3 Jan 10: The Obama Administration is treating the “Christmas Day Bomber” as a criminal rather than an enemy combatant. It has been reported that he provided some useful information about current terrorist operations when the interrogation started (including the existence of “a long line of others like me”). Unbelievably, early in the interrogation, he was read his “Miranda rights,” including his right to remain silent and his right to a lawyer. At that point, he stopped giving any information and was given a lawyer.
Although one issue is how this bomber got on the plane in the first place, the larger issue is how he is being treated in custody. He could have been held as an “enemy combatant,” who would not even be entitled to rights under the Geneva Convention. Instead, he is being treated as a criminal with all the rights of a U.S. citizen in a U.S. court. The government tells us that it can still get information from him through the plea bargaining process – it can “entice him to tell us what he knows by giving him leniency” in exchange for information. It is incredible that the nation’s anti-terrorist strategy now calls for getting information by making plea bargaining offers. What information are we not getting now? Time is of the essence. We need information now to stop more terrorist attacks and save American lives.
As your U.S. Representative in Washington, I will work to bring back sanity into the actions that the United States takes to combat terrorism. Giving terrorists the rights of U.S. citizens is a deadly strategy.