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Former Bush Admin AG Slams Holder On 9/11 Trials
Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 13, 2009, 3:16PM
Fmr. Attorney General Michael Mukasey
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Just a few minutes ago, former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey slammed his successor, Eric Holder, over Holder's decision to bring five terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay to New York to try them as planners of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"It shows a willingness to disclose how our intelligence process works and offer [the suspects] a platform in our legal system to gather intelligence for themselves," Mukasey said before an audience of conservative lawyers at the national Federalist Society's annual legal convention in Washington.
Holder's plan "creates a cornucopia of intelligence for those still at large and a circus for those being tried," Mukasey said.
"This step appears to have come from a desire to close Guantanamo Bay within a year," he added, "and to show the world we can do not only what the law allows -- but more."
Mukasey, who served as Attorney General during the last year of George W. Bush's administration, largely echoed the conservative line on Holder's announcement today, claiming that trying terror suspects inside the U.S. are an invitation for new terrorist attacks.
"They're not going to escape," Mukasey said when asked about the detention facility in New York City where the suspects will likely be held under Holder's plan. "The question is whether the city will become the focus for more mischief, for more murder."
Mukasey said, "it will."
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Dorn76
November 13, 2009 3:21 PM
Mukasey's opinion being worth so much and all.
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Docb
November 14, 2009 12:09 PM in reply to Dorn76
In other words, it will expose all we bushies to, if not prosecution, then public ridicule for our part in the matter! He would never say such a thing to anyone but a conservative audience!
Sealed or not --I think they can make the case for KSM on his Aljeezra interview...do not know about the rest..but they did say last year they would all enter guilty pleas in Gitmo!
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Matt Jones
November 13, 2009 3:27 PM
Is Mukasey making the assertion that there will be more terrorist attacks based on some knowledge he hasn't shared? I think we should waterboard him a couple hundred times, just to be sure...
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tiowally
November 13, 2009 3:37 PM in reply to Matt Jones
That's crazy. Waterboarding is torture. Subjecting him to indefinite detention however...
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Matt Jones
November 13, 2009 4:00 PM in reply to tiowally
Correct - waterboarding is torture. But according to legal theories put forward by Mr. Mukasey's DoJ, that's OK if there's a threat of a terrorist attack. :)
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shekissesfrogs
November 13, 2009 8:58 PM in reply to Matt Jones
If the population isn't sufficiently terrorized the public may not passively allow the security state to expand, so some will be provided for us. So, essentially he's right, but it wont be those "muslims" delivering it.
The "strategy of tension" - we did it all over europe, why not here?
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/media/2006/10/119640.pdf
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jolly ranchero
November 13, 2009 3:30 PM
And will Mukasey offer an apology when he's proven to be exactly wrong and a shitbag for fear-mongering to boot?
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TBender
November 13, 2009 3:34 PM in reply to jolly ranchero
More likely, he'll make the news channel circuit over the next few weeks (He's a former AG! He's credible!), then when he is proven wrong, the whole batch of whining and fear-mongering will be forgotten...just like he will.
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shekissesfrogs
November 13, 2009 9:00 PM in reply to jolly ranchero
fear mongering authoritarians are never wrong! Don't you forget that.
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VictorLH
November 13, 2009 3:36 PM
Who cares what this war criminal has to say. He should be hanged right next to Cheney just as the Nazi's were after WWII.
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shekissesfrogs
November 13, 2009 9:08 PM in reply to VictorLH
You mean hung after the show trials? Their day in court, which these terrorists, alleged is the key word here, have not had.
Perhaps they didn't float when they were waterboarded. Would that indicate guilt to you?
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
November 13, 2009 3:37 PM
". . . offer [the suspects] a platform in our legal system to gather intelligence for themselves?" Yeah, that all that intelligence the suspects will gather on this stop to their trip to Death Row will just be a huge intel windfall for their bosses hiding in their caves five thousand miles away.
The only "intelligence gathering method" they're worried about having disclosed is the torture, which, hey you pathetic tool, the whole damn world pretty much already knows about already.
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Mom, Esq.
November 13, 2009 3:41 PM
You mean former federal district judge Michael Mukasey who presided over the Omar Abdel Rahman terrorism trial no longer believes the federal courts in New York can handle a major terrorism prosecution?
