November 17, 2009
Changing the Subject: Why Fort Hood Probe was Nixed
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
As he flew to Asia on Saturday, President Obama told the media in Alaska that he opposes a congressional investigation into the Fort Hood massacre, saying that we must "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into political theater." Yet, even as he was posturing against political theatrics, it had just been decided that the prosecution of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would proceed on the greatest of public stages – New York City.
With the strict evidentiary rules in force in federal civilian courts, it is easy to see how the prosecution of Mohammed could morph into an indictment of the Bush administration's interrogation techniques and waterboarding. As in rape trials, the magnitude of the underlying crime (masterminding the 9/11 attacks) might well be lost as the defense puts the victim (in this case, the government) on trial.
It is not political theater itself to which the administration objects – but theater that highlights issues that liberals would rather forget. They are quite content to let the Mohammed trial become the theater of the left. Perhaps even eager.
The administration knows that the key to building favorable ratings is to control the agenda. And the more the national discussion centers on national security and terrorism, the more Republicans gain. So the Fort Hood terror attack comes at an awful time for an administration trying to turn the nation's attention away from the terrorist threat.
As soon as the killing spree was over, Obama hastened to call it "an act of violence" – obscuring the obvious fact that it was the most serious terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. And, as evidence mounts that the FBI was on to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for years, the administration is doing its best to stop Congress from finding out why these warnings went unheeded.
Even as Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee confirmed that the government knew of 10 to 20 e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam in Yemen – who was urging the killing of American troops – starting last December, Obama hastened to urge Congress to refrain from investigating why the danger signs were ignored.
The administration has a clear agenda here:
1) Stop people from focusing in how his administration permitted the worst domestic terror attack in eight years.
2) Avoid a national airing of how liberal policies – restraints on the intelligence community, political correctness in the armed forces -- might have inhibited the military from reining in Hasan.
3) Re-ignite a firestorm on the left and abroad against the aggressive anti-terror policies of the Bush administration.
Making all this particularly important are other political needs.
As the administration likely decides to send more troops to Afghanistan and eyes abandoning the "public option" to secure Senate passage of a government health-care plan, the administration has to rebuild his credibility on the left. A public circus that focuses on waterboarding and interrogations could be just what they want and need.
Reader Comments: Submit Your Comment (2)
I'm not a legal eagle, but I watched CSI last night.
Anyway, I think the defense will move to have any admission of guilt "thrown out" if obtained by any means CURRENTLY forbidden (waterboarding, et al) or coerced. If approved by the judge, ALL testimonies by the accused will be disallowed. Without that evidence, the prosecutors will have precious little to prosecute. The result will be "NOT guilty" and the bastoons will "walk". OR, the defense will agree for them to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for "time already served".
As CIC, Obama wants to stop the Fort Hood & military investigation before they find something to upset his little cart at the New York fiasco.
posted by : Dave
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 01:24 PM
This has nothing to do with bringing avowed terrorist and murderers to justice, or, the Rule of Law for that matter.
Mohammed and his co-conspirators have already confessed their guilt for 9-11, and as enemy combatants should stand trial before a military tribunal.
Obama and his A.G. are well aware of this, but there goal here is to subvert constitutional law and stage a show trial to further ebarrass and weaken our military and civilian anti-terroist programs. of which the Anti-American Left has always had a profound hatred or disdain for.
posted by : Lightning Jack
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 01:13 AM
