Hugh Hewitt: Criminal Enterprise (Interview with Howard Dean about Bin Laden & Saddam)

Daily Standard ^ | Dec. 2, 2003 | Hugh Hewitt

[FairOpinion]

HOWARD DEAN wants Osama bin Laden to get 30 years to life. No hanging by the neck until dead. No firing squad. Not even a lethal injection for being the mastermind behind the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans.

That's the upshot of Dean's exchange with Chris Matthews last night, an exchange ignored--and in one case glossed over--by a Dean-friendly press.

MATTHEWS: Who should try Osama bin Laden if we catch him? We or the World Court?

DEAN: I don't think it makes a lot of difference. I'm happy . . .

MATTHEWS: But who would you like to, if you were president of the United States, would you insist on trying him, since he was involved in blowing up the World Trade Center, or would you let the Hague do it?

DEAN: You know, the truth is it doesn't make a lot of difference to me as long as he is brought to justice. I think that's the critical part of that.

MATTHEWS: How about Saddam Hussein? Should we try him in criminal and execute him?

DEAN: Again, we are allowing the Bosnian war criminals to be tried at the International Court in the Hague. That suits me fine. As long as they're brought to justice and tried, and so far we haven't had to have that discussion because the president has not been able to find either one of them.

Incredibly, most Tuesday morning papers ignored this exchange, and the Boston Globe's Susan Schweitzer reported it this way: "Asked whether Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein should be tried in the United States or the Hague should they be captured, Dean responded that the issue was premature for discussion because the "the president can't find either one of them."

The issue matters, of course, because the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, like the Tribunal impaneled for Rwanda, cannot impose the death penalty. Though both Matthews and Dean seem ill-informed on the nature of such proceedings, the key fact is that no death penalty will ever be imposed on a terrorist who gets himself before an international tribunal sponsored by the United Nations. (The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also rejects the death penalty.)

Dean's ignorance on the matter isn't the major point of the exchange. His indifference to the idea of bin Laden being brought to America is a stunning display of his detachment from the war on terror.

Republicans hope that Dean doesn't self-destruct before he gets the nomination, but the country ought to be getting all of Dean's quotes, not just those the reporters think make good copy.

[FairOpinion]

I am putting this into FrontPage news, because most of the article is a direct quote from the Dean interview by Chris Matthews. I think people need to know how Dean would be perfectly happy to have the World Court supercede the US courts and he doesn't seem to have any real hard feelings against Bin Laden or Saddam either.

[NotchJohnson]

My question is why does Dean always have his sleeves rolled up?

[theDentist]

Has someone the actual transcripts? I mean, in this article I don't see a quote from Dean that he "wants Osama bin Laden to get 30 years to life." I mean, is that Hewitt's take on the interview, or did he speak those words?

[Numbers Guy]

Maybe Howard will talk to President Putin of "The Soviet Union" about that.

[Toespi]

I am convinced that Dean must be working undercover for the Republican party.

[Pukin Dog]

It was only a matter of time before Dean had a Dukakis moment.

Go Dean. We need a 50 state sweep.!

[Graymatter]

>>Republicans hope that Dean doesn't self-destruct before he gets the nomination...

Exactly! I have NO complaints about this goof, his press or the bias thereof. I've a mind to register as a Dem and vote for him in the primary. After 2000 I owe myself a fun election year, and Dr. Walter "Howie" McKakis is the best joker to provide that.

[Pukin Dog]

My question is why does Dean always have his sleeves rolled up?

Believe it or not, rolled up sleeves make you look taller and thinner.

[Solamente]

"My question is why does Dean always have his sleeves rolled up?"

Possibly to dispell doubt as to where he likes to boot; the legs, feet, or scrotum. Allegdedly, of course.

[Graymatter]

>>Maybe Howard will talk to President Putin of "The Soviet Union" about that.

Yes, where is the outrage? They say he mentioned the Soviet Union in the present tense, several times. Funny nobody is running with it. Remember Gerald Ford's Polish gaffe?

[FairOpinion]

Hewitt is quoting Dean, from the Matthews interview with the exact words Dean said.

HH is making the point that Dean "wants OBL to get 30 years to life", because HH is making the point later in the article, that Dean wants the world court to try OBL & Saddam, and they don't have the death penalty.

But I think HH should make an even more important point, which he doesn't, that Dean clearly sees nothing wrong with the "world justice system" superceding that of the US, effectively acknowledging that an end to the US sovereignity would be just fine for him.

[theDentist]

In other words, Dean didn't say it. That's no better than Jayson Blair writing quotes in the NYT. Whether HH was trying to make a valid point or not, he does us all a disservice when he puts words in the mouths of others.

[FairOpinion]

He didn't put words in Dean's mouth.

It was clear from the article.

You just jumped to conclusions too quickly.

[theDentist]

We'll disagree. Dean did not say the words "Thirty Years". That's a fact.

[FairOpinion]

HH did NOT say Dean said it.

"HOWARD DEAN wants Osama bin Laden to get 30 years to life."

This is a sentence, drawing a conclusion from what Dean DID say, which HH reproduced verbatim.

[BushisTheMan]

My question is why does Dean always have his sleeves rolled up?

LOL! I am always wondering this myself! Sort of Miami Vice meets Lover of Vice

[aShepard]

..."Yes, where is the outrage"....

Rush was almost orgasmic on this issue this afternoon!!

GO DEAN, let's nominate LIEberman, to be our Jewish President while we fight the Muslims!

[metalboy]

My question is why does Dean always have his sleeves rolled up?

That`s because he`s a man of action, a man of the working man, man! YEAH! He`s ready to git down and dirty! Yeah! What I love about these `rats is they do this stuff all the time as if people won`t notice. The other one is imitating JFK with the haircut, the bent back posture, and the thumb-forefinger gesture as if people are going to say "Wow, he is just like JFK..I better vote for him!" On the other hand, that`s probably what they think anyway if they`re `rat voters.

[metalboy]

"We choose to go to the moon!"

But Sen. Edwards, we`ve already been to the moon!"

"Well...uuuhh..Then we choose to go to the moon..uuuh.. again!