Published in the New York Post on November 16, 2009
As he flew to Asia on Saturday, President Obama told the media in Alaska that he opposes a congressional investigation into the Fort Hood massacre, saying that we must "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into political theater."
Yet, even as he was posturing against political theatrics, he had just decided that the prosecution of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would proceed on the greatest of public stages -- New York City.
With the strict evidentiary rules in force in federal civilian courts, it is easy to see how the prosecution of Mohammed could morph into an indictment of the Bush administration's interrogation techniques and waterboarding. As in rape trials, the magnitude of the underlying crime (masterminding the 9/11 attacks) might well be lost as the defense puts the victim (in this case, the government) on trial.
It is not political theater itself to which Obama objects -- but theater that highlights issues that liberals would rather forget. He is quite content to let the Mohammed trial become the theater of the left. Perhaps even eager.
Obama and his handlers know that the key to building favorable ratings is to control the agenda.
And the more the national discussion centers on national security and terrorism, the more Republicans gain. So the Fort Hood terror attack comes at an awful time for an administration trying to turn the nation's attention away from the terrorist threat.
As soon as the killing spree was over, Obama hastened to call it "an act of violence" -- obscuring the obvious fact that it was the most serious terror attack on US soil since 9/11. And, as evidence mounts that the FBI was on to Major Nidal Malik Hasan for years, the president is doing his best to stop Congress from finding out why these warnings went unheeded.
Even as Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee confirmed that the government knew of 10 to 20 e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam in Yemen -- who was urging the killing of American troops -- starting last December, Obama hastened to urge Congress to refrain from investigating why the danger signs were ignored.
The Obama administration has a clear agenda here:
1) Stop people from focusing in how his administration permitted the worst domestic terror attack in eight years.
2) Avoid a national airing of how liberal policies -- restraints on the intelligence community, political correctness in the armed forces -- might have inhibited the military from reining in Hasan.
3) Re-ignite a firestorm on the left and abroad against the aggressive anti-terror policies of the Bush administration.Making all this particularly important for Obama are his other political needs.
As he likely decides to send more troops to Afghanistan and eyes abandoning the "public option" to secure Senate passage of his health-care plan, Obama has to rebuild his credibility on the left.
A public circus that focuses on waterboarding and interrogations could be just what he wants and needs.
1 comment:
The Constitution is NOT a living and breathing document! IT IS a contract constructed for the citizens, giving their government the right to govern them. Subject to interpretation only, by the people, for the people, not its government. If we the people find the government stepping outside its powers, or unfairly executing laws set by the legislative of the contracted government. The Constitution contains rights to the citizens to present their understanding and interpretation of the contract to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court then must in best conscious, judge the meaning of set contract between the government and its citizens. And not the times or impact it may have on the nation. Our federal government is not governing us set by our Constitution. It has set laws that are preventing us our right to pursue happiness proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence.
I fear that 20 out of 28 and possibly more grievances the 13 colonies’ Representatives had towards King George and the British Parliament in 1776 are now and have been perpetrated by our own government against us, and other sovereign countries. Turning into the very Tyrant we have fought so hard to be freed from. Our federal government have hindered our “unalienable Rights” and portrayed us negatively in world view. In some ways have publicly criticized the citizens of the United States of America and falsely conveyed, in most part the honorable beliefs and intentions of this country’s citizens.
It is now time to revolt by using the best weapon our founding fathers gave us, the right to vote. I say vote out all persons in the federal government, and elect all those whom have the courage to represent us that have never held a public office before. I believe we must do this now before they obfuscate any more of our rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution, and before any more offences take place.
I repeat, the Constitution is NOT a live and breathing document. IT IS a contract constructed for us, the citizens of The United States of America. Please read the statements written by our most courageous statesmen on 1776 in our Declaration of Independence. I hope you too, agree with these observations.
Post a Comment