The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama is considering detaining terror suspects indefinitely.
While this continuation of the previous administration's policy may disappoint those who need to believe that every element of the Bush/Cheney foreign policy was evil or incompetent, it's not terribly surprising if you think about it for a clear-headed minute.
Nearly 3,000 civilians were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Let's say you're the President and your military and intelligence agencies have managed to track down and capture a number of suspected terrorists. Under no duress, these suspects applaud the 9/11 attacks, claim responsibility (perhaps boastfully rather than truthfully) and pledge themselves to commit their lives to the further killing of Americans by any means possible. And just in case there's any doubt, they're all in favor of the extermination of Israel and maybe the overthrow of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As President, would you release such suspects to threaten American citizens again? Remember, the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers were the second successful attack in eight years. So what's a President to do? He's sworn to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution, but as Commander in Chief he's also required to protect and defend the citizens. It would be convenient if these suspects could be tried, convicted and thrown in prison for life; but a civilian criminal trial may be a dicey proposition if the specific evidence is primarily confessions that may sound more like boasts.
In an era of rougher justice "...shot while trying to escape" would be one likely end to this awkward predicament. Or perhaps the suspects would be quietly extradited to a country whose legal system makes a specific judicial outcome more certain.
But we live in the current era. Meanwhile President Obama -- unlike candidate Obama -- is privy to the dossiers on these suspects and responsible for the security of the nation. He has a track record of respect for the Constitution and clear-headed, practical thinking. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt here. From the vantage point of the Oval Office, he seems to be doing the same for his predecessor.
"We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees."
ReplyDelete-Jason Kidd upon being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks
Obama set out to reverse the "damage" of the Bush administration. Apparently, he feels so strongly about this that he is now reversing them 360 degrees. Obama is a better campaigner than President in my view. But I am happy that -- at least in this instance -- the weight and responsibility of his office has outweighed his ample ego. In the weeks and months after 9/11, I remember my now forgetful friends discussing purchases of gas masks, preemptive vaccines for potential biological attacks, and the general suscepttibility of Manhattan to trrorist attack. Well, the gas masks and vaccines weren't needed because we went on the offensive. Whatever you think of Bush and the manner in which Iraq and Afghanistan were conducted, terrorists no longer train with impunity.
Similarly, I was happy to see him reverse himslef on releasing photographs held by the Pentagon which presumably are embarassing to the US and certainly not reflective of the manner in which our military mission has been conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am grateful for the 360 degrees of difference from Bush on this issue. But i wonder how somebody, supposedly skilled in logic, could ever think through this chain of reasoning:
1. The US has given propaganda tools to Muslim (whoops, I guess I'm not supposed to use that term) terrorists which enable them to recruit morre effectively.
2. As a result, Americans are less safe. In fact, release of the photographs will likely incite Muslim terrorists (whoops, I said it again) to kill Americans.
3. We will release the Pentagon photographs in order to show the world that there is a new openness in America, which will improve our security.
A possible alternative is to extradite them to Singapore and plant recently chewed chewing gum on said persons. Whammo-presto! Problem solved!
ReplyDeleteDavid Sanger picked up this theme in today's New York Times:
ReplyDeleteObama After Bush: Leading By Second Thought.