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Friday, January 29, 2010

Christmas Day Bomber- System Failed Miserably

After Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano first said the failed terror attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on flight 253 showed that our "system worked", she later back tracked and agreed that the system failed and said she was speaking to the actions of authorities after the man's arrest.

She pointed to the notifications and other procedures in place as examples of what she originally meant when she uttered those words the "system worked".

Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post today showing evidence how the system failed in ore than one aspect.

After 50 minutes of questioning him, the Obama administration chose, reflexively and mindlessly, to give the chatty terrorist the right to remain silent. Which he immediately did, undoubtedly denying us crucial information about al-Qaeda in Yemen, which had trained, armed and dispatched him.

We have since learned that the decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab had been made without the knowledge of or consultation with (1) the secretary of defense, (2) the secretary of homeland security, (3) the director of the FBI, (4) the director of the National Counterterrorism Center or (5) the director of national intelligence (DNI).

The Justice Department acted not just unilaterally but unaccountably. Obama's own DNI said that Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated by the HIG, the administration's new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.


He continues to show the incompetence of the Obama administration in dealing with terrorism, by providing the kicker.

The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, one year later, does not exist yet.

Of course, this case is just a reflection of a larger problem: an administration that insists on treating Islamist terrorism as a law-enforcement issue. Which is why the Justice Department's other egregious terror decision, granting Khalid Sheik Mohammed a civilian trial in New York, is now the subject of a letter from six senators -- three Republicans, two Democrats and Joe Lieberman -- asking Attorney General Eric Holder to reverse the decision.

Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins had written an earlier letter asking for Abdulmutallab to be turned over to the military for renewed interrogation. The problem is, it's hard to see how that decision gets reversed. Once you've read a man Miranda rights, what do you say? We are idiots? On second thought . . .


Everyone feeling safer now that Obama is in charge?

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