After Almost Five years, Team Bush Nails an al Qaeda Minor-Leaguer

[Bob Geiger]

How is the Bush administration going to follow-up on their underwhelming takedown of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was just sentenced to six consecutive life terms for his kinda, sorta, maybe involvement in the attacks of September 11? I would suggest that Bush send his Justice Department team to my town and track down the cowardly thugs who toilet-papered my house two Halloweens ago -- that seems the logical next step.

Now before any of you right-wing types send me the usual barrage of hate e-mail -- I'm guessing the operative phrases will be "soft on terrorism" for the reasonably smart and "Osama lover" for the other 99 percent -- let me stipulate for the record that Moussaoui is clearly not a good guy and taking him permanently off the al Qaeda roster is a smart move.

As he left the courtroom after being formally sentenced on six conspiracy counts, Moussaoui said "…God curse America and save Osama bin Laden. You will never get him." Now, if I read between the lines, this means he doesn’t wish us well and it's clear that Moussaoui did not come to the U.S. to settle down and raise a family.

But, after nearly five years, billions of dollars spent, civil liberties curtailed and the entire nation thrown into a red-scare type environment complete with a seemingly-arbitrary, color-coded threat meter, the best we can do is Zacarias Moussaoui?

This guy's a bit player in the terrorist neighborhood. A third-stringer. A pug. A hack. He was the guy the other evildoers would make fun of in terrorist school, smirking behind his back and saying "Hey, Zacarias, let's see your technique for strapping on an explosive belt again" as they rolled on the cave floor in laughter.

In short, this guy is the Shemp of this outfit when, after all this time and trouble, we should have captured Moe, Larry and Curly.

Senator Russ Feingold has been front and center in challenging the Iraq war and the general ineptitude shown by Bush in what the White House very loosely calls the "global war on terror." The Wisconsin Democrat has been the leader in reminding Americans that, in addition to Osama bin Laden still running free and podcasting threats, al Qaeda remains in 60 countries almost five years since Bush pledged to "smoke them out."

“Al Qaeda remains active in 60 countries around the world and continues to recruit, train, and develop new strategies to inflict harm on the United States,” said Feingold in a recent interview. “Extremist organizations are present in another 20 countries and are developing new threats to the United States and our allies. The President needs to realize that his misguided, Iraq-centric policies are draining our military and intelligence capabilities and are undermining our efforts to combat al Qaeda and its allies.”

On May 14, bin Laden will celebrate day 1700 of freedom since our tough-talking president vowed to get him “dead or alive.” And, while we do appear to be killing a fair number of newly-minted enemy combatants in Iraq, we really haven't done squat to get the people who actually attacked us in 2001.

Said Feingold in an Air America interview in December:

"The problem here is that he is so focused on Iraq as if it is the be-all and end-all of all of our national security that he doesn't really understand the challenge before this country. The fight here is against those who attacked us on 9/11 and the president keeps talking about the Iraq situation as if it's the only issue out there. There's some 60 plus countries where Al Qaeda is operating according to our administration and he's so focused on Iraq as if it's the be-all and end-all of our national security that he almost can't see straight."

And so here we sit, four years and eight months after being attacked, $300 billion poorer, over 2,400 military dead and many more wounded for life, the blood of tens of thousands of Iraqis on our hands a world that loved us on September 12, 2001 now hating our guts -- but we nailed the towel boy of the al Qaeda locker room.

Heck of a job, Bushie.

You can reach Bob Geiger at [e-mail] and read more from him at Democrats.com.

[ShortnFiery]

1. Yeah, it's like beating up ...

the Special Education Department instead of the "Truly Evil" components of Al Quaeda's powerful World Wide Network.

This is one time that I'm proud of how our justice system worked. I guess that I'm so jaded that I was convinced that he would have been executed. I'm pleasantly surprised that Zacarias Moussaoui, despite trying like hell, will not be granted Martyrdom.

[Inland]

2. Yeah, but of course, the bushiters learn the wrong lesson from it.

To them, it's just a lesson to not waste time and money by giving people trials and to just put one in the head on the first day.

[pasto76]

3. Excellent point

OK they've killed the "No 2 Al Queada man" about 30 times by now. Im glad we didnt see headlines saying NUMBER 2 AL QUAEDA MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE.

I forget how many prisoners we have in Gitmo. Bout 24,000 in Iraq. I imagine we also have a few thousand in Afghanistan. We are supposed to be impressed by the large numbers, instead of caring the big fish, including the BIGGEST fish, is still on the loose.

SGT PASTO

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Bushco's GWOT: Standing On A Brick To Kick A Duck In The Ass

pathetic.

:evilfrown:

[Up2Late]

5. Here's a link to an excellent analysis by a Law Professor

It was moved to Editorials and other Articles, but it's an excellent rundown on what was (not) achieved.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x208298>

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050401698.html>

(I don't know if this guy is a regular W.Post columnist or not, but he is a law professor at Georgetown University and the author of "Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism." If I could post the rest I would, it's that good.)