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Dorn76
November 13, 2009 3:48 PM in reply to Mom, Esq.
These people see everything through the prism of 9/11. If it happened prior, it can't be relevant.
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Mom, Esq.
November 13, 2009 4:37 PM in reply to Dorn76
Oh and now our delightful ex-mayor, Rudy "Noun, Verb, and 9/11" Giuliani is weighing in, predictably. It's amazing how many former federal prosecutors and judges will cheerfully admit the institutions that gave them political position in the first place aren't up to the task.
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shooter242
November 13, 2009 3:52 PM
Mukasey is right. Perhaps you Nimrods would care to review how the Moussaoui trial went. That took three years. And he plead guilty.
Secondly, being brought to New York puts the perps in range of extortionists who love death more than we love life. You've never heard of hijacked trials? Would a bio-terror threat be sufficient to get these guys sprung? In a city of 10 million? Would any of our brave, forthright, principled leaders withstand a credible threat?
I swear, if you people put half the energy you spend hating Bushies, into something productive or at least imaginative, you'd have acheived relevance. At the moment you're nothing but monkeys at the zoo flinging crap.
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mike from Arlington
November 13, 2009 3:54 PM in reply to shooter242
You mean relevance as in controlling the House, Senate and the Presidency?
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Matt Jones
November 13, 2009 4:05 PM in reply to shooter242
Given that the only people killed by bio-terror in this country (or *anywhere*, as far as I know) were killed by weapons made by the US Army, just exactly what are you implying?
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shooter242
November 13, 2009 4:22 PM in reply to Matt Jones
Gad, you folks are obtuse. It's just an example and apparently you have no imagination. Or you're just too busy fling poo to envision other possibilities.
How about this real life example from just a few days ago... a suicide gunmen threatens to shoot 50 people in some crowded spot unless the prisoners are released. Do you think our leadership would stand fast and take the losses should the threat be credible? I don't.
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Ann Arbor
November 13, 2009 4:40 PM in reply to shooter242
Look at the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind sheikh. He has extremely devoted followers, but it went off without incident. Same with the others in the same plot, and with Ramzi Yousef and the 1993 WTC bombers.
Besides, in your fevered scenarios, what difference does it make where the prisoners are? It's not like there's some rule of proximity that hostage-takers would have to observe -- they could take hostages in Texas or North Dakota or Africa and demand the release of prisoners in New York or Gitmo.
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DancingBear
November 14, 2009 9:13 AM in reply to Ann Arbor
"Besides, in your fevered scenarios, what difference does it make where the prisoners are?"
BINGO! We have a winner!
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matyra
November 13, 2009 4:40 PM in reply to shooter242
"Perhaps you Nimrods..." "Gad you folks are obtuse." "At the moment you're nothing but monkeys at the zoo flinging crap." "Or you're just too busy fling poo to envision other possibilities."
Hi, if you are trying to influence people by insulting them, then you are wasting your time. You destroy your credibility and any legitimate idea that you may offer.
Who is the one flinging metaphorical poo here?
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60th Street
November 13, 2009 4:42 PM in reply to shooter242
Man, you wingnuts are gigantic chickenshits!
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LeeJo
November 13, 2009 5:45 PM in reply to shooter242
...and Shooter, what is the substantive difference in you imagined threat if the trial is in the U.S in or courts or in a military tribunal in Gitmo?
In your imagined hostage situation the same people would make the decision on freeing the accused or taking the hit. Or do you think because the proceeding was far away out of view the hostage takers would just roll over?
Your silly little scare tactic is not very convincing.
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LeeJo
November 13, 2009 5:47 PM in reply to shooter242
...and Shooter, what is the substantive difference in you imagined threat if the trial is in the U.S in or courts or in a military tribunal in Gitmo?
In your imagined hostage situation the same people would make the decision on freeing the accused or taking the hit. Or do you think because the proceeding was far away out of view the hostage takers would just roll over?
Your silly little scare tactic is not very convincing.
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shooter242
November 13, 2009 9:31 PM in reply to LeeJo
and Shooter, what is the substantive difference in you imagined threat if the trial is in the U.S in or courts or in a military tribunal in Gitmo?
