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Holder's decision to Mirandize the Christmas bomber was bad enough. Telling the world he was talking again waseven worse Security: The administration says the Christmas bomber is now cooperating with authorities. We thought they got all the information he had in a 50-minute chat. So just why are we letting our enemies know he's talking? In any war, it's vitally important that you know what your enemy is planning and doing, just as it's important that your actions and plans remain secret. And when you know about your enemy's plans it's important they don't know that you know. We were...

Does the Obama administration ever get tired of getting things wrong? As their public support drains from the health-care overhaul they’ve pushed for the last several months, they have managed to find another way to marginalize themselves with the American public. By overwhelming numbers in the latest Gallup survey, Americans disapprove of the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal court — and can barely get a majority of Democrats to support it: By 59% to 36%, more Americans believe accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be tried in a military court, rather than in a...

People in the Obama Administration, down to NYC Boss Bloomberg, and ended with leftist bloggers say all that “we need to try the terror leaders in NY in order for them to stand trial in the very city they committed their crimes.” This is the main talking point that we keep hearing from those who support bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to NY. The rational of “the same city as they committed the crimes” is certainly a feel-good approach, but if this is the underlying reason, why does not the Defense Department bring over a military commission, set them up in...

Now that we have seen the demonstrated support of Tea parties both at the local Congressional level and at the level of the Federal government in Washington, it is time to begin Peoples' Tribunals. These would be investigative at first, with people summoned to give testimony about government wrongdoing and abuse of power - most notably acting contrary to the Constitution. We can begin with a national tribunal that investigates ACORN and its voter fraud in the last (and previous) elections. Those appointed to sit on these Tribunals would be seriously vetted to make sure there are no plants from...

Candidate Barack Obama severely criticized president Bush for using military tribunals to try terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. On President Obama's first day in office, he suspended the tribunals. Now, he has decided to use the same military tribunals he criticized President Bush for during the 2008 campaign. His backers on the Loony left are very angry.

Cheney antiterror policies are by now routine: for example, opposing the release of prisoner abuse photographs and support for indefinite detention for some detainees, and that's just this week. More remarkable is White House creativity in portraying these U-turns as epic change. Witness yesterday's announcement endorsing military commissions. White House officials insist that their tribunals will be kinder and gentler, stressing additional due-process safeguards for terrorists on trial for war crimes. But the debate that has convulsed the political system since 9/11 isn't about procedural nuances. It has been over core principles, with Democrats decrying a "shadow justice system" and...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama is planning on Friday to resume the Bush administration's controversial military commission system for some Guantanamo detainees -- which he suspended in his first week in office -- according to three administration officials.Some of the high-profile terror suspects who are being charged in the military commission process include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. The administration officials stressed that the updated system will include expanded due-process rights for the suspects, which administration officials note is consistent with what Obama pushed for as a senator in 2006 in order to improve upon...

(Washington) - In response to President Barack Obama restarting the military commissions at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Amnesty International's executive director Larry Cox issued the following statement: "President Obama is reinstating the same deeply-flawed military commissions that in June 2008 he called an 'enormous failure.' In one swift move, Obama both backtracks on a major campaign promise to change the way the United States fights terrorism and undermines the nation's core respect for the rule of law by sacrificing due process for political expediency. “Whatever revisions the Obama administration has made to the commissions do not change...

President Barack Obama faced condemnation today as he announced he was restarting military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, reviving the system he once labelled "an enormous failure". The trial process, set up by his predecessor George W. Bush for fighters captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan in late 2001, was attacked by human rights organisations because it barred defendants from many of the rights they would have in a civilian courtroom. But Mr Obama said in a statement, the tribunals would resume with modifications to make them fairer. "Military commissions have a long tradition in the United States. They are appropriate...

On his second day in office, President Obama ordered the Pentagon to mothball Guantanamo within one year, purportedly to reclaim the "moral high ground." That earned applause from the anti-antiterror squadrons, yet it is now causing all kinds of practical and political problems in what used to be known as the war on terror. This mess grew even more chaotic this week, when Democrats refused the Administration's $50 million budget request to transfer some of the remaining 241 Gitmo detainees to a prison likely to be somewhere in the U.S. and perhaps to a new one built with taxpayer dollars....

