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Obama Wars Title: Shoe-Bomber Reid Was Read His Rights 'Within 5 Minutes of Being Removed from the Aircraft' Shoe-Bomber Reid Was Read His Rights 'Within 5 Minutes of Being Removed from the Aircraft': Obama Administration Continues Pushback on National Security Criticism February 03, 2010 4:23 PM Attorney General Eric Holder wrote an assertive letter to Republican critics today, part of an apparent campaign by the Obama administration to more aggressively combat criticism of how the president is waging the war on terrorism. Holder wrote that the “decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab in federal court, and the methods used to interrogate him, are fully consistent with the long-established and publicly known policies and practices” of US law enforcement, adding that the practices “were not criticized when employed by previous Administrations.” The Attorney General noted, for instance, a policy directive issued by President George W. Bush in 2003 giving the Attorney General “lead responsibility for criminal investigations of terrorist acts or terrorist threats by individuals or groups inside the United States, or directed at United States citizens or institutions abroad, where such acts are within the Federal criminal jurisdiction of the United States.” And amidst criticism that failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab was read his Miranda writes, Holder notes that failed shoe-bomber Richard Reid was “advised of his right to remain silent and to consult with an attorney within five minutes of being removed from the aircraft (and was read or reminded of these rights a total of four times within 48 hours).” In recent history, Holder reminded the Republican Senators, only two individuals apprehended in the US were initially held under the law of war: Jose Padilla and Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, and in both cases such custody “raised serious statutory and constitutional questions in the courts concerning the lawfulness of the government's actions and spawned lengthy litigation. Ultimately, both AI-Marri (in 2009) and Padilla (in 2006) were returned to law enforcement custody, convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to prison. “ Collins: Holder's Letter "Misses the Entire Point" In a statement, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said that Holder’s “letter misses the entire point. At issue is the mishandling of this terrorist detention in the critical early hours, which likely resulted in the loss of valuable intelligence.” The Holder letter is just the latest example of the administration pushing back after several weeks of remaining relatively silent as critics questioned decisions made in the apprehension of Abdulmutallab, White House: Our Methods Work Better Than Bush's Yesterday, ABC News reported on a letter to Congress from White House counterterrorism czar John Brennan in which he suggested the Obama administration’s process of reviewing detainees at Guantanamo Bay is superior to the process under President Bush, and that those detainees who have returned to terrorism were all released under Bush, none under Obama. Tuesday night, a senior administration official described in detail how the administration, working with Abdulmutallab’s family, had been able to get him to start cooperating and sharing intelligence. Abdulmuttalab was talking to FBI agents on Saturday, at the same time Collins issued the Republican response to the president's weekly address, decrying Abdulmuttalab's presence in the criminal justice system. “There is a reason why these things are done the way they are done and believe me it frustrated the hell out of me to listen to a lot of the comments being made that were criticizing this process," the official said, assailing “people with no experience and apparently less knowledge about the case and the issues involved have made it a cause célèbre . As though there were some type of strange practice or action that took place here. When it’s consistent with all the practices of the previous administration.” Gibbs v Collins Collins issued a statement today saying she remained ”concerned that there was no consultation with intelligence officials before the Department of Justice unilaterally decided to treat Abudulmutallab as if he were a common criminal, advising him that he could refuse to answer questions and granting him a lawyer at taxpayer expense…While any person charged in our civilian criminal system enjoys rights guaranteed by our Constitution, our laws do not require that a foreign terrorist be charged in that system.” The junior senator from Maine said that “by Mirandizing this foreign terrorist within hours of his detention, and without consulting top intelligence officials, we lost several weeks where valuable intelligence that could help prevent another attack was likely lost. We will never know precisely what we lost, which makes this situation even more troubling.” This prompted an email from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs asserting that “the FBI’s current policy vis-à-vis Miranda warnings for arrests inside the United States is articulated in its Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG), which was finalized at the end of the prior Administration, and in the Legal Handbook for Special Agents, the relevant portions of which have been in effect for many years. This policy, which is consistent with the policy of all known U.S. law enforcement agencies, is to provide Miranda warnings prior to custodial interrogation.” Gibbs said that “Abdulmutallab has not been offered anything” in terms of a plea deal. “The Department of Justice take his cooperation ‘into consideration,’” he wrote. Collins responded in a statement, saying, the "fact remains that after his apprehension, Abdulmutallab was questioned by the FBI for a mere 50 minutes." Blair: We Should Have Invoked High Value Interrogation Unit She also noted that the Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair (ret.) testified before her committee that a high-value interrogation unit “was created exactly for this purpose, to make a decision on whether a certain person who is detained should be treated as a case for Federal prosecution or for some of the other means." Continued Blair: "We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have….That is what we will do now, and so we need to make those decisions more carefully. I was not consulted. The decision was made on the scene. It seemed logical to the people there. But it should have been taken using this HIG format at a higher level.”
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#3. To: Badeye (#0)
That woman is a joke.
#4. To: Fred Mertz (#3)
"That woman is a joke." I think they've all "lost their fking minds"....
While true, she's correct here. Broke clocks right twice per day and all that stuff...Jane Harmon agrees btw.
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