Access to the prisoners and a very large population to threaten.
The difference between people like you and a group that could hijack 4 planes simultaneously, is determination and imagination. They found a way to do the "impossible", while you determinedly find a way to remain oblivious. We've already found out how well that works at Fort Hood.
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shekissesfrogs
November 13, 2009 9:16 PM in reply to shooter242
Is that where they live?
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calbearinillinois
November 13, 2009 4:06 PM in reply to shooter242
You do realize that the SDNY has handled trials for dozens of terrorists over the years, all the major mob trials of the past 2 decades and just about every other type of high profile case you can imagine. Are you really telling me that KSM is more likely to have the ability to impede a fair trial than the Gottis?
We let the Iraqis try Saddam in a public court, too. You don't think the Baathists were more likely to have access to and make use of massive threats to spring him? Yet we did it because having a trial is critical to supporting the rule of law for all. Similarly the ICC and trials of war criminals - you really think Milosovic and Charles Taylor had fewer resources and supporters than these clowns? Yet we didn't throw them under the jail and forget about them.
Either you believe in the rule of law and the Constitution or you don't. That includes the right to a speedy and fair trial, to have counsel and to confront the witnesses and evidence against you. If we don't try these witnesses with the world watching, we reveal ourselves as hypocrites and open ourselves up to be ever more isolated on the world stage. Fortress America was a stupid idea in the 20s and 30s and even more today.
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commie atheist
November 13, 2009 4:20 PM in reply to calbearinillinois
Don't bother trying to use reason on this moron. It's like trying to teach the ABC's to a rutabaga.
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kaylaspop
November 13, 2009 4:07 PM in reply to shooter242
fear-mongering at it's best.
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commie atheist
November 13, 2009 4:19 PM in reply to shooter242
Fuck off, troll. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
November 13, 2009 4:19 PM in reply to shooter242
Lord, what a bunch of pathetic cowards you people are. Don't worry, doggie, the grown-ups will make the bad man go away for you.
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commie atheist
November 13, 2009 4:22 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
I wonder how many times a day shooter needs to have his diaper changed for him?
Hey, shooter, they're bringing Gitmo detainees to the U.S. Oops, there goes another pair of Pampers.
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shekissesfrogs
November 13, 2009 9:02 PM in reply to shooter242
There is nothing to fear, but fear mongering itself.
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rbe1
November 14, 2009 11:44 AM in reply to shooter242
Back to the doghouse with you, you old rascal, shoo now.
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recked55
November 15, 2009 5:12 AM in reply to shooter242
So shooter, you're afraid? Judicial process has to run and hide? Some patriots you kids turn out to be.
Remind me again why John Adams defend Captain Preston after the Boston Massacre? Was he a zoo monkey in your version of events as well?
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calbearinillinois
November 13, 2009 3:54 PM
The notion that a trial will reveal critical methods is just a tired old chestnut that argues for keeping everything secret forever in the name of "national security." No lawyer who has sworn to uphold the Constitution of this country, much less served as the head of the Justice Department, should be able to speak in favor of such an abhorrent idea. Of course, the Federalist Society is a body whose whole purpose is to pervert the Constitution to almost the opposite of what the supporters of ratification actually stood for - so no surprise there. While were at it, let's re-institute the Star Chamber and Inquisition in a combined body with Dick Cheney at its head - oh, wait, we already tried that for the last 8 years.
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kaylaspop
November 13, 2009 4:04 PM
All AGs under the Bush Admin. are suspect.
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benintn
November 13, 2009 4:05 PM
There is something profoundly troubling about an Attorney General of the United States who'd be willing to sacrifice American law, values, and justice for the sake of protecting us from some unknown threat.
Isn't the role of the Executive to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?
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commie atheist
November 13, 2009 4:26 PM in reply to benintn
It's all political grandstanding. Everything Obama does is bad, wrong and dangerous. Everything the Bushies did was righteous, moral, and protected America from the terra-ist menace. Period. There is no middle ground when you are trying to prevent your failed ideology and craptacular political viewpoint from slipping into irrelevance.
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AdAbsurdum
November 13, 2009 7:02 PM in reply to commie atheist
This is beyond grandstanding and their stonewalling of everything Obama. This in an all-out attack against a process that will undermine everything they have stood for these past eight years.
