After President Barack Obama nominated Eric Holder to be Attorney General, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Holder a questionnaire that required him to provide copies of any briefs he had filed with the Supreme Court. Holder told the Senate he had participated in a total of five such briefs and that none of them dealt with terrorism-related issues. But as National Review Online has now confirmed, that was false. Specifically, Holder signed his name to an amicus brief arguing that President Bush lacked the authority to indefinitely detain Jose Padilla …
When Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he intended to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists in a civilian court in New York City rather than in a military tribunal, we here at The Heritage Foundation condemned it as “A Historically Bad Decision.” It may have taken the Obama administration four months to fully realize just how terrible Holder’s judgment was, but today’s story from The Washington Post is great news for the rule of law and national security: President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid …
The Obama administration has been excoriated by Democrats, Republicans, and the media for their myopic, irresponsible, potentially dangerous, and amateur handling of Failed Flight 253 Bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Refusing to acknowledge the reality of their failure, the Obama administration has instead chosen to make a series of fantastic claims that have no basis in reality. In a letter dated February 3, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder writes: “Across many Administrations, both before and after 9/11, the consistent, well-known, lawful, and publicly-stated policy of the FBI has been to provide …
Yesterday, USA Today ran an editorial on the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism, writing: “Officials’ handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour.” Graciously given the space to respond to this charge, Obama administration Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan replied: “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.” Got that? The Obama administration considers any criticism of its national security policies, even from as benign a source as USA Today, as serving “the goals of al-Qaeda.” And the problems …
Yesterday, the White House ordered the Department of Justice to begin considering places other than New York City to host the civilian criminal trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists. The New York Times describes a decision to move the trials out of New York as “a retreat by the administration” and reported that the Obama administration “was scrambling” to find a new way forward. This latest bit of self-inflicted national security chaos comes after Obama ally New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that he did …
Today, the Obama White House asked Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department to look for an alternative site to hold the federal trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators. In the last week, the political support for the controversial decision to hold the trial in New York City evaporated. Now, the Obama administration is scrambling to find an alternative location for the federal trial. Instead of looking for a new ZIP-code for a costly federal trial, the administration should send those detainees back to a military commission …
We touched on this issue this morning, but former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and current National Review Institute senior fellow Andrew McCarthy has in depth article at National Review Online on the Constitutional crisis President Barack Obama is creating by failing to press comprehensive war on terror detainee legislation through Congress. McCarthy writes: The Constitution gives the political branches plenary responsibility for the conduct of war. The conduct of war includes the detention, trial, or release of enemy combatants. The federal courts have …
This past weekend the American public learned that not only was the Obama administration briefed about the bombing technique attempted on Flight 253, not only did the United States have information that a Nigerian was being prepared for a terrorist attack by al Qaeda in Yemen, but our government also knew that an “Umar Farouk” was involved. Following these revelations, the Obama administration again took to the Sunday shows to defend their national security record. Last week Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tried to convince Americans that “the system worked”. …
Refusing to interrupt his Hawaiian golf vacation for almost three full days after the Flight 253 attack, President Barack Obama finally emerged on December 28th to assure the American people that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was “an isolated extremist” and that he had already “been charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft.” Continuing to treat the incident like a common law-enforcement problem Obama referred to Abdulmutallab as the “suspect” five times and promised he would “not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable.” Perhaps Obama should …
Politico reports today: Growing evidence that the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a commercial airliner as it landed in Detroit Friday spent time in Yemen and may have been fitted with customized, explosive-laden clothing there could complicate the U.S. government’s efforts to send home more than 80 Yemeni prisoners currently at Guantanamo Bay. Since Yemenis represent almost half of the roughly 200 remaining prisoners at Gitmo, new hurdles to their resettlement could spell more trouble for President Barack Obama’s plan to close the island prison while transferring …
