Thompson: due process for bin Laden
By Steve Benen Monday Sep 10, 2007 1:15pm
Well, I don’t imagine the right is going to care for this at all.
Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson said Monday that while Osama bin Laden needs to be caught and killed, the terrorist mastermind would get the due process of law.
Last week, when bin Laden’s latest tape emerged, Thompson said the terrorist responsible for 9/11 is “more symbolism than anything else.” When that drew some criticism, Thompson adopted a tougher line, saying bin Laden “ought to be caught and killed.”
Today, the actor/lobbyist/politicians sought to clarify, saying he wasn’t suggesting that bin Laden’s death would happen immediately after his capture.
“No, no, no, we’ve got due process to go through” depending on the circumstances, he said. “I’m not suggesting those things happen simultaneously.”
As it turns out, Thompson isn’t the first presidential hopeful to argue publicly that bin Laden deserves due process of law. The first was Howard Dean, four years ago. Of course, when he said that, the right went apoplectic. Will conservatives be equally quick to condemn Thompson? I'm not holding my breath.
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So he should get due process and then be killed... kind of suggests the due process is just a show.
This comment isn't going to win the admiration of the reichwing, lockstep neofascist Republicans, that's for sure. However, it's all water under the bridge already since Freddie doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of becoming the candidate. Just picturing his airhead, juvenile, totally plastic wifey-poo as our First Lady, and it's enough to make someone regurgitate on the spot.
Edwards was saying the same thing--bin Laden should be caught and killed--when I shut off the radio yesterday.
Funny how the U.S. tried the Nazi war criminals...
Like Saddam's due process?
"Saddam will receive a fair trial... then when he is found guilty, he will get the death penalty."
If you wanna kill him, just do it and don't mock us with your "due process".
I think that the latest video release from Bin Laden Productions is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that he is now dead.
"Will conservatives be equally quick to condemn Thompson? I’m not holding my breath"
It's okay if you're a republican!
This guy is going to come apart like a cheap suit. Reagan was a cheap suit that was held together by the Iranians having taken hostages - otherwise, he would have come apart like a ... here it comes ... cheap suit.
Fred is akin to Reagan and like Reagan Fred is as a door nail. No Maciavellian miracle awaits.
Didn't he go on to say that the due process would be what is going on at Gitmo now? And that we should wring out every drop on intelligence we could get before we killed him? I guess he thinks Gitmo is 'due process' now.
On this sixth anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 9/11 has come to symbolize two uniquely American political failings. First, in ritualistic observances around the nation, Americans will come together not in common resolve for shared sacrifice, but to perpetuate a culture of grief. Worse still, secure in his Pakistani safe haven, Osama Bin Laden even at large continues to serve the political purposes of the current and prospective occupants of the White House.
For the details, see:
"9/11, the Politics of Fear and the Culture of Grief."
Due process as defined by the republican standard, I am sure. I guess that means you take him to jail and shoot him rather than shooting him on sight.
At least Fred is mentioning bin Laden. Remember Rudy boasting about how he would throw the switch himself back in 2001/2002?
bush keeps telling us we have bin Laden on the run. That dude has been running for six years now. Where do you suppose he buys his running shoes?
Hot damn. Apoplectic is going to be my word of the day. I wonder how many times I can work it into conversation.
Surge for Thompson
Rasmussen Thompson 28, Giuliani 21
The whole point about due process is that it's applied despite anyone's opinion about whether the accused "deserves" it or not.
Osama Bin Laden died in 1999. I can't prove this. But it seems that no one can prove he lived to see 2000.
pissed off patricia @ 12:
Probably the same place he bought the boot polish he used to darken his beard.
Thompson just doesn't have the pizazz that he needs to be a "good" politician. He thinks he can get by on his history of being a good old talkin' boy actor. That's not enough to win the independents and certainly no serious dems. The poor repubs have to pick the best of the worst to vote for.
The new pic of bin Laden makes him resemble Saddam.
I can't wait for Karl Rove to weigh in. I imagine it will go something like this...
"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; Fred Thompson saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer due process of law for our attackers."
Thompson will likely be the Repug nominee because 1) Rudy is a freak in a dress; 2) Mitt is a Mormon freak willing to adopt any position to get elected; 3)McCain has become a senile freak; 4) Thompson provides the base with a fleeting reminder of The Gipper.
