Holder Proudly Says He Made Call to Give Bomb Suspect Miranda Rights

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eric_holder_1Attorney General Eric Holder said today that he made the decision to charge the December 25 terror suspect in civilian court rather than the military system, with no objection from all the other relevant departments of the government.In a letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the attorney general wrote that the FBI told its partners in the intelligence community on December 25 and again the next day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab would be charged criminally.

Holder’s letter was the latest volley in a vigorous counterattack by the Obama administration to Republican charges that the arrest and FBI interrogation of the Detroit suspect was a mistake that cost a chance to learn key information.

The letter followed less than 24 hours after senior administration officials disclosed that the suspect had resumed talking to U.S. interrogators last week after breaking off his discussions the day of his arrest.

Abdulmutallab has discussed his contacts in Yemen and provided intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials say.

Holder said that the possibility of detaining Abdulmutallab in the U.S. military system under the law of war was explicitly discussed in the days following the arrest, including at a Jan. 5 meeting that included President Barack Obama and senior members of the national security team.

“No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued,” the attorney general wrote.

Holder said his decision was consistent with earlier practices followed uniformly in both the Obama and Bush administrations.

“The Bush administration used the criminal justice system to convict more than 300 individuals on terrorism-related charges,” Holder wrote. The attorney general specifically mentioned the case of Richard Reid, who tried but failed to ignite a shoe bomb on a U.S.-bound trans-Atlantic jetliner.

“The practice of the U.S. government followed by prior and current administrations without a single exception, has been to arrest and detain under federal criminal law all terrorist suspects who are apprehended inside the United States,” Holder added.

Holder defended the decision to read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, which has been a focus of the Republican criticism.

FBI Director Robert Mueller testified Tuesday that FBI agents questioned Abdulmutallab until he entered surgery, and that the suspect was not advised of his Miranda right to remain silent until after he emerged from surgery. A federal law enforcement official, requesting anonymity to discuss an ongoing case, said the suspect made clear upon emerging from surgery he was going to stop talking and then was given his Miranda warning.

“Neither advising Abdulmutallab of his Miranda rights nor granting him access to counsel prevents us from obtaining intelligence from him,” wrote Holder “On the contrary, history shows that the federal justice system is an extremely effective tool for gathering intelligence.”

Republican critics have argued that Abdulmutallab could have been declared an enemy combatant and held indefinitely without providing him access to an attorney.

“The government’s legal authority to do so is far from clear,” Holder wrote. He cited a ruling by his Republican predecessor as attorney general, Michael Mukasey, while he was a federal judge, that the Bush administration could not prevent an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla, from speaking to an attorney while he was in military custody.

{Miami Herald/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


8 COMMENTS

  1. Eric Holder’s statement reveals the utter
    incompetence of this administration. Abdulmutallab is an enemy combattant. It is offensive and ridiculous for the Attorney General to grant an enemy combattant rights
    reserved for American citizens. (Waterboarding is not torture. It should be used to get information—not Miranda rights.)

    This guy of course thinks just like his boss—an inexperienced socialist president–who neither understands nor appreciates the American Constitution. Obama and Holder dislike traditional America.

    Holder has a notorious record for his
    disregard for justice. He was the Attorney General who favored pardoning FALN terrorists who had murdered 6 people and wounded several others in the early 1950s.

    Obama, Holder, Napolitano. Who said
    the Three Stooges are no longer among the living? (There’s a whole gang of left-wing
    despots in this administration.)

    It is not coincidental that this same group of left-wingers want to make “toeivah” kosher. People are catching on.

  2. #1

    There’s a lot of hate in your post. Please try and recognize that just because a view clashes with your own does not mean it is illegitimate or that the people espousing those beliefs are bad.

    The rights to trial are not for the American people exclusively. We – as a nation – decided that anyone accused of a crime should have certain rights. The right to provide a defense and have a fair trial is a basic human right. Nationality doesn’t matter. It’s about giving people a fair trial and justice.

    We cannot suspend our morals every time there is an emergency or else it shows that we never valued them that much to begin with.

  3. kol hakavod, let the world see how america operates, even with such terrorists. every human treated like a human once captured. this is the american AND JEWISH way!

  4. #2 “There’s a lot of hate in your post.”

    You’re the one who hates. Focus on the miscreant who planned to blow up an entire passenger plane. I bet you love that terrorist,
    don’t you? But then you must hate the innocent passengers on board the plane who might have been killed.

    “Please recognize that just because a view clashes with your own does not mean it is illegitimate…” I would suggest you become more tolerant and realize that your sympathy for terrorists is misplaced. (Yes, in this country, you’re entitled to your viewpoint. But
    so am I.) Your post is ridiculous. The thug you feel sorry for wouldn’t give you the freedom to talk or to live.

    #3 “Let the world see how America operates–every human treated like a human once captured.” Yes, of course that’s the American and Jewish way. But it is also proper to destoy the enemy before he destroys us–especially an implacable Islamic enemy that targets the innocent and is driven by a crazy
    ideology. (I am not talking about all Muslims; I refer to the Jihad warmongers who kill Jews, Christians and anyone else in their way.)

    Notice we can have an exchange of ideas and opinions. With belligerent Islamists—that is really not possible. That’s the reality. Don’t listen to the biased liberal media CNN & MSNBC. Don’t worry so much about letting “the world see.” We have nothing to prove. It is well-known that freedom is the best system. (But in order for it to endure, we must defend it vigorously not with Miranda rights but with every resource at our disposal. Our lives and honor are at stake
    if we don’t.)

    “We as a nation decided that anyone accused of a crime should have certain rights…” No, you’re wrong. We never decided anything of the sort. Due process is for American citizens, not enemy combattants. With that type of ultra-liberal thinking, we would have lost World War 2 against the Nazis. Guys like you would have been worried that German Nazis were not given their constitutional rights.
    “Nationality doesn’t matter.” It does matter–especially in this case when the other individual, the foreigner, wants to murder Americans. Whose side are you on?

    “We cannot suspend our morals”…So
    why do you suspend your morals? You support the immoral homosexual agenda? That’s why you support this immoral Obama-Holder regime.

    Isn’t it foolish extend Miranda rights
    to Islamist misanthropes who are taught to murder the innocent? These murderers do not discriminate between Jew and Christian, Liberal and Conservative. It is wrong therefore to extend equal Miranda rights to these killers. It is immoral to do so. Such a policy puts this country at risk. The Obama/Holder way weakens our national security.

    Eric Holder should be fired for his
    reckless handling of this case. Janet Napolitano should be fired. (Don’t tell me—“we decided as a nation…” ) Nobody elected these functionaries. What happened at Fort Hood? Remember? Nobody is fired. What happened to security at that army base? You just sit there like sheep and think everything is ok, right? Our borders must be sealed—as a minimal precaution. Yes, bring back the three stooges—Moe, Larry and Curly. They would be far better than Barack, Eric and Emmanuel–the
    Menuvel–pardon my Latin.
    May the Lord have mercy!

  5. It’s not so easy to have a person declared as an enemy combatant.

    If Holder had decided the other way, this critical article would still be here, but now he would be criticized for messing up the whole case by not mirandizing the terror suspect and leading to the dismissal of all charges. That’s what happens when you don’t mirandize someone you should have- they go free. Is that a risk you all really wanted Holder to take?

  6. Doctor Arnold Berger’s hashkofoh on this issue appears to be far, far, far to the right even of Genghis Khan.

    And – as PFC Wintergreen would have said – he is much too prolix.

  7. Dr. Arnolrd Berger. There is no connection between the toeivah movement and the Obama presidency. You sound unwell, please get help.

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