Posted By LambChop
In another October surprise, Vanity Fair drops a bomb that Obama seriously considered capturing bin Laden and putting him on trial in federal court. The most telling statement is Obama's admitted rationale, "...my belief was if we had captured him, that I would be in a pretty strong position, politically, here, to argue that displaying due process and rule of law would be our best weapon against al-Qaeda, in preventing him from appearing as a martyr.”
So much for the "gutsy call." I for one would like to know how a circus trial "diplaying the rule of law" would be a "weapon" against al Qaeda, and not just another example of progressive weakness and appeasement? Just imagine the ramifications, the expense, the time, and the danger of bringing bin Laden to New York or D.C. for a spectacle of a trial - practically daring al Qaeda to hit us on our soil... again.
Obama's overconfidence and his mistaken and naive belief that al Qaeda is irreparably debilitated would have been THE recipe for disaster had Osama bin Laden been captured and brought to the U.S. for trial.
From Vanity Fair:
In an adaptation from his new book, The Finish—first reported for Vanity Fair—magazine contributing editor Mark Bowden reveals that President Obama intended to put Osama bin Laden on trial in the federal court system if he had been captured, rather than killed, during the Abbottabad raid. Bowden had access to key players including C.I.A. deputy director Michael Morell and the president himself.
According to Bowden in the story—in November’s Vanity Fair—in the unlikely event that bin Laden surrendered, Obama saw an opportunity to resurrect the idea of a criminal trial, which Attorney General Eric Holder had planned for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. This time, the president tells Bowden, he was prepared to bring bin Laden back and put him on trial in a federal court. “We worked through the legal and political issues that would have been involved, and Congress and the desire to send him to Guantánamo, and to not try him, and Article III.” Obama continues: “I mean, we had worked through a whole bunch of those scenarios. But, frankly, my belief was if we had captured him, that I would be in a pretty strong position, politically, here, to argue that displaying due process and rule of law would be our best weapon against al-Qaeda, in preventing him from appearing as a martyr.”
Read entire article here: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/10/obama-put-osama-bin-laden-on-trial
President Obama(who ate a dog) is surprisingly candid here. A self-centered dhimmi to be sure, but candid.
Posted by: German Shepherd | 10/03/2012 at 07:08 PM