But Thompson will lose to anyone the Demos put up because of his trophy wife (America actually cares about the first lady and I believe Theresa Heinz and her accent helped doom Kerry), his lobbying for terrorists, his lobbying in general, and the fact he'll probably get run over in debates by either Hillary, Obama, Edwards, or my favorite... Algore!
j @ 1:
Bingo.
Spoken like a hanging judge from the Old West: "We'll give the dastardly reprobate a fair trial, then hang him."
Everybody gets due process and fair treatment before the law. Except Scooter Libby. And the military officers who ran Abu Ghraib.
Are we liberals running from the concept of due process?
What has happened to our country?
I thought Mormons only adopted the missionary position.
Freddie knows all about "due process." He used to say "due process" all the time on the tee vee.
Judge Roy Bean strikes again.
He can't seem to get out of the "District Attorney" role he plays on Law and Order.
If a neocons is willing to give OBL due process, then what about the thousands of other prisoners we've imprisnoned and tortured, that were denied this?
ysbaddaden @ 26:
Damn - that's just what I was thinking. At least Fred got to marry his Lily Langtree...
Hey Fred, your moonshine's boiling over.
Here's an interesting thing I noticed when I followed the link on Howard Dean. It took me to NRO, and there was an ad alongside the editorial, for an "editorial series" or something. The title was "Jimmy carter: Worst Ever".
Wow. They must really be getting worried about Junior's legacy, if they're reaching THAT far back to soften the ground for his inevtable hard landing.
It's pretty funny.
Taarak @ 29:
And here I thought it twere hang tree.
Weren't both Clinton and Kerry ridiculed for wanting to handle terrorism as a criminal offense?
Caught, killed, due process. In that order.
Sentence, then verdict.
Twinkle, twinkle little bat. That's very important.
pissed off patricia @ 12:
Osama works as a night shift janitor at the US Army PX outside Kabul. Uses his employee discount to buy Adidas, Raybans, toupees, Tylenol and ammo.
ysbaddaden @ 32:
From the 1940 movie "The Westerner"...
"String 'em up!"
"But he's already dead?"
"We hang horse theives...That's my rule'n!"
Biggus Diggus @ 21:
I disagree, Republics ONLY hold Moral Outrage against Democrats...
If Fred wanted to marry a trophy wife younger then his daughter, no biggee with the base, cause she's not a Foriegner, like TH Kerry was?
All they care about is Fred is SORT OF LIKE Ronnie, if they cross their eyes and squint really hard..
Oh, and the southern drawl...
It's the requirement for winning down south, if you're a Republic.....
Due process? Screw that. Where's Dirty Harry when you need him.
While Thompson (a total fraud) would apply "due process", Willard Mitt (a true Fraud) Romney would act far more dramatically and in keeping with history:
Should the absentee ex-governor capture bin laden, he'd place him in a dog cage on his roof rack and take the family on another hot summer vacation.
Talk of due process would be so much more meaningful if the Bush Administration hadn't been laying waste to the Constitutional protections that are part and parcel of it.
And if Osama is still alive, they'll probably want to sweat him for a few years, so they can continue to trot out warnings of 'actual plots' as they have with abu-ZippityDooDah.
Catch that asshole and make him rebuild the WTC with his bare f*cking hands and a rickety ladder. Then duct-tape his sorry ass to the nose of 747 and fly it (via remote control) straight it into the nearest building slated for demolition.
But, yeah, by all means give him his due process beforehand.
Before we can sic Sam Waterson and Diane Neil on Osama, you have to catch him first. And then deliver a mighty beat down for resisting arrest. Off the record, of course.
Anthology @ 23:
Erm, aside from one or two, I think just about every comment here was diametrically opposed to the attitude you seem to think they have.
I believe absolutely in applying the mechanisms of justice to terrorists, child abusers, and anyone else who revolts us so intensely that it's almost impossible to imagine anything but revenge - it's whether or not we apply the same standards across the board that determines how civilised we are. Of course, both the UK and the US justice systems leave a great deal to be desired, but we can at least keep on tweaking them towards impartiality.
