"They can't hold the lid on this!" Yesterday, Debra Burlingame, sister of the 9/11 pilot of the hijacked plane that terrorists flew into the Pentagon, warned that Obama couldn't turn his back and walk away from the public outrage about possible indictment of CIA officials because, "The media is too interested." Still, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, Burlingame recounted her one-on-one meeting with President Obama in which Obama did just that - turned his back and walked away.
Burlingame described her personal pleas for President Obama to speak to Holder about ceasing pursuit of possible criminal charges against the CIA officials as falling on deaf ears. After the president explained that he couldn't tell Holder what to do, she pushed for him to at least voice his opinion to Holder; the president rebuffed her saying, "No, I won't" and turned and walked away.
She explained, that in her opinion and many others, that the death of Bin Laden has vindicated the use of waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques, blowing the Justice Department's case against the initial interrogators to bits. It's her opinion that the case should be dropped immediately to allow the CIA officials and their families to get on with their lives - warmed by the appreciation of a grateful nation.
Burlingame doesn't think the issue will end with the dismissal from the president, saying that all of the CIA officials have already been cleared twice, and implying it's only a matter of time. Still, Burlingame thinks it's cruel for the CIA officials and their families to have to live with a " hammer of a possible indictment over their heads" merely for political reasons.
"The Members of congress have told me that the Khalid Mohammed decision was absolutely Obama calling the shots and that Eric Holder was along for the ride ," claims Burlingame,"but the president can use the attorney general to distance himself from some of the harder decisions."
