Holder: ‘I made the Decision’ on Abdulmutallab

Holder: ‘I made the Decision’ on Abdulmutallab [Daniel Foster]

Attorney General Eric Holder has taken ownership of the decision to treat Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a civilian criminal.

"I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, with the knowledge of, and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government," Holder says in a letter addressed to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other senators who have sought testimony from Holder on the treatment of Abdulmutallab.

In an at-times testy letter, Holder endorses the treatment of terrorist attacks as a matter of criminal justice, and implies that Senate Republicans are using the Abdulmutallab case for political gain, saying that his Justice Department relied on procedures that were not criticized when employed by previous administrations:

The decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab in federal court, and the methods used to interrogate him, are fully consistent with the long-established and publicly known policies and practices of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the United States Government as a whole, as implemented for many years by Administrations of both parties. Those policies and practices, which were not criticized when employed by previous Administrations, have been and remain extremely effective in protecting national security. They are among the many powerful weapons this country can and should use to win the war against al-Qaeda.

Holder writes that on December 25 and 26, the FBI informed partner agencies within the intelligence community of the decision to try Abdulmutallab as a criminal, and that none registered objections. He also writes that the idea of trying Abdulmutallab under the laws of war was explicitly discussed — and rejected — in high-level meetings with President Obama.
In the days following December 25 — including during a meeting with the President and other senior members of his national security team on January 5 — high-level discussions ensued within the Administration in which the possibility of detaining Mr. Abdulmutallab under the law of war was explicitly discussed. No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued.

Holder writes that "without a single exception" (emphasis in original) terror suspects arrested on American soil have been treated as federal criminals. But later in the letter, he notes two exceptions under the Bush administration in which suspects arrested under criminal law were later transferred to military custody by executive order. (National Review Online first noted those two cases here).

A Senate Republican aide tells National Review Online that Holder's response was released within hours of Senate Republicans' formal request that Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) call on Holder to testify before the body. It was Holder's first public response to a series of four GOP letters on terrorism policy that date back eight months, according to Republicans.

In a written statement released just before Holder's response was made available, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), ranking Republican on the Committee, said "We have been asking the Attorney General questions on behalf of the American people. He has not simply shut us out; he has also shut out the public."


Charles Krauthammer:

On the Obama administration's anti-terror policies:

What we are seeing is a collapse of the Obama policy — [closing] Guantanamo, Mirandizing [terrorists] and [granting] trials in a place like New York with all the constitutional protections of a civilian.

These are untenable in terms of logic and national security, and they are increasingly untenable in terms of politics, especially after Massachusetts. That's why Democrats are retreating on this.
All three elements of this [policy] are going to collapse in the end