Could Be Interesting
UPDATED
Washington Post: Obama to meet with 9/11, Cole victims and families to discuss Guantanamo today.
One Sept. 11 activist, who declined to be identified talking about the meeting, said “fireworks” are likely at the gathering because it will include participants who oppose Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo Bay and those who support it.
Be interesting to see what kind of humility Obama is capable of. Hopefully no one’s too awestruck or feels the need to be polite or respectful. I’d suggest taking a cue from Obama himself and his “I won” and “Stop taking orders from Rush Limbaugh” school of making friends and influencing people. ”Those unlawful enemy combatants killed our loved ones” and “Stop taking orders from MoveOn.” Something like that.
Jim Riches, a retired New York firefighter whose son, Jimmy Riches, died in the Sept. 11 attacks, said in an interview yesterday that he wants to hear from Obama what the government intends to do with the prisoners.
“I want to know, are they going to drop the charges? Are they going to try them in another court?” he said. “I want to let them know that these men are dangerous.”
Riches praised the president for agreeing to a meeting so soon after taking office.
“The issue . . . is what are they going to do with those detainees. We want justice for the ones that said they did it,” he said.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold — the skipper of the Cole when it was attacked in the Yemeni port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000, leaving 17 U.S. sailors dead and nearly 40 wounded — said he planned to attend.
“I’m very happy he’s meeting with the families of the Cole. I’m looking forward to hearing what the president has to say,” Lippold said.
The meeting comes a day after Obama dropped charges against Cole bombing detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, which should crank the temp a bit. Though as Riches says, Obama deserves some credit for putting himself in the line of fire. WPost article helpfully goes to make excuses for the Obama admin, saying if they hadn’t suspended the military commissions, they might be stuck with the results and not be able to transfer murderous jihadis to some other court that is more acceptable to MoveOn.org.
I guess it could be helpful to the families to hear from Obama himself how unfair it is to hold terrorists as unlawful enemy combatants and subject them to military tribunals, rather than granting them the full Constitutional rights that they are not entitled to, with full grandstanding, jury-pandering, legal manuevering opportunities afforded by civil trials.
UPDATE, via AP, White House flack Gibbs explains that Obama thinks the 9/11 and Cole families are stupid:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama, preparing Friday to meet with families of terror victims, is concerned that Guantanamo Bay detainees have been held for years without trial …
Obama “wants to discuss his plan to bring about changes in Guantanamo that he believes will make this country safer and bring about the very same swift justice that they desire on behalf of those that they know that have been killed,” Gibbs said.
“The main concern that the president has is the military commission’s failure to bring those in detention to swift justice,” he said.
Obama is now reviewing the system, and likely to scrap it, to make sure the 245 suspects who remain there are given international and U.S. legal rights.
I guess it’s a matter of what you think justice is. AP, meanwhile, either is stupid or thinks we are, because it presented without so much as a cocked eyebrow the idea that scrapping a system of justice that is already underway is swifter than going through a convoluted process of inventing a new one. Several graphs later, AP allows there might be an alternate view:
Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in 2000, said …
“I was certainly disappointed with the decision to delay the military commissions process,” Lippold, now a defense adviser to Military Families United, said in an interview. “We have already waited eight years. Justice delayed is justice denied. We must allow the military commission process to go forward.”
FOX: Father of slain Cole sailor turned down the invite … Gary Swenchonis already had the bad news about the charges on Gary Jr’s killer being dropped, didn’t need to hear it from Obama.
ANOTHER UPDATE: McClatchy, families applaud Obama’s entrance, but are concerned about civil trials in the United States. Obama’s uncommitted.
“I think people were more reserved, and they were willing to listen and extend to him the olive branch of ‘let’s wait and see what you’re going to do,’” Lippold said.
McClatchy, by the way, notes with that business about speeding up justice by ordering a halt to it, “Obama and his aides … seemed to be seeking to reframe the reasoning for closing Guantanamo.” No kidding. But if you read the story, you’ll see he appears to hav been speaking out of several sides of his mouth.
