Archive for Torture
Obama Enigma
Posted by: | Comments
Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes.
Under President Obama’s orders to go mano a mano, Navy Seals shot and killed the Evil One in cold blood. His Miranda rights were not read and he won’t be tried in a civilian court. His corpse was thrown on a helicopter and flown to a ship in the Arabian Sea where it was dumped overboard. All well and good.
But hard to square with a president who wanted Gitmo closed, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried in Manhattan, and considered prosecuting CIA interrogators to show the superiority of American justice. On the other hand, Obama has blown over 1500 terror suspects to smithereens.
In a display of respect, bin Laden’s body was washed and prepared for burial according to Islamic custom. His demise will not be verified by photos because “that’s not who we are… we don’t trot out this stuff as trophies”.
That won’t wash with the Muslim world.
Show Trial
Posted by: | Comments
Marc Thiessan makes the case, in the Washington Post, that the best way to protect the U.S. legal system is to keep trials for enemy combatants out of it.
A Stone’s Throw from Civilization
Posted by: | Comments
The wisdom of the voters is hard to comprehend when the local electorate is busy stoning young couples. To their elected leader’s credit, President Karzai condemned the act of Sharia Law.
The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All The Lawyers
Posted by: | Comments
Liz Cheney wants AG Holder to name Justice Department attorneys who represented terrorists. Here’s the story in Politico.
KSM Trial
Posted by: | Comments
Now that Holder has inflicted Khalid Shaikh Mohammed on the American criminal justice system we’re reminded why the military tribunals were set up in the first place – to protect the criminal justice system.
KSM was water-boarded 130 times to get information, not a conviction.
Holder is confident he can get a conviction and he wants the world to see that “we need not cower in the face of an enemy”.
If Holder is right, the world will see an American legal system convict a man who was denied a lawyer, not read his rights, tortured into a confession (according to the president of the United States), and prejudged by the president and his attorney general. Holder added that if KSM isn’t convicted he still won’t go free and Obama agrees.
Some showcase for our legal system.
Pelosi Briefs
Posted by: | Comments
The Speaker of the House says CIA lied to her. The Chief of Central Intelligence says that’s a lie.
Drowning in Debt
Posted by: | Comments
Terorists cut more sympathetic figures than hedge funds these days which may explain why the debt holders are only getting 29 cents on the dollar from Chrysler. On the other hand here’s a piece that says they’re lucky to get that.
Thanks for the Memos
Posted by: | Comments
Now that Obama has released the “torture” memos, and Joe Biden has released Cheney’s undisclosed location, the former V.P. is in a releasing mood himself. Obama said there would be no prosecutions. That was before he said there might be, but only for lawyers – and who among us is against prosecuting lawyers? Cheney says Obama left out the memos that show “harsh interrogation” kept the country safe from more 9/11 style attacks. Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi says memos lie.
Smithereens
Posted by: | Comments
This cartoon was inspired by Ted Olsen, a former Solicitor General whose wife was on the plane that slammed into the Pentagon on 9/11. In an interview with Byron York he said, ”If it’s prosecutable because we waterboarded somebody or deprived him of sleep, what about sending a drone to blow him up without a trial or a hearing?” Here’s a cartoon from December 2005.