How Not to Fight Terrorism

(Washington Post)

By David Cole
Friday, May 5, 2006; Page A19

After four years, numerous appeals, millions of dollars, and a massive investment of government personnel and resources, the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui concluded Wednesday with a life sentence. Many have cited the case as an example of how difficult it is to try terrorists in civilian courts. In fact, it is an object lesson in how the government's overreaching has undermined our security.

Four years ago Moussaoui was on the verge of pleading guilty to offenses that would have resulted in a life sentence. But he was unwilling to accept the government's insistence that he admit to being the 20th hijacker of Sept. 11, 2001 -- an allegation the government has long since dropped.

For almost two years, the case was stalled as the government sought Moussaoui's execution while denying him access to witnesses in its control who had testimony establishing that he was not involved in the Sept. 11 plot at all. Due process has long required the government to turn over such "exculpatory" evidence, but the government, citing national security, refused to afford Moussaoui access to this evidence. In October 2003 the trial court offered a reasonable solution: Allow the trial to proceed but eliminate the death penalty, because that's what the government's exculpatory evidence related to. The government refused that solution and spent several more years trying Moussaoui. The case ended where it began -- with Moussaoui facing life in prison.

Meanwhile, at a secret CIA "black site" prison, the United States is holding the alleged mastermind of Sept. 11, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. And at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it has Mohamed al-Qahtani, who the government now claims is the real would-be 20th hijacker. But the administration can't try either of these men, because any such proceeding would turn into a trial of the United States' own tactics in the war on terrorism. The CIA has reportedly water-boarded Khalid Sheik Mohammed -- a practice in which the suspect is made to fear that he is drowning in order to encourage him to talk. And Army logs report that interrogators threatened Qahtani with dogs, made him strip naked and wear women's underwear, put him on a leash and made him bark like a dog, injected him with intravenous fluids and barred him from the bathroom so that he urinated on himself. With these shortsighted and inhumane tactics, the administration essentially immunized the real culprits, so it was left seeking the execution of a man who was not involved in Sept. 11.

(more at link)

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050401698.html>

[DinahMoeHum]

6. Gotta love this snippet. . .

(snip)
The Moussaoui case is emblematic of the administration's approach to fighting terrorism. It has repeatedly overreached and sought symbolic victories, adopting tactics that have undermined its ability to achieve real security while disregarding less flashy but more effective means of protecting us. In the early days after Sept. 11, Attorney General John Ashcroft sought to reassure us with repeated announcements of the detention of large numbers of "terror suspects" -- ultimately the government admitted to detaining 5,000 foreign nationals in the first two years after Sept. 11. Yet to this day not one of them stands convicted of a terrorist offense. Similarly, the administration launched a nationwide ethnic profiling campaign, calling in 8,000 young men for FBI interviews and 80,000 more for registration, fingerprinting and photographing by immigration authorities, simply because they came from Arab and Muslim countries. Not one of those 88,000 has been convicted of terrorism.
(snip)

Like I've said: "standing on a brick to kick a duck in the ass"

:evilfrown:

[pauldp]

7. But they'll get Osama any day now. I can feel it.

All these conspiracy theorists who say Osama was
a CIA asset on 911 are just bat shit crazy. So what if he
WAS a CIA asset for 15 years prior to 911. We know for a fact
he did a 180 degree turn and became our arch enemy -
because our intelligence agencies told us so.
The fact that his brother was W's business partner is
really just a crazy coincidence and the fact George HW Bush
was sitting with his other brother at the Carlyle Group
on 911 is ALSO just a crazy coincidence. I'm sure George
is spending hours and hours trying to track Osama down despite
his saying that he doesn't spend that much time on him - he obviously
just mis-spoke. And these wacky theories that the Osama confession
tape is a fake are ridiculous. Just because his nose looks
broader and shorter, and his cheeks look lower and fatter,
and his face looks fatter and his lips look thinner,
and he writes with his right hand instead of his left in
the video doesn't mean it's not him. That's absurd. Colin Powell
told us when that tape was released that it should put to rest
all of the speculation about whether Osama did 911.
Colin Powell wouldn't lie. Well, he might lie to a large international body
like the U.N., but he wouldn't lie to us the American people - he's a veteran for God's sake.

Anyway, I'm glad Zacarias Moussaoui is going to rot in jail.
Now the Pentagon can release those 3 amazing angles of the Boeing 757
hitting the building that we've never seen which they've been holding
on to as evidence in the Moussaoui case - which apparently they didn't need
at the trial. That will shut those stupid conspiracy theorists up once and for all.
Then hopefully those idiots will stop questioning the 911 Commission
and we can focus once again on tracking down that sickly cave-dwelling kidney patient.
My gut tells me he is in Iran.

[CJCRANE]

8. Yep, the BFEE

is part of the problem, they've colluded with and manipulated the islamic fundamentalist leaders for decades.