Goldfarb at Weekly Standard, “Retain and detain is an option?”
Hot Air, ”This decision puts Nashiri into the very status to which Obama and the Left objected so strenuously: held without charge.”
Andy McCarthy, The Corner: “Sept. 10 is back.” McCarthy blames military judge Pohl’s “grandstanding” for giving Obama the opening he needed to pull the war on terrorism off a war footing. As suggested in comments, blaming the judge for standing up for justice in the face of craven politicking is a misread. Pohl, a man of principle, ultimately was a speed bump who has served to underscore how reckless the teenager at the wheel is. Drive over something like that too fast, you start dragging parts.
Gateway, a great couple of weeks …
Malkin, Gitmo gall
Topics: Guantanamo, Obama, justice, terrorists
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:26 am on Friday, February 6, 2009
7 Responses to “Could Be Interesting”
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February 6th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I am not a Constitutional scholar; not by a long shot. But, and please correct me if you know I’m wrong, wasn’t the Constitution of the United States created for the express purpose of providing a foundation for the rule of law that governs our Republic, its citizens, and legal visitors? Where the hell is it written that enemy combatants have Constitutional rights?
February 6th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I read McCarthy’s column and wondered what planet he was on. What happened to the independence of the judiciary? You’d think he’d have more respect for that general concept even though this “judiciary” (military court) is nominally a part of the executive branch.
So Obama jumps in to the middle of a case and demands a halt for now and the judge is supposed to say “OK” after these guys have been held as long as they have? Pohl was right, that request this late in the game was unreasonable.
September 10th is back alright, and McCarthy doesn’t seem to understand he’s part of those welcoming it back.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:25 am
USS Cole attacked - 17 sailors dead.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Barack Obama has a DUTY to punish the people who planned and attacked and killed American Servicemen and women. In abrogating his DUTY to others, Barack Obama insults the entire US Military and all Veterans.
To put it bluntly, Barack Obama is a blatant, craven coward.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Andy McCarthy was spot on in his description. Independence of the judiciary is not an issue here since these are military tribunals, not courts of law. Military tribunals are part of the military, which is controlled by the executive branch. Nevertheless, Andy didn’t go far enough since he really should have lambasted Obama for this situation rather than the upstart judge. Obama could have quietly ordered the judge to suspend the trial to provide himself with the four month recess he wanted. Instead, and this speaks volumes about his character, he acts like a four year old by pitching a tantrum and now appears ready to throw out the whole program. Disgraceful.
Jules got it right: It will be interesting to see if this sophmoric jerk is capable of any humility while meeting with the 9/11 and Cole families. I am certain that the MSM will never report it accurately so we need entities like Fox and Drudge to talk to the participants to find out what really went on. The whole thing is a disgrace.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I think meeting with the families (although it is the right thing to do) is a foolish mistake on Obama’s part. He actually believes that he can gull these families with his golden oratory and the “forgiveness” in his heart, and eventually return these detainees to their country to show how
weakgenerous America is. I hope the families disabuse him of this notion in no uncertain terms.February 7th, 2009 at 8:16 am
“I guess it’s a matter of what you think justice is.”
You can say that again.
February 7th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
The Obama team clearly suffers from a logical disconnect.
The principal motivation of the Gitmo terrorists is the destruction of the US and the freedoms it represents. While the claims of the terrorists, the UN and other enabling groups focus on the Palestinian cause and removal of US troops, as well as economic interests from the Middle East, in reality their goal is more totalitarian in nature. The demise of the US and Western civilization is mandated by their doctrinal foundation rooted in the Qur’an.
If that premise is correct, it is not only illogical but suicidal to extend any rights or privileges to them that derive from our Constitution. Frankly, if we were less civilized or they were detained in some other cultures, they would be dearly departed by now. We don’t have to sacrifice our rights, freedoms and culture to either impress the world or these scumbags.
One final point: for those attorneys so willing to defend the terrorists, let’s place them in custody, as well as homes, of those who would willingly contribute to our defeat in the GWOT for either fame or ‘principal’.