ON MIRANDA RIGHTS FOR RADICAL ISLAMISTS, AND OTHER NONSENSE

by Fred Edwards

Jan. 29, 2010 — Throughout much of history, spies were shot upon discovery or sometimes hanged after a trial. In America’s far west in the 19th and early 20th century, cattle rustlers were often hung from the nearest tree. Now, in the 21st century, we are treating radical Islamist killers like they are innocent until proved guilty. Hence, five men charged with masterminding the 9/11 attacks, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, are to be tried by a civilian court.

On top of that, consider the lap bomber of last Christmas, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. According to AP accounts, he ended up being treated like a traffic violator. The interrogation started smoothly enough when U.S. Customs agents and local police took him off the airplane and to the hospital. He openly admitted that he had tried to blow up the plane, but then things turned sour. Agents from the FBI’s Detroit office were called in. Abdulmutallab readily informed them that he was from al Qaeda in Yemen. Under an exception to the Miranda ruling, they questioned him for 50 minutes without warning him about self-incrimination. Later, in order to make his statements admissible, another team of FBI interrogators gave him his Miranda warning, and he virtually shut up.

Why was this a sour turn of events? Because the FBI is concerned primarily with law enforcement — getting a conviction in court after a crime. Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated by a team concerned with national security — preventing future terrorist acts. He needed to be grilled as long as necessary about impending threats, about al Qaeda operational matters, and about other intelligence items critical in our war against radical Islamists.

In an article in the January 25th issue of National Review, Andrew C. McCarthy explains why the criminal justice system is the wrong avenue of handling radical Islamists. Look at what happens if a prisoner gets an attorney and a civilian trial.

• The lawyer will advise him not to speak unless prosecutors agree to drop charges, or not to use his statements against him, or to promise him a minimum-security “country-club” jail, or maybe even to deport him to his native country.

• The lawyer will tell him to demand various comforts and benefits in exchange for cooperation.

• In a capital case, the lawyer may tell him to cooperate only if prosecutors agree to drop the death penalty.

As McCarthy says, “Once you accommodate a defendant on anything, the psychological ground shifts. He realizes that he is in control.” That’s playing right into the enemy’s hand.

Once a radical Islamist is consigned to the criminal justice system, little chance remains of gathering intelligence or interrogating him. When he realizes he doesn’t have to tell investigators anything, he simply waits for a bail hearing. In preparation for the trial, officials are concerned with subpoenas, and motions, and even with committing their resources to get him information he can use to beat the charges. It’s no wonder that, when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan, he said, sure, he’d talk, in New York with his lawyer.

There is no reason that enemy combatants must be immediately turned over to the criminal justice system, or turned over at all. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set a precedent in 1942 when he sent eight captured Nazi saboteurs before a military commission. The Supreme Court decided, in Ex parte Quirin, that “Lawful combatants are subject to capture and detention as prisoners of war by opposing military forces. Unlawful combatants are likewise subject to capture and detention, but in addition they are subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals for acts which render their belligerency unlawful. Six of the saboteurs were executed in days, not unlike cattle rustlers. Roosevelt understood the kind of war we were fighting. Do members of today’s administration, such as Attorney General Eric Holder, understand today’s war?

Source: Crosshairs - Military Matters in Review at www.milmat.net by Fred Edwards. Used By Permission

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