Bones: Eric Holder… Double Cross, Double Talk, Double Standards

Our Attorney General (AG) Eric Holder has caught the disease which seems to be virulent and contagious in this administration, arrogance.  Impudence seems more prevalent in Washington these days than the dreaded H1N1.  Moreover, there seems neither to be a vaccine to prevent it, nor an antibiotic to cure it.  Holder is the latest to fall prey to this malady.

Many may remember our AG from yester year, he was the same guy who orchestrated the pardon of the second most wanted criminal on the FBI list, Marc Rich.  Then President Clinton pardoned Rich as one of his last official acts.   The pardon, although legal, seemed unethical, because it was granted only after Mrs. Rich had donated a large sum of money to the Clinton Library.  But, we were assured, it was legal… maybe not ethical, but legal.  [This seems to be how Democrats justify unethical behavior.  Just this week it was used as an explanation by Obama’s pay czar for the explanation of  the recent AIG bonuses, under the Obama watch,  “.”

More recently our beloved AG has been under attack for  moving terrorists from the security of GITMO and military tribunals, to granting them full constitutional rights and moving their trials to New York City.  This is now being opposed almost universally by both sides of the aisle.

According to Gothamist.com : “Even as his plans to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other suspected 9/11 plotters in a Lower Manhattan courthouseseem to be unraveling, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder insists that “[h]istory will show that the decisions we’ve made are the right ones.” In a New Yorker profile, Holder claims that some of the politicians who have blasted the Obama administration for its policies on terror have “a desire to ignore the facts to try to score political points.”

Holder didn’t talk much about opponents like Mayor Bloomberg or Police Commissioner Ray Kelly who want to move the trials out of New York City over concerns about cost and security. But he blasted former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who have argued that the suspects should face military tribunals, not criminal trials.”

But perhaps his most egregious action thus far has been his mishandling of the under ware bomber on Christmas day.  It seems he took it on his own authority to treat him like a criminal instead of a terrorist.  According to his critics he did this before actionable intelligence could be obtained from the inept radical.

Since that fateful action our AG has respond in the predictable manner for this administration.  According to the Heritage Foundation’s “Morning Bell”, 2/4/10

“Attorney General Eric Holder released a letter yesterday defending the Obama administration’s criminal justice system approach to prosecuting the war against al-Qaeda. Defending his administration’s handling of the Flight 253 terrorist, Holder wrote: “I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, the knowledge of, and with no objection from, other relevant departments of the government.”

From this statement alone it seems there may have been a double cross.  “Morning Bell” continues: “…this statement (Holder) directly contradicts the sworn Congressional testimony of Director of National Intelligence Adm. Dennis Blair who, when asked by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) under oath if he had been consulted about how Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated, responded: “I was not consulted.” Under intense political pressure from the White House, Blair has since said his remarks were “misconstrued.” But his politically-pressured retraction was not made under oath. His initial statement was.”  Basically Holder is saying, don’t listen to those other guys, “I am in charge.”

Well, as the Heritage article begs, ‘who elected him king, or was that president’?  Has Obama delegated entire policies?  Or are these policies his idea, and then he turns them over to radicals like Holder to enforce them?  I ask this because Holder is on record against giving terrorists rights in his 2002 interview with CNN’s Paula Zahun.

According to the Heritage source:

“The Weekly Standard’s Stephen F. Hayes flags this exchange between CNN’s Paula Zahn and Holder about American Taliban John Walker Lindh from January 28, 2002.

Zahn: “How much pressure should they put on this man to get information out of him as they interrogate him?”

Holder: “Well, I mean, it’s hard to interrogate him at this point now that he has a lawyer and now that he is here in the United States. But to the extent that we can get information from him, I think we should.”

Any rational being would conclude from that that Holder feels he could have gotten more information, if Walker Lindh had not been assessed his rights, layered up,  and treated as a criminal.  But now he contradicts his stance by writing (1/3/10 same source):

“Holder wrote yesterday: “Neither advising Abdulmutallab of his Miranda rights nor granting him access to counsel prevents us from obtaining intelligence from him. On the contrary, history shows that the federal justice system is an extremely effective tool for gathering intelligence.”

So which way is it AG?

Is it better to treat the man caused disaster as a terrorist… oops, as a foreign combatant… oops, as a foreign bad guy… or grant him Constitutional protections affording him rights not even given our troops when fighting these fanatics.   And by the way, treating them as enemy combatants and trying them in military tribunals has been determined as legal by the Supreme Court … so one must ask why they are sending them back to GITMO and merely  contending that: ‘it is legal, but just not ethical’?

Tags: aig bonuses, al qaeda, american taliban, attorney general, clinton library, cnn, dick cheney, eric holder, foreign combatant, gitmo, gothamist.com, john walker lindh, khalid sheikh mohammed, marc rich, mayor michael bloomber, mayor rudy giuliani, morning bell, paula zahun, police commissioner ray kelly, stephen hayes, supreme court, weekly standard