Criticizes Obama's Terrorism Policies http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/02/10/top_stories/doc49913ba1e7c0e951117995.txt

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - U.S. military officers responsible for defending Guantanamo detainees said they will investigate why five men accused in the Sept. 11 attacks were allowed to talk among themselves at their arraignment, allegedly pressuring one of the defendants to reject his lawyers. All five said they would represent themselves in the death penalty trial, the first U.S. attempt to prosecute those believed to be directly responsible for killing 2,973 people in the bloodiest terrorist attacks ever on U.S. soil. None entered pleas, and two said they hope to become martyrs for their anti-American cause. Lawyers for...

Sault Ste. Marie is home to the 49th Field Artillery Regiment - an active reserve unit with the Royal Canadian Artillery. (Full disclosure: Although I am writing in my civilian capacity as an editorialist, I happen to be a junior reserve officer with the regiment.) Local artillery soldiers are serving near the front-lines in Afghanistan as you read this, often coming under fire from the Taliban, and and using their artillery to provide cover to front-line soldiers. If the guns fail, soldiers die. So why are we permitting the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to play identity politics with their lives?

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario -- Three Muslim women in Canada have filed a human rights complaint against Syed Soharwardy, the Alberta-based imam who brought publisher Ezra Levant before the Alberta Human Rights Commission after Mr. Levant's magazine republished the Danish Muhammad cartoons. Qasira Shaheen, Robina Butt and Shugufta Iftikhar filed their complaint, dated Dec. 28, with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, saying they "were treated differently from men in the following manner: Abusive language uttered towards us; Not permitted to ask any questions; Denied participation as equal members of the Muslim community; Physically and verbally threatened; Made to sit in...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2007 – Administrative tribunals were held March 9 and 10 for three of the 14 high-value detainees being held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Defense Department announced today. Combatant Status Review Tribunal proceedings were held March 10 for Khalid Sheik Mohamed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. March 9 proceedings were for Abu Faraj al-Libi, an alleged senior member of al Qaeda, and Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, who is said to have helped Mohamed plan the Sept. 11 attacks. Combatant Status Review...

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2007 – The Defense Department announced today that administrative tribunals will begin March 9 for 14 high-value detainees transferred in September to the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals, which determine whether or not a detainee can be qualified as an enemy combatant, will be held at Guantanamo Bay without media coverage, Bryan Whitman, a DoD spokesman, told reporters. There is no time limit for the completion of the tribunals, but all 14 high-value detainees will go through the process, as all other detainees at Guantanamo Bay have, he said....

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary February 14, 2007 Executive Order Trial of Alien Unlawful Enemy Combatants by Military Commission By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Public Law 109‑366), the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40), and section 948b(b) of title 10, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Establishment of Military Commissions. There are hereby established military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants for offenses triable by...

WASHINGTON (AP) - 0928dv-detainee-senate President Bush can count on Congress for the sort of military tribunals he wants, although the White House likely will have to await a lame duck session after the election to get authorization for warrantless wiretaps. Both chambers this week approved legislation that sets up "military commissions" to prosecute terrorists. It also would prohibit the severe abuse of detainees, like mutilation and rape, but grant the president leeway to decide which other interrogation techniques are permissible. The Senate's 65-34 vote on Thursday followed a House vote of 253-168 on a nearly identical measure a day earlier....

The World Trade Organisation's Appellate Body, reversing an earlier panel report, on Tuesday ruled that the U.S. method for calculating anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber imports violated global free trade rules. A WTO dispute panel on April 3 rejected a challenge brought by Canada against a U.S. method known as "zeroing" for calculating anti-dumping duties on billions of dollars worth of softwood lumber imports. But in a 60-page ruling issued on Tuesday, the three judges on the WTO's Appellate Body -- its highest arbitration court -- found that the use of zeroing was inconsistent with the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement. "The...

House Republicans signaled a coming clash with the Senate over the future of military tribunals yesterday when Armed Service Committee members indicated they were inclined to give the Bush administration largely what it wants in the conduct of terrorism trials. The tone at the first House hearing since the Supreme Court tossed out President Bush's tribunals last month was markedly different from Tuesday's Senate hearing, where lawmakers from both parties said they wanted to make significant changes to the White House's plans. "This could be easy," said Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.), who proudly announced she has neither a law...