Will that be on the CSI Law & Order, or the CSI Special Victims show?
At 00:35
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2180195301614126964
Joementum @ 41:
Not gonna happen. He died before 2001. There would've been no need for scratchy Edison cylinder recordings and amateur videos all these years, if he was still with us. The man liked to be video taped.
Consider that most of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia and their funding came from Saudi Arabia, doesn't it seem strange that a man in a cave in Afghanistan pulled this off?
Will conservatives be equally quick to condemn Thompson?
Given that the rightwingnuts have overlooked pedophilia when Republicans do it, they'll overlook anything said or done by their masters. I have always wondered what mental steps a rightwinger goes through when they hear a politician has done something wrong. It is something like; OMG, so-and-so politician did such a horrible thing. He needs to be punished to the fullest extent possible. Wait, what, he's a Republican? Never mind.
There's no way in hell the neo-criminals would ever let OBL be captured as that would give him the chance to tell all he knows. Besides, Bin Laden is most likely dead.
Weaseldog @ 28:
That's what I want to know. Where's the due process for Padilla or any of the other Guantanamo detainees. I don't think Thompson has any idea what due process is.
I support Due Proccess for the war criminals of the bush administration. But I probably won't cry if they don't get it.
I've heard reports that in this latest OBL video, when OBL references current events, the video freezes, so there's no telling if the speaker is really OBL or not. It might be a recycled video that has been dubbed.
Smack_dab @ 50:
The CIA is not going to publish a technical analysis on the video.
No one that might be trustworthy, will be authenticating it. Who might I think is qualified and trustworthy enough, you may ask? Perhaps the UN? It wouldn't hurt to get testimony from his family members.
I wonder though, how did the CIA get a copy, and Al Jazeera didn't?
Fred has a good chance at the republican nomination-not necessarily because of anything he has to say,but because he's good at setting his jaw with firm resolve.
You can't be president unless you can make that face.
People is so extra super stupid. He said 'Do Prosess'. That is the method of getting your hair pulled so tight that your ass squeaks like a Republican.
Taarak @ 37:
During the Inquisition they burned the corpses found to be heretics after they've died.
I hear tell, that after the Commonwealth, and during the Restoration, Cromwell's corpse was disinterred and beheaded.
pinkobait @ 52:
This one?
http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/b/40_image/bhor.jpg
Maybe Thompson can help the American people make sense of all of this....
--> the Osama bin Laden and Bush family Connections
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/09_18_01_bushbin.html
Maybe Thompson can help to solve the Iraq war fiasco and speak to this...
--> In the Summer 2003 AIPAC is busted spying on the US for Israel through a mole in the DOD who were connected to Perle and Feith's office which met with Israeli generals. The mole Larry Franklin was a member of the OSP and was in Italy with Michael Ledeen when they passed off the Niger forgeries to the British.
Incidently the AIPAC court case keeps getting new hearing dates...
It appears the Media is Sabotaging the AIPAC Spy Trial.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/gsmith.php?articleid=10853
Maybe Thompson can get to the bottom of this....
--> On Septemebr 11, 2001 police arrest Israeli Mossad agents filming and cheering the 911 attack.
The FBI releases the Israelis and the evidence linking them to the attacks is Classified. ( fox actaully reports the story)
--> But then in December 2001 Fox removes the Israeli Art students story from its website because of pressure from the ADL (the organization caught spying on the US in 93)
Maybe he can find out what is really going on with Journalism and our US media
And Connect the dots.
Smack_dab @ 50:
Fine by me if he's dead (or better yet, barely kept alive by a dialysis machine powered by a faulty generator). Better for him to die in a hole somewhere than to give him the worldwide stage he'd get in the event of a trial. Not to mention what capital punishment would do for his popularity. I'd rather see him die from old age than become a martyr for another generation of Jihadis.
Rumour - It seems that in the video, OBL praises Waleed Al Shehri as a martyr in the attack.
The BBC seems to think that he is still alive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm
What about due process for the hundreds in Gitmo??
I think Osama's next gig is with Keith Hernadez for "Just for men" for beards?
Keith: Wow, Osama sure is stricking out with those young Jihadi babes..
Maybe it's the grey in his beard.....
