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Obama advisers: Osama would get access to court


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Obama advisers: Osama

would get access to court

McCain campaign seizes on anti-terrorism issue

as Democrat stresses law-enforcement approach

 

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Posted: June 18, 2008

12:05 pm Eastern

 

 

 

 

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WorldNetDaily

 

 

Sen. Barack Obama speaking with reporters on a flight yesterday.

If al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is captured, he should be allowed to appeal his case to U.S. civilian courts, according to Sen. Barack Obama's foreign policy advisers.

 

Sen. John Kerry and former White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke told reporters in a conference call yesterday bin Laden would benefit from last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision giving foreign terrorism suspects the right to appeal their military detention to civilian courts.

 

Clarke, responding to a question from the Washington Examiner, said that if bin Laden were brought back to the U.S., "the Supreme Court ruling holds on the right of habeas corpus."

 

Sen. John McCain's campaign seized on the issue, scheduling its own conference call with reporters to underscore the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's sharp divide with Obama on the issue.

 

McCain's senior foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, insisted bin Laden or the terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have no right appeal in U.S. courts.

 

"The individuals we hold at Guantanamo are very, very dangerous people," Scheunemann said. "To give them full access to the federal courts and the criminal justice system is fraught with danger, moving forward, and likely to make America less safe, unlike Senator Obama's claim of supporting the decision that it made America safer."

 

Kerry, a supporter of the Supreme Court ruling, contended either candidate, if elected, would have to extend those rights.

 

"The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that they have those rights," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "If John McCain were president, he would have to give them those rights."

 

'Put them on trial'

 

Obama, who praised last week' 5-4 Supreme Court decision, suggested in an ABC News interview Monday he would emphasize the civilian prosecution of terrorists rather than military force, pointing to U.S. policy prior to 9/11.

 

 

Sen John Kerry

 

"In previous terrorist attacks – for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center – we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial," he said. "They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated."

 

President Bush's reliance on military prosecution of terrorists, Obama said, has "given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, 'Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.'"

 

ABC's Jake Tapper asked Obama how he could be so sure certain controversial Bush anti-terrorism policies have not protected Americans.

 

Obama said he did not necessarily oppose all the efforts, but "it is my firm belief that we can track terrorists, we can crack down on threats against the United States, but we can do so within the constraints of our Constitution."

 

The McCain campaign's Scheunemann said the Illinois senator has a "September 10th mindset," a "pre-9/11" law enforcement approach to terrorism.

 

"If Sen. Obama did receive that 3 a.m. phone call," he said, referring to a Democratic primary campaign theme, "I guess his response would be to call the lawyers in the justice department."

 

The McCain adviser said Obama's plan to "treat terrorists as nothing more than common criminals demonstrates a stunning and alarming misunderstanding of the threat we face from radical Islamic extremism."

 

Obama's proposed "change," said Scheunemann, would only "take us back to the failed policies of the past and every American should find this mindset troubling."

 

'Osama free because of GOP'

 

Obama immediately reacted yesterday, telling reporters bin Laden remains free partly because of failed Republican policies.

 

The GOP, he said, has no "standing to suggest that they've learned a lot of lessons from 9-11."

 

The Republicans, Obama, charged "helped to engineer the distraction of the war in Iraq at a time when we could have pinned down the people who actually committed 9/11."

 

Kerry responded to the McCain campaign by pointing out its criticism of Obama's anti-terrorism policy position sounds familiar.

 

"This is exactly what they tried to say back in 2004, and the record absolutely contradicts it," he said, referring to his unsuccessful bid for the White House. "This is a completely fraudulent, fear tactic, scare tactic, play to the lowest common denominator strategy by John McCain and his colleagues."

 

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Guest bleeds

(read my response very carefully to get the intended meaning)

 

This only assures that Bin Laden, when finally found, will never be arrested.

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