News Flash: Obama sees Al Qaeda, Terrorism in Airline Bomber case

No more "suspect" ?
No more "allegedly" ?
No more "lone actor" ?

Say it ain't so, O !

But oh yes, some more gratuitous blame game Bush bashing must be included:

The video also contains thinly-veiled criticism of the counter-terror strategy of George W. Bush. Obama says that the current administration has “refocused the fight” against al-Qaeda on Afghanistan and Pakistan, while “bringing to a responsible end to the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.”
(such an asshole !)

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OGZkMjA0YzZiNjhmNWVmNDUyYWU0NzZhNjZhYjRiYTQ=


Re: Obama Fingers al-Qaeda, Finally [Andy McCarthy]

It's good that the president is conceding that the Christmas terrorist plot was an al Qaeda operation, hatched in Yemen. It would be even better if he therefore stopped releasing trained jihadists now detained at Gitmo to Yemen.

As Dan recounts, the president also asserted: “We know that [Abdulmutallab] travelled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies.” A few things about that. First, to the extent Obama is suggesting that the terrorism is caused by the crushing poverty, it is worth remembering that Abdul Mutallab — like many jihadist terrorists, bin Laden himself included — is a person of means. The principal challenge in Yemen, like everyplace else, is Islamist ideology, not poverty. Perhaps the president could stop worrying so much about poverty and rethink things like cozying up to the Muslim Brotherhood (and its tentacles in the U.S., like the Islamic Society of North America) and bowing to Brotherhood's banker, Saudi King Abdullah. Just a thought.

Second, about those "deadly insurgencies": Part of what makes them so deadly is the support that what passes for the Yemeni government gives to al Qaeda. As is the case in Pakistan, Sunni jihadists in Yemen have a strong base of support in the Yemeni military and intelligence services — and Yemeni President Abdullah Ali Saleh uses the Sunni terrorists to help fight the other "deadly insurgency," the Houthi Shiite terrorists backed by Iran. As usual, at the Long War Journal, the invaluable Bill Roggio provides a program so folks can sort out the players. But before we break the bank and give goo-gobs of money to a "government" that is much a life-line as a foe of al-Qaeda, mightn't we demand a modest demonstration of Saleh's seriousness? Like, how about Yemen hands over to us the U.S.S. Cole bombers, Jamal al Badawi and Fahd al Quso (it's only been 10 years), along with Jaber Elbaneh of the Lackawanna Six?

Finally, behold, yet again, the folly of President Obama's law-enforcement approach to terrorism. Not only has the assignment of counsel in the criminal case denied us whatever intelligence Mutallab could be giving us about Yemen. The criminal case is complicating the President's ability to do his jobs as president and commander-in-chief. This morning, Obama declared flatly that Mutallab conspired with al Qaeda in a heinous attempted terrorist attack. It was refreshing to hear the president not hedge with "alleged" this and "alleged" that. FDR never suggested that the "fear itself" we needed to fear was "alleged." But, of course, defense counsel will now claim the president is hopelessly prejudicing Mutallab's ability to get a fair trial — in Detroit or anyplace else — by smearing him in the press and eviscerating the presumption of innocence. The usual judicial reaction to such claims is not to dismiss an indictment but (a) to postpone the trial indefinitely until the negative (to the defendant) publicity dies down, and (b) to direct the executive branch to stop making statements that prejudice the case (on pain of having the indictment dismissed due to "government misconduct").

The Mutallab case is an unnecessary, insignificant distraction from the real business of protecting the United States. And it is all so unnecessary. It will be forever until we can have a trial of Mutallab, anyway: From here on out, everytime something happens in Yemen, Mutallab's lawyers will try to use it to their litigation advantage, repeating that the president has so tied Mutallab to terrorism in Yemen that there is no prospect of a fair trial. So why not transfer him to military custody as an enemy combatant, detain and interrogate him for as long as it is useful to do so, and then, in a year or three, either charge him with war crimes in a military tribunal or, if you insist, indict him the criminal justice system? There is no reason to have a criminal case pending right now — it will only tie the president's hands and be grist for judicial criticism of Obama while he has a war to fight. He doesn't need that in his life right now.