Sounds like they should take his index card notes from him.
ysbaddaden @ 55:
I think its more like this one:
http://boomers.typepad.com/boomers/images/geezer_3_1.jpg
[...] not a churchgoer, and wouldn’t be using religion in this race. And today he says that bin Laden should get due process. That’s an interesting way to run a Republican [...]
Old Billy @ 62:
Gott all muddy!
Annoyed Canuck @ 36:
I wonder if OBL is being protected by the Bush/Saudi conspirators who staged 9/11---it would be a nice thing if OBL is captured and he squeals on his former business associate, wouldn't it? He probably does enjoy protection---but from whom? His capture and right to due process would be the right course. What could it hurt to explore every possiblity? Of course I know that right here, right now, in America, there is no right to due process, not even for an honorable American Air Force nurse who was on Clinton's staff. For proof, see DOD IG H05L95546042 dated 26Sep05 at the DOD IG reading room.
Fred and his wife STILL look like the punchline to a Jeff Foxworthy joke.
14All @ 15:
The DOD doesn't know what it is, much less how to apply it. DOD IG H05L95546042 dated 26Sep05.
DOD IG reading room.
Speaking of Thompson, check out this recap of Romney's supporter's hacky attack on Thompson:
http://www.eyeon08.com/2007/09/10/phoneyfredorg-more-romney-dirty-politics/
There's also a recap of some of Romney's other shenanigans.
Fred C. Dobbs @ 66:
Yeah, LOOKS is the operative word.
Just like Ronnie Rayguns "pretended" to be this devout born-again, just like "The Decider" pretends he's some tough talking cowboy...
But, it's just a show.
The base doesn't want real, they want IMAGE of real?
If they wanted a guy that actually has BEEN in Combat, and has the scars
to prove it, they would back McCain.
Instead, they want fake bluster and tough talk, and the "Appearance" of
family values.
The Bush Twins drunk Party their way through South America, but they still
obcess about THE CLENIS.....
The greatest president of all time (their god) was an Actor, so Fred is just
what the doctor ordered....
Well, I'm a Republican with strong Libertarian leanings. I recently started visiting this site again; stopped doing that shortly after the last presidential elections.
I shilled pretty hard for Bush in that time period. Took a few months afterwards before I pulled the bumper stick off in disgust.
If Fred is sincere, then I might consider voting for him in the primaries. I doubt he is, but I'll at least consider it. Personally I'm behind Ron Paul.
I really honestly think it'll be between Thompson and Paul when the primaries come around.
Justin Buist @ 70:
I will be SHOCKED if Paul gets more then 3% of the vote max in Iowa or South Carolina, MAYBE in NH, but even there, I doubt it.
He seems like a blog phenom, the Republic party machines DETEST HIM, and I think he has fanatic supporters, but they are small in number, just very vocal...
But, you never know?
Republics SHOULD be disgusted with their choices, NONE of them (except Paul) will even stand up to a lame duck president with approval ratings in the high 20s?
What's even MORE BS is, if this was Clinton's War, with Billions lost and thousands of Dead GIS, they would be foaming at the mouth, screaming for
impeachment.
But, instead, they rail against Moveon.Org...
They deserve to lose power, after this debacle
What law school did he (allegedly) go to?
Fred wants it both ways. He wants to be the reasonable, safe choice while still swinging his d--k around. Of course he comes off as wishy-washy, which he is.
Cantor de Mambo @ 72:
NBC Law.
Duh-Dung!
You don't think Bin Laden should receive a trial if captured alive?
Last night, this post attacked Thompson for defending the Lockerbie bombers.
Justin Buist @ 70:
Ron Paul, like Dennis Kucinich, is a mirage.
Oh, people SAY they are interested in those guys, but .... it ... never ... happens.
An OBL trial needs to be handled carefully, with a lot of Middle Eastern and Muslim prosectutors, to prove to OBL supporters and other Muslims that the 9/11 attacks weren't justified in any regard.
Wonder who is paying this 6'4 raisin to balance the nomination odds in their favor.
OBL is due to be captured sometime before 11/08
right after an oil tanker is sunk and exploded inside
a major port and just in time to give the Republican
candidate an OBL bump. Why do you think he's still
out there.
Due process for Bin Laden just not for US citizens!!!
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