Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Conservatives Quiet After Saying Civilian System Couldn't Handle Underwear Bomber

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2012, 11:58AM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called "underwear bomber," was sentenced to life in prison Thursday following his trial in federal court. Two years ago, Republicans insisted trying Abdulmutallab in federal court was a terrible idea.

There was a time when the circumstances surrounding Abdulmutallab's arrest were part of a lengthy national debate about the best way to handle terrorism cases. There were letters, television appearances and press releases calling on the Obama administration to reverse its position and send Abdulmutallab into the military tribunal system due to perceived weaknesses in the civilian court system.

Now that he's locked up for life, it's pretty much radio silence. A search for press releases mentioning Abdulmutallab from members of Congress this week turns up just one, from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who said the sentence 'demonstrations that our federal court system is fully capable of bringing terrorist to justice."

Still it's worth revisiting just what critics of the civilian court system predicted. Some examples:

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Kit Bond

Kit Bond Heads To K Street

Ryan J. Reilly | January 4, 2011, 12:39PM

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO)

Outgoing Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO) is becoming a partner at Thompson Coburn LLP, where he'll advise clients on issues including international trade, biotechnology, agriculture, cyberlaw and transportation, the firm said in a statement.

Bond will also consult with clients to bring economic development and job opportunities to Missouri, and he'll work from both Missouri and Washington, D.C.

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Guantanamo

Conservatives Pounce On Judge's Order To Free Gitmo Detainee

Justin Elliott | March 24, 2010, 11:12AM

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

In recent days, hawkish conservatives have seized on the case of a Guantanamo detainee who was ordered freed by a federal judge this week after a years-long saga in which the detainee was reportedly tortured by American interrogators.

U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson on Monday ordered the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was once dubbed the "highest value detainee" by a top Pentagon official.

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Najibullah Zazi

GOPers Who Hit Obama On Xmas Bomber Now Mum On Zazi Guilty Plea

Justin Elliott | February 24, 2010, 11:15AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)

The Republicans who most vociferously blasted the Obama Administration for putting the attempted Christmas bombing suspect through the criminal justice system have apparently been silent on another high-profile terrorism case making its way through the civilian system.

Najibullah Zazi on Monday pleaded guilty in federal court to a plot to detonate explosives in the New York subway system. The government says that Zazi, a legal resident from Afghanistan, got training in 2008 from al Qaeda in Pakistan, and was motivated by anger over civilian deaths in his home country.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

The Obama-GOP Miranda Showdown: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 11:12AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan (inset)

On close scrutiny, this week's intense debate over Miranda rights for Umar Abdulmutallab -- culminating in GOP calls for a top Obama aide to resign -- largely falls apart.

The key point of dispute -- whether four Republican leaders should have assumed that the Christmas bombing suspect had been Mirandized after a phone call from Obama aide John Brennan, in which the GOPers were told that Abdulmutallab was in FBI custody -- is moot in light of the facts of the case.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Cheney, Ridge Pioneered Miranda Attack On Obama

Justin Elliott | February 9, 2010, 3:43PM

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Former Vice President Dick Cheney

It turns out that the criticism surrounding the decision to read Miranda rights to the attempted Christmas bombing suspect didn't originally come from any office-holding Republican.

Rather, it was pioneered by Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney in the days after Christmas, and only later picked up by members of Congress like Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).

With the heated Obama-GOP back-and-forth this week over the Mirandizing of Umar Abdulmutallab, we decided to look back at the facts of what happened, and when critics pounced on the issue.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Top Republicans Don't Dispute They Were Told Xmas Bomber Was Held By FBI

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 4:02PM

National Security Adviser John Brennan with (clockwise from top left) Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

There's a key point in danger of being lost in all the he-said-he-said froth over what Congressional Republicans were told in the hours after the failed Christmas attack: none of the GOP leaders disputes that an Obama aide informed them that suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was being held in FBI custody.

The real dispute is over what flows from that fact. John Brennan, Obama's national security adviser, said on Meet The Press Sunday that he called four Republicans -- Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kit Bond and Reps. John Boehner and Pete Hoekstra -- the night of the attempted Christmas attack.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Are Military Tribunals Really Tougher On Terrorists Than Criminal Courts?

Justin Elliott | February 3, 2010, 1:27PM

Flight 253 bomb attack suspect Umar Abdulmutallab

With the debate over how to handle captured terrorists heating up, it's a good time to look back at the record of how military tribunals have worked in practice, and examine the uninterrogated assumption underlying the debate: that tribunals are tougher on terrorists than the criminal justice system.

A recent study by the liberal Center for American Progress found that in the very few cases of captured terrorists being tried in tribunals, the defendants were given lighter sentences than comparable cases in the criminal justice system.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Bond On Detroit Case: Obama Didn't Learn From Bush's Mistakes

Justin Elliott | January 4, 2010, 12:47PM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)

In a statement to TPMmuckraker, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) elaborates on his position that the Bush Administration made a mistake in not classifying shoebomber Richard Reid as an "enemy combatant" -- and that President Obama is now repeating that mistake in handling Umar Abdulmutallab.

But Bond, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, does not explain why he did not speak out against Bush's handling of Reid at the time.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Bond Spokesperson: Bush Erred In Trying Shoe Bomber As Civilian

Justin Elliott | January 4, 2010, 9:18AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) on Sunday became the latest Republican to criticize the Obama Administration for handling the would-be Christmas day bomber as a civilian, and Bond's communications director added on Twitter that trying shoebomber Richard Reid in federal court was a "mistake."

The comments by Bond, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Fox News Sunday echo calls by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, for Umar Abdulmutallab to be tried in a military tribunal.

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