Monday, January 04, 2010

No, no, no, says Pepe: when in a hole, keep diggin'

Oh, and by the way: "There is no smoking gun," Brennan said. Only a smoking thong.

REGURGE for HotAir discussion (in the comments here).

17 comments:

Mr roT said...

Priceless: ''I think it is a bad time to send the 90 or so Yemenis back to Yemen,'' Harman said.

Mr roT said...

Smoking thong to go with my smoking jacket.

Tecumseh said...

I'd never heard of this guy Brennan before. How come he's so clueless? Trying to give Napolitano a run for her money?

Mr roT said...

Some people are naturally competitive, Tecs.

Tecumseh said...

On paper he doesn't look too bad. How's Sciences Po at UT?

Mr roT said...

All pucking finkos, Tecs. 90 miles from College Station and a lot happens.

Tecumseh said...

But, but, aren't they better at "football"?

Tecumseh said...

Mr Brennan is blowing smoke, says this ex-spook. Duhhh...

Mr roT said...

Brennan excoriated.

Mr roT said...

Some of this is unfair. I don't think Abd would've gotten the military treatment no matter what.

He was arrested/captured on US soil and so like Reid and others he's different from the ones picked up in Afgh.

Yes, you'll talk about the Germans we picked up in 1788, but I am not sure about the legalities there since now there's contradictory precedent.

Mr roT said...

Brennan blowing smoke about releasing terrs back to Yemen is nonsense, obviously. Obama can't close Gitmo any more than he can pass cap & trade.

The real question out there is whether Abd has info and whether we should be hanging him from his charred scrotum to get it or offering a plea bargain.

How many death penalties can we get him down to?

BTW, there's no way in the criminal justice system that he'll get death, since he is just an 'attempted'.

This is obscene on its own.

Tecumseh said...

Brennan’s insistence that we have to close Gitmo because AQ uses it for propaganda purposes. Contrast that with Eric Holder’s earlier statement that he wouldn’t let terrorists dictate whether we try them in the military or civil system. Isn’t caving to AQ’s propaganda merely to exchange a explicitly-designed terrorist detention center for a makeshift one in Illinois the same thing?

Of course.

Tecumseh said...

So what if Abdul was captured in Detroit, as opposed to Afghanistan or something? He's still an enemy combatant -- in fact, to be even more technical about it, a saboteur. C'mon, 100% justified in treating him as such -- there's tons of precedent. Only Hölderian logic would fail to see that.

Mr roT said...

Yeah, agree. But there's now precedent on this situation. Richard Reid didn't go the Mil route. Yoo says it was a mistake. Correcting it will be difficult.

Tecumseh said...

Such mistakes can be corrected. The basic principles, and the Constitution, are still there, one just have to go back to first principles now and then, and reboot, otherwise, mistakes get compounded and ossified. (That's why non-linear PDEs are more adept than linear PDEs, if you catch my drift.)

At any rate, in practical terms, it's only a matter of political will and acumen. There is nothing preventing Obama (or Hölder) to declare Abdul Mutallab, even at this late date, an enemy combatant, and send him before a military tribunal (after proper interrogation, that is). Will they do it? 99.9% not. Could they do it? 99.9% yes.

Mr roT said...

Everything is a function of political expediency. That includes the framing of the Constitution.
Going back on what the ACLU and Hölders of the world prefer will take political capital and acumen, both in short supply on the side in power.

The Repubs have to make this an issue, because many people support hanging up the crotchbomber by his nuts till he talks. Still, the argument has to be more careful than soundbite and that's difficult to pull off.

One would need a good communicator with relevant credibility, but Giuliani has exempted himself.

Tecumseh said...

Abdul still has nuts to be hung by? I thought they got, ahem, singed.