From: Keep America Safe (Hat Tip: Nancy Jacques)
Yesterday evening it was reported that the Obama Administration is actively seeking alternative locations for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. This reported sudden shift by the administration is proof that your efforts are not in vain — together we can force this president to change course.
Our rally on December 5, which drew thousands to New York to protest this trial, demonstrated to the politicians that the people are paying attention. Our letter to President Obama demanding the trial be moved and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried as an enemy combatant, which you and 150,000 other concerned citizens signed, showed the strength of our resolve. We are making a difference.
Early yesterday morning, Keep America Safe launched a new ad in response to President Obama’s State of the Union. The ad, titled “The State of His Rhetoric,” demonstrates the disconnect between the Obama Administration’s rhetoric and the dangerous realities of its national security policies. “The State of His Rhetoric” will air on broadcast television in the DC market and will directly target the politicians in Washington.
However, our fight is far from over. Obama still plans to treat Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as if he is an American citizen and common criminal instead of the terrorist he truly is. Keep America Safe needs your help to continue speaking out until the terrorists are treated as enemy combatants and not common criminals. The decision to explore alternative venues indicates that what we are doing is working. We must keep up the pressure to fight Obama’s other dangerous policies.
Wednesday night, Obama said, “We have renewed our focus on the terrorists.” What he didn’t say is that the administration’s focus is on providing terrorists with ever more legal rights, not capturing, interrogating, and killing them.
Days after taking office, Obama issued an Executive Order to close Guantanamo Bay by January 2010. Despite failing to meet its own deadline, the administration continues to pursue this ideological goal. Reality has intervened, and yesterday, a State Department official acknowledged that in a best case scenario Guantanamo wouldn’t shut down any sooner than 2012. According to the Pentagon, one out of every five detainees released from Guantanamo returns to terrorism. Closing Guantanamo Bay isn’t just misguided, it’s dangerous.
Attorney General Eric Holder’s FBI Mirandized Christmas Day terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab just hours after his failed attempt to blow up Northwest flight 253 in Detroit. Abdulmutallab was questioned for less than an hour before he was read his rights. After being told he had the right to remain silent, he did just that. Instead of interrogating Abdulmutallab to learn about future terror plots, the Obama Administration decided to treat him as a common criminal and hired him a lawyer.
The American people deserve to know which lawyers in President Obama’s Justice Department used to represent terrorists. One such attorney, Jennifer Daskal, a former Human Rights Watch official with no prosecutorial experience, now advises Holder on detainee issues even though she used to advocate on behalf of the terrorists. In November, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) requested that Holder provide a list of other lawyers on his staff who had recused themselves from detainee issues because of similar conflicts of interest. Holder’s response to Grassley was, “I will consider that.” Holder has yet to follow through with Grassley’s request.
President Obama has not made us stronger in his first year in office. In fact, he has weakened our ability to combat terrorism. He wants to close Guantanamo, send terrorists back to the Middle East, treat the terrorists we don’t release as if they were American citizens, and prosecute those terrorists with lawyers that not long ago were standing on the other side of the courtroom defending the same terrorists. “The State of his Rhetoric” highlights Obama’s national security failures and dangerous policies. We also need your help to Keep America Safe. Please feel free to forward this video to family and friends.
Thank you for your continued support.
Liz Cheney, Debra Burlingame, and Bill Kristol
Board of Directors
Keep America Safe
