laden is an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world."

Some of the main "evidence" that Bin Laden is dead comes from current and/or former leaders in the Middle East.

2 out of the 3, Karzai and Musharraf, could have easily just been playing politics and reassuring their people. Remember, those are some pretty deceitful men.

Bhutto's mention of Osama's "assassination" was an error in speech. She meant to say that Omar Sheikh killed Daniel Pearl, not Bin Laden.

I dunno, I think all you have is speculation other than that.

[calex59]

I don't have a conspiracy theory, I don't think anyone except the muslims are covering up the fact he is dead. He HASN'T made any videos in a long time, the ones put out are not him, or they are audio, or a still photo with audio. Before 9/11 he made videos constantly after a certain period of time he stopped making them.

It doesn't take a fickin' genius to figure out he is dead, only a willingness to look at the few facts available, big facts.

As I said, I used my brain and figured it out. Don't want to admit he is dead? That's your business, but he is dead.

[Tallguy]

I don't think there is any proof that Bin Laden died at Tora Bora. We can only hope that was the case, otherwise that was one of the most tragic blunders in the history of American justice. Instead of surrounding Tora Bora with America troops, the area was mostly guarded by Pakistanis who are obviously easier to corrupt or were more loyal to Bin Laden.

If it was 'a mistake' not to have used American troops, then it was a mistake that was 'baked into' the initial operational plan for the takedown of the Taliban. Recall that this was done primarily by using the Northern Alliance as the infantry, backed up by SpecOps and Airpower. The 10th Mountain was just getting on the ground in Afghanistan and hadn't had time to acclimatize to the altitude. Add to the fact that the Tora Bora complex would have taken considerably more troops than were then available to complete the cordon. Simple fact is that we couldn't have done it if we had wanted to because there just weren't the troops.

[HonestConservative]

My first thought on this, plain.

Where is the old school media calling him a cowboy?

(crickets)

[krogers58]

Anyone of these terrorists who are allowed to use the US court system, should be summarily freed. What choice does any judge have, under our constitution, than to do anything other than release these vermin for the reason they were not afforded a speedy trial. They were not even offered the chance to make bail, for what some 5 - 7 years. If they are formally charged in the US we all lose to the extent that there are really only two choices, free them for not giving them a speedy trial or continue to try them and ignore their claims of not being afforded a quick trial and set precedent that our government can hold us for 5 - 7 years without having to show probable cause to anyone. I hate to say it, but it looks like the best thing that could happen is that they be freed so we can retain the constitutional protection of a speedy trial.

I cannot believe that the Holder Justice department is so short-sighted as to not have considered this plausible scenario. I guess that leads to the logical conclusion that they may want to free these "freedom fighters". This is legal malpractice of the highest form, or even worse, outright collusion with an enemy we are at war with.

[reagan_fanatic]

I have thought for a long time that Osama bin Laden is dead

Same here. Osama has too big an ego to remain out of sight for this long. He's dead, Jim.

[ATX 1985]

Good point, I agree with you. This is why a love Free Republic, it really is a treasure trove of not only conservative thought, but CORRECT thought. LOL

Hey, what do you think about all this talk of Osama Bin Laden being dead. Though I would not be one bit surprised, some people sure are certain of his demise.

[Tallguy]

Hey, what do you think about all this talk of Osama Bin Laden being dead. Though I would not be one bit surprised, some people sure are certain of his demise.

Neither would surprise me. The evidence supports that he's probably dead, but we also know that Al Qaeda leaders are not going near anything electronic for fear that we may have bugged it. This thanks to the leak in the US Media. Therefore it's still possible that OBL is living in a cave & communicating by couriers. His age & infirmity argues against the latter.