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Sen. Susan Collins was on WGAN this morning, and was asked about her criticism about how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aka the Christmas Day Bomber, is being charged in civilian court, not before a military tribunal (h/t Collins Watch).
She makes some interesting claims - listen here:
Collins says:
It's also very troubling that our chief intelligence officials and the Secretary of Defense were not consulted by the Department of Justice on how to treat the Christmas Day Bomber; this was a unilateral decision by the Department of Justice.
On 3 February White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had this to say:
First, all the senior leadership in government involved in intelligence knew that Abdulmutallab was being indicted more than a day before and they supported that decision. Those represented in the Situation Room who discussed how he would be indicted in an Article III include the following:
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, National Security Agency head LT General Keith Alexander, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, FBI Director Bob Mueller, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, National Counter Terrorism Center Director Mike Leiter, National Security Advisor General Jim Jones, Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Notice that was "all the senior leadership in government involved in intelligence", not just some of them.
And then Collins goes on to speculate if President Obama was even informed of these conversations:
I wonder - and we'll never know - if the president was even consulted, because he said in an interview on 60 Minutes just last year, and he was asked about this - 'Do we read them their Miranda Rights?' 'Of course not.' This is exactly what happened.
I have asked the White House exactly when President Obama was first asked about how Abdulmutallab should be treated, and will report on it when I hear back.
But Collins has used a trick of the Republican fear-mongering machine, and that is to take a quote out of context (not that I expect the hosts to know this off right off). Here is the transcript of what Obama had to say in its context:
Steve Kroft: One question about Dick Cheney and Guantanamo. I'm sure you want to answer this.
President Obama: Oh, absolutely.
Kroft: A week ago Vice President Cheney-- said essentially that your willingness to shut down Guantanamo and to change the way prisoners are treated and interrogator-- interrogated-- was making America weaker and more vulnerable to another attack. And that-- the interrogation techniques that were used at Guantanamo were essential in preventing another attack against the United States.
Obama: I fundamentally disagree with Dick Cheney. Not surprisingly. You know, I think that-- Vice President Cheney has been-- at the head of a-- movement whose notion is somehow that we can't reconcile our core values, our Constitution, our belief that we don't torture, with our national security interests. I think he's drawing the l-- wrong lesson from history.
The facts don't bear him out. I think he is-- that attitude, that philosophy has done incredible damage-- to our image and position in the world. I mean, the fact of the matter is after all these years how many convictions actually came out of Guantanamo? How many-- how many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney? It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment. Which means that there is constant effective recruitment of-- Arab fighters and Muslim fighters against U.S. interests all around the world.
Kroft: Some of it being organized by a few people who were released from Guantanamo.
Obama: Well there is no doubt that-- we have not done a particularly effective job in sorting through who are truly dangerous individuals that we've got to-- make sure are not a threat to us, who are folks that we just swept up. The whole premise of Guantanamo promoted by Vice President Cheney was that somehow the American system of justice was not up to the task of dealing with these terrorists.
I fundamentally disagree with that. Now-- do these folks deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter-- down the block? Of course not.
Kroft: What do you do with those people?
Obama: Well, I think we're going to have to figure out a mechanism to make sure that they not released and do us harm. But-- do so in a way that is consistent with both our traditions, sense of due process, international law. But this is-- this is the legacy that's been left behind. And, you know, I'm surprised that-- the Vice President is eager-- to defend-- a legacy that was unsustainable.
Let's assume that we didn't change these practices. How-- how long are we going to go? Are we going to just keep on going until-- you know, the entire Muslim world and Arab world-- despises us? Do we think that's really going to make us safer? I-- I don't know-- a lot of thoughtful thinkers, liberal or conservative-- who think that that was the right approach.
Why Collins is continuing with this meme I do not understand; there is nothing that I can see for her to gain, and plenty of political cost if she falls on her face. |
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