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LeeJo
November 13, 2009 5:36 PM
Trials in the American Courts for those who we believe are responsible for killing thousands of Americans, how shocking!
American justice is something that we should be proud to apply to anyone we are willing to place in jeopardy of loosing their life. If we can not be confident in our courts in the most difficult cases how can we proclaim that other countries, Iraq to mention only one, should establish democracies with independent judicial systems?
I for one applaud this courageous move by the Justice Department. I think they have lived up to their name today.
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Ecclesiastes
November 13, 2009 6:28 PM
Reading this sort of thing makes me SO glad he is no longer a federal judge.
For why he never should have been Attorney General, see http://sanityfringe.blogspot.com/2007/09/another-moral-idiot-for-attorney.html
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Michael A
November 13, 2009 9:36 PM
Oh, this guy is such a tool. He used to allegedly be a judge??? No classified information will be revealed in public. It is kept underwraps and sealed. There is no way anything will get out that is classified, including the torture, if the government doesn't want it to get out. How many terrorist trials have occurred? Many. How much classified information got leaked? Except from repukes for political purposes, none. Pathetic.
These repukes are such fools and liars.
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stevelaudig
November 14, 2009 11:39 AM
From the man who disgraced himself by shilling for Bush. The next closest comparison to Mukasy is Roy Marcus Cohn.
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rbe1
November 14, 2009 11:42 AM
Boy am I glad this dork isn't still in office. What a great choice he was, a guy (I assume) who doesn't believe in due process, appointed to the highest law enforcement office in the United States.
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New Orleans
November 14, 2009 1:07 PM in reply to rbe1
Enough of the insults. The issue is much too obvious.
On the one hand, there are those who seem to believe all-powerful terrorists are restraining themselves only because their cohorts are in Cuba; perhaps that is true, but I doubt the bums are so lacking in imagination. On the other hand, there are those who seem to believe victory lies in dealing with criminals fairly and in full public view.
Myself, I am tired of being scared of bogey men. It is far better to return these criminals to the scene of the crime, making a powerful statement that civilized people believe in justice applied fairly and without prejudice. If that falls beyond our ability, we will have doomed our Constitution and beliefs to the dustbins of history.
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New Orleans
November 14, 2009 1:08 PM in reply to rbe1
Enough of the insults. The issue is much too obvious.
On the one hand, there are those who seem to believe all-powerful terrorists are restraining themselves only because their cohorts are in Cuba; perhaps that is true, but I doubt the bums are so lacking in imagination. On the other hand, there are those who seem to believe victory lies in dealing with criminals fairly and in full public view.
Myself, I am tired of being scared of bogey men. It is far better to return these criminals to the scene of the crime, making a powerful statement that civilized people believe in justice applied fairly and without prejudice. If that falls beyond our ability, we will have doomed our Constitution and beliefs to the dustbins of history.
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rbe1
November 14, 2009 1:38 PM in reply to New Orleans
Enough of which insults ? I call them as I see them. You can do the same. End of story.
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ojim
November 14, 2009 10:41 PM
i applaud the fact that obama and holder are going to try this in US courts. if they fail, it will be because of the bush administration fuckups.
i cant wait for the congressional investigations about the things that will surely come to light during this. i was waiting for obama to grow a pair but it looks like he has outfoxed the bushies. anything that comes up in sworn testimony is just that, sworn testimony. the feds can act upon anything that comes to light. no need to get permission from anybody.
can you say 'special prosecutor appointed by congress?' i sure can.
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recked55
November 15, 2009 5:22 AM in reply to ojim
Indeed. Be sure to hear Holder speak on this subject, compare his presence to that of Mukasey.
The rhetoric of the right scarely merits attention any more, small government, fiscal responsibility, patriotism. Feh. The battle for the identity of the U.S. began ten months ago. Hunker down.
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Leftflank
November 14, 2009 11:37 PM
Obama & Co. apparently come from behind again. The bushwads have told so many lies & distorted so much truth that it's all coming back to haunt them. There now against what they were for & vice versa. I guess that's because they don't recall most of it.
Oh yah, there also the biggest pussies on the planet.
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