Barack Obama

Andrew McCarthy: No Compromise on Enemy Combatants; We’re winning because we should be winning

Andrew McCarthy writes in the National Review Online this afternoon:

This is how we ought to think about rumors swirling around that the Obama administration is looking for a deal on enemy combatants and that some GOP types are listening. The compromise would be: KSM gets a military commission, but Republicans agree to close Gitmo and bring the combatants to stateside federal prisons.

This would be a terrible sell-out of our national security. It would also be unnecessary. The American people strongly support military commissions for enemy combatants — not for all terrorism cases, but for all unlawful alien enemy operatives who have no right to be tried in our civilian courts and for whom Congress has authorized military commissions.

We are winning on enemy combatants. We are winning on the fact that they should be treated like war prisoners and tried, if at all, by military commission. We are winning on the fact that they should not be Mirandized but should be detained without trial and interrogated as war prisoners. We are winning on the fact that Gitmo is a fine facility and a far better place to detain and try terrorists than any detention center in the United States. We are winning on these issues not because we are more politically savvy, but because our policies on these matters are the right ones. … READ THE REST

Keep America Safe Statement In Response To President Obama’s New Role In The KSM Debate

Keep America Safe Statement In Response To President Obama’s New Role In The KSM Debate

“We welcome President Obama’s decision to engage on a matter of vital national security. The process by which 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried, and the location of the trial, require the urgent attention of our Commander in Chief.

“We also welcome the administration’s newfound openness to prosecuting KSM in a military commission. Military commissions, which have been used since the beginning of American history, have been authorized by Congress and are the appropriate way to deal with war criminals during wartime. Moreover, they support bedrock principles of international humanitarian law that afford privileges to those who adhere to the laws of war. Rewarding those who savagely target civilians with all the rights and privileges of American citizens in our civilian courts incentivizes them to continue attacking civilians.

“An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of Americans believe that captured terrorists should be treated as enemy combatants and face military justice. They are right and it’s time for President Obama to start listening to the American people.”

Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol and Debra Burlingame
Board of Directors
Keep America Safe