Courting The Terrorist Vote
By Judson Cox (01/01/04)
I am disappointed by the Democrats. They can usually be counted on for great Machiavellian strategies that give political junkies fodder for study and debate; this time they are just peddling liberal hate. Democrats are usually more pragmatic in election strategy. Consider Presidents Carter and Clinton, the only two democrats to win a presidential election since 1968, liberals who ran as southern conservatives.
The Democratic machine, the triangulators, backroom dealers and dog waggers have been rendered impotent in this election. Democratic presidential candidates are jumping up their own rectums to appear more rabid than Howard Dean. They reverse long held positions, claim they didn't understand the ramifications of voting for the war and compete to whip up apoplectic Bush haters with creative insults. After months of debates, few people know their positions, but we know they hate President Bush.
Democrats have been driven insane by hatred; how else can you explain Dean's statement that the capture of Saddam Hussein doesn't make America safer? Hussein twice went to war with America, waged war against our allies, attempted to assassinate an American President and actively funded terrorism against the United States; his capture makes America, the Middle East, his own people and the world safer.
The most ridiculous manifestation of Democratic irrationality is in regard to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The enemy combatants held at Guantanamo are terrorists, members of Al Qaeda, homicidal maniacs whose goal is to kill Americans. They are not protected by the Geneva Convention, nor do they fall under American criminal law. However, due to their intelligence value, they are treated as prisoners of war. They are fed, given medical care, allowed to exercise and even provided Islamic chaplains. By law and reason, they are treated far better than they deserve, the Democrats don't see it that way.
Gen. Wesley Clark
I think they should be tried. I think we should convene an international court like the international criminal court. Not as prisoners of war, but give them lawyers and put them on trial. ("Clark says Guantanamo Bay detainees should face international court trials", Associated Press, December 2, 2003)
Gov. Howard Dean
Military tribunals that fail to protect the basic rights of the accused lessen our moral credibility in the eyes of the world. (Arab American Institute Presidential Debate, October 18, 2003)
Sen. John Edwards
They never see a lawyer, never see a judge, never get a hearing. These things violate the very heart and soul of this country. (Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate in Iowa, November 24, 2003)
Sen. John Kerry
John Ashcroft has designated American citizens as "enemy combatants," and has incarcerated them indefinitely without charging them with a crime, without allowing them to appear in court, without allowing them to consult with counsel or communicate in any way with the outside world. John Kerry believes citizens should have the right to a lawyer and that foreign citizens should be given the right to hearings to determine their status. (John Kerry Press Release, December 1, 2003)
Sen. Carol Moseley Braun
The secret detentions, what's happening in Guantanamo, it's been a nightmare. (Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate in Iowa, November 24, 2003)
International courts often give Islamic terrorists light sentences, and do not allow for capital punishment. Exile to France may be a fate worse than death, but I am sure if the fate of these terrorists was put to a vote, most Americans would reinstitute public hanging. That the Democrats think this is a winning political strategy causes me to question their sanity. That they would have them tried in U.S. courts and provided with defense attorneys worries me even more. Imagine Mark Geragos or Johnnie Cochran parading Richard Reid before the television cameras and Judge Ito. If the shoe bomb does not fit, you must acquit.
Such trials would enable terrorists to recruit new members and communicate with each other, and would convince terrorists that they could look forward to comfortable jail cells, with cable television, three meals a day and law libraries in which to study their "rights." That the Democratic Presidential candidates would support such a plan causes me to question their patriotism. In this one regard, couldn't they place the good of their country above their political aspirations? The election of Dean, or his increasingly similar competitors, would certainly not make America any safer.
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