Unpatriotic Rhetoric

From Republicans

Republican attacks on President Obama's national security and counter-terrorism policies are both hypocritical and wrong. By just wanting to hurt Obama politically, they make the US look weak, and that only emboldens the terrorists. Republicans fail to mention that Obama has killed twice as many terrorists as Bush II, promotes the assassination of terrorists, stepped up Predator [drone] attacks, improved attitudes toward America in the Muslim world, and taken away a key advertising point of al Qaeda, i.e., the use of torture. By leaving out vital truths in their accusation, like the 40 minute interrogation period in which the underpants bomber sang like a Jay Bird before being Mirandized, Republicans are actually helping the terrorists and harming the US with misleading scurrilous rhetoric in the face of what is the truth. It is not complicated -- to be patriotic is to support the President in a time of war. Al Qaeda can hear us. We can't appear divided now. We can't let the world think our Commander- in- Chief lacks Americans' support. We can't show weakness. It’s therefore quite simple - Republicans, in order to obtain political clout, are helping our enemies in unparalleled magnitude.

Three years ago Ed Koch (former Mayor of New York City and US Congressman) wrote a column defending George W. Bush, insisting that criticism of the White House might undermine our security. Throughout the Bush/Cheney era, this was as common as the sunrise. Dissent was equated with disloyalty. Prominent conservatives would casually threw around words like "treason," "traitor," "fifth columnists," and "Tokyo Rose" comparisons. In his capacity as the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer went so far as to warn Americans that they "need to watch what they say." Now Republicans are doing that same thing to Obama in much more virulent attacks. Dissent and debate is always healthy, but what liberals said about Bush was true, and what conservatives are saying about Obama is not. Republicans and their far-right allies really are trying to undermine American leadership during a crisis, but in our free society, they're allowed to do that. Nevertheless, along with free speech comes responsibility, and there is no more critical time to be responsible, or at least honest, than in time of war.

Republicans in Congress are seeking to humble, embarrass and, if they can, destroy the President and the prestige of his position as the Commander-in-Chief responsible for the safety of US military forces and the nation's defenses. Here are examples.

1. An Advertising Gift. Terrorists are currently exploiting Republican Congressional comments as a replacement for their lead billboard recruiting poster that used to be “torture.” Now they are publicizing a divided government on defense, security, and anti-terrorism.

2. Key Security Posts Go Unfilled. Republican Congressmen are endangering national security, making the nation more vulnerable to attack by blocking nominees to key security posts. Important intelligence posts were empty when Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a Nigerian terrorist, attempted to bomb a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas Day. Top positions of both intelligence agencies within the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security were empty because Republican senators refuse to let a vote be held on these highly capable people. Republicans have also prevented the Senate from confirming a permanent boss at the Transportation Security Administration, the agency in charge of airline safety.

3. Damaging Criticism of Christmas Day Terrorist Intelligence. After the Detroit-bound plane landed, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents interrogated Abdulmutallab and obtained intelligence. He was read his Miranda rights after forty minutes of interrogation. During that time Abdulmutallab sang like a Jay Bird, yet Senator Mitch McConnell, leaving out that important part, trashed the American intelligence community and the Justice Department, saying, "only the GOP can protect you from the horror of terror.” The initial questioning of Abdulmutallab was done prior to Mirandizing him under a public-safety exception allowed by courts enacted under the Bush II administration. Further, Abdulmutallab has been providing information in recent days after the US flew relatives of his to the US. With persuasion from his family Abdulmutallab is providing leads about the Yemeni cleric tied to Detroit, the Fort Hood shooter, and even 9/11. If harsh interrogation techniques had been employed from the outset, intelligence analysts are certain the US would never have gotten the intelligence that Abdulmutallab is now providing or that his family would have ever have cooperated. So open have been the Republican attacks that the administration was forced to secretly brief Congress on this turn of events. While sworn to secrecy, someone in Congress leaked this intelligence to the press. Republicans were then quick to turn on Obama for releasing sensitive intelligence before retaliatory actions could be carried out in Yemen. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair then lashed out at how politicized the government's handling of the Christmas bombing plot had become, saying the debate has not been "particularly good" for intelligence and law enforcement officials trying to keep the country safe.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. practice has been to arrest and detain under criminal civil law terrorist suspects who are apprehended in the U.S. This is consistent with the Bush administration’s approach. The criminal-justice system has been used to convict more than 300 people on terror-related charges since 9/11. Richard Reid, a British citizen, who was arrested in December 2001 for attempting to ignite a shoe bomb on a flight from Paris to Miami, was advised of his right to remain silent and to consult with an attorney within five minutes of being removed from the plane at Boston's Logan International Airport (after it had been diverted there). Now Reid is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. Advising Abdulmutallab of his Miranda rights and granting him access to counsel only proves the federal justice system works and cannot be used as the poster child for al Qaeda recruitment. Even if Abdulmutallab had been declared an enemy combatant, the government’s ability to deny him an attorney would not have been possible under federal law. There is no court-approved system currently in place in which suspected terrorists captured inside the United States can be detained and held without access to an attorney. Every felonious Congressional Republican attack on this issue is not only wrong; it continues to hand terrorists a bonanza of propaganda.

4. Administration Actions against Terrorists Criticized. Obama has approved the killing of terrorists with his stepped up anti-terrorist secret campaign for those out of the country working with the terrorists. Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, said in a meeting with members of Congress on Feb 3, 2010, “If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that [take them out],” confirming reports that the US government's intelligence community is targeting terrorists, including US citizens who are abroad for possible assassination. The Administration’s prime suspect, thanks to the effective interrogation of Abdulmutallab, is American born Anwar al Awlaki, a former Imam from Falls Church Virginia. Al Awlaki is the cleric that was known to have communicated with US Army Major Hassan and Abdulmutallab. Yet Republican Representative Peter Hoekstra (R., Michigan) criticized the policy. Hoekstra threw up a road block, apparently just because it was an Obama policy, by declaring, "There is no clarity...what is the legal framework?"

5. Torture and Harsh Interrogation Techniques. The Obama administration has determined that torture doesn’t work and it is even detrimental to America because the intelligence often turns out to be wrong and it gives terrorists a ready issue for recruitment of potential terrorists. Obama has decided that if we torture, we are no better than the terrorist. But despite intelligence professionals supporting many superior ways to get intelligence from suspects, Republicans continue to say Obama is weak on terrorist suspects because he’s not dealing with them the Dick Cheney way - waterboarding, sleep deprivation, protracted periods of cold, and long periods in stressful positions. Republicans have found it easy to blot out how the Bush administration declassified every morsel of information from the mouths of tortured captives to justify the Iraq war. To the point Republicans have found it easy to blot out how Ibn al Sheikh al-Libi’s forced confession produced a nonexistent link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, a false confession that helped lead America down the path to an unnecessary war. And Republicans have found it easy to blot out how Abu Zubaydah told a military tribunal that he made up stories in order to get interrogators to stop the torture. Republicans have found it easy to blot all that out and to help Americans rewrite (or forget) recent history that would cast Republican support for this dark period in American history in a very unflattering way. Republicans need to stop putting American values down the same toilet along with al Qaeda’s twisted demonic values.

Americans must not stand for Republicans emboldening terrorists. It’s high time we called Republicans on it when they forget that they condemned Americans who criticized Bush war policies only a few years ago and reminded us then that it was endangering our troops and our safety. We need to remind them now that by placing politics above security, they are endangering all Americans.