On the heels of Republican criticism of the Obama administration following Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair's testimony in the Senate, the Justice Department released a statement defending the way alleged underwear bomber Umar Abdulmutallab was handled.
The following statement was attributed to DoJ spokesman Matthew Miller, who hits the GOP's rather selective opposition to arresting and charging suspected terrorists:
Since September 11, 2001, every terrorism suspect apprehended in the United States by either the Bush administration or the Obama administration has been initially arrested, held or charged under federal criminal law. Al Qaeda terrorists such as Richard Reid, Zacarias Moussaoui and others have all been prosecuted in federal court, and the arrest and charging of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was handled no differently. Those who now argue that a different action should have been taken in this case were notably silent when dozens of terrorists were successfully prosecuted in federal court by the previous administration.
Republicans have asserted, without actual evidence, that Abdulmutallab ceased providing intelligence information once he was given a lawyer. The FBI has said the opposite, and Miller says as much here:
Trying Abdulmutallab in federal court does not prevent us from obtaining additional intelligence from him. He has already provided intelligence, and we will continue to work to gather intelligence from him, as the Department has done repeatedly in past cases. Most recently, David Headley, who has been indicted in Chicago for helping plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has given us information of enormous intelligence value.
Furthermore, neither detaining Abdulmutallab under the laws of war or referring him for prosecution in military commissions would force him to divulge intelligence or necessarily prevent him from obtaining an attorney.
The final point is one conservatives really don't seem to get. Charging Abdulmutallab by military commission would not deny him the right to an attorney.
-- A. Serwer
