"Damn Right!" Bush On Waterboarding Terrorists; Gave It His All

Bush On Waterboarding: "Damn Right!"


Former President George W. Bush has stayed out of politics since he left the White House and, except for his own career, he largely keeps the subject at arm's length in his new memoir, "Decision Points."

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey to air on Tuesday when the book is to be released, Bush said he is "through with politics" and refused to offer an opinion on the 2012 presidential election.

"I am not a Political Pundit. I'm really not," Bush said. "A lot is gonna happen between now and the nominating process."

He also passes on commenting on President Obama, saying he wants to treat his successor the way, "I'd like to have been treated."

"I don't think it's good for a former president to be out there opining on every darned issue," Bush told Winfrey. "He's got a plenty tough job. Trust me. And there's gonna be plenty of critics and he doesn't need me criticizing him."

In the 481-page book Bush compliments Obama's political skills during a meeting before the 2008 election as the Financial crisis was coming to a head. He also criticizes the performance of his party's nominee, John McCain, in the same meeting.

He criticizes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the failure of his efforts to Reform Immigration laws in 2006.

Bush takes responsibility for giving the go-ahead for Waterboarding terror suspects, which has touched off a new round of criticism of Bush and calls for his prosecution. He says that he did decide not to use two more extreme interrogation methods, but did not disclose what those were.

Here are excerpts from the book, which CNN obtained on Friday:

'The choice between security and values was real'

Bush reveals the decision points that led him to choose Waterboarding as an Interrogation technique.

"CIA experts drew up a list of interrogation techniques. ... At my direction, Department of Justice and CIA lawyers conducted a careful legal review. The enhanced interrogation program complied with the Constitution and all applicable laws, including those that ban torture.

"There were two that I felt went too far, even if they were legal. I directed the CIA not to use them. Another technique was Waterboarding, a process of simulated drowning. No doubt the procedure was tough, but medical experts assured the CIA that it did no lasting harm."

Though Bush confirms that he knew the use of Waterboarding would one day become public, and acknowledges that it is "sensitive and controversial," he asserts that "the choice between security and values was real," and expresses firm confidence in his decision. "Had I not authorized Waterboarding on senior al Qaeda leaders, I would have had to accept a greater risk that the country would be attacked. In the wake of 9/11, that was a risk I was unwilling to take," he writes.

Bush further declares that the new techniques proved effective, yielding information on al Qaeda's structure and operations, and leading to the capture of Ramzi bin al Shibh, the logistical planner of the 9/11 attacks who was captured on the first anniversary of 9/11.

And if there were any lingering doubts or conflict about the use of Waterboarding, Bush discloses that he received reassurance from an unlikely source: terror suspect Abu Zubaydah.

The former president writes, "His understanding of Islam was that he had to resist Interrogation only up to a certain point. Waterboarding was the technique that allowed him to reach that threshold, fulfill his religious duty, and then cooperate." Bush elaborates that Zubaydah gave him a direct instruction, "'You must do this for all the brothers.'"

Intelligence gleaned from Interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and other suspects led to the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Bush writes. During a raid on Mohammed's compound, agents discovered more plans for terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

Prompted by the discoveries, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet asked if he had permission to use enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding on Mohammed.

Bush exposes his inner thoughts on what led him to reach this decision: "I thought about my meeting with Danny Pearl's widow, who was pregnant with his son when he was murdered. I thought about the 2,971 people stolen from their families by al Qaeda on 9/11. And I thought about my duty to protect my country from another act of terror.

"Damn Right" I said."

An early political lesson

The president's political education is rounded out with anecdotes from early races, including a loss to state Sen. Kent Hance in a bid for a West Texas congressional seat.

Despite warnings that he was likely to lose, Bush writes that he felt compelled to run.

"I was having my first experience with the political bug, and it was biting hard." Fighting off accusations that he was "an East Coast outsider," he tried to change the conversation by running an ad showing him jogging to emphasize his "energy and youth."

Hance quickly turned the ad against him with one simple line, "'The only time folks around here go running is when somebody's chasing them.'" The experience, he writes, taught him that he was capable of moving on after a loss, and to never let his opponent define him.

An earlier Bush-Cheney ticket

Bush writes candidly about the ups and downs of his father's presidential campaigns and the personal toll they took on him. On a fishing trip during his father's third year in the White House, Bush tells of a conversation in which President George H.W. Bush briefly toyed with the idea of not standing for re-election.

Bush writes that his father's doubts were attributed to blame he felt for the intense media scrutiny his son Neil had gone through during the savings and loan crisis. But the notion is quickly forgotten when in the next paragraph Bush describes his relief "when Dad told the family he had one last race in him."

In the summer of 1992, as the presidential race was heating up, Bush expressed concern that the campaign was languishing.

"I told Dad he ought to think about a bold move to shake up the dynamics of the race," Bush writes. "One possibility was to replace Vice President Dan Quayle, whom I liked and respected, with a new running mate." Bush's suggestion was Secretary of State Dick Cheney, and although his father dismissed the idea because it would look "desperate and embarrass Dan," Bush later admits that he "never completely gave up on my idea of a Bush-Cheney ticket."

The struggles of his father's campaign effected Bush emotionally. He confesses that he felt the media were treating his father unfairly, and on a last-minute campaign trip with his father in the days before the election, he "unleashed" an angry outburst on two reporters who asked about the mood on the campaign plane. "What the press did not understand was that my outbursts were driven by love, not politics," he writes.

After his father's loss in 1992, Bush says this love turned to "pain," and then ultimately to "the itch to run for office again," and a "sense of liberation," that he was out from under his father's shadow. "I could lay out my policies without having to defend his," Bush writes. "I wouldn't have to worry that my decisions would disrupt his presidency. I was free to run my own life."

Bush writes that the loss had a similar effect on his brother Jeb, "What had first seemed like the sad end to a great story now looked like the unlikely beginning of two new careers. Had dad won in 1992, I doubt I would have run for office in 1994, and I almost certainly would not have become president."

'Marquee event' in political theater

During the battle over passage of his 2008 "financial rescue package," Bush describes a heated White House meeting between congressional leaders and both presidential candidates. Despite warnings from several of his top advisers about the effectiveness of such a meeting, the president agreed to convene the group at John McCain's request for fear of the public message it would send if he rejected the suggestion of his party's nominee.

Bush describes the event as "the marquee event in Washington's political theater," and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "a volcano ready to erupt" prior to entering the Cabinet Room. Following remarks by the president and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, the speaker deferred to Obama, her party's nominee, whom Bush portrays as having a "calm demeanor" while speaking about the scope of the proposal.

From a political perspective, Bush says that Obama was "smart when he informed the gathering that he was in constant contact with Hank," giving the impression that he was "aware, in touch, and prepared to get a bill passed."

In a somewhat harsher description of his party's nominee, Bush recalls that he was "puzzled" with McCain's decision to pass when it came his turn to speak next. "He had called for this meeting," Bush writes. "I assumed he would come prepared to outline a way to get the bill passed." In Bush's telling, the meeting quickly devolved into a "verbal food fight, which would have been comical except the stakes were so high."

Why Immigration Reform failed

Bush blasts Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for letting a comprehensive immigration reform bill die in the Senate.

At one point during his push to get the legislation passed, Bush reached out to the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy -- urging him to ask Reid to keep the Senate in session before the July 4 recess.

"Given the importance of this legislation, I thought it would be worthwhile to allow them a little extra for the bill to pass," Bush writes.

"Apparently, Harry Reid did not ... If Ted Kennedy couldn't persuade the majority leader of his party, my odds were not good."

And he was right. The Nevada Democrat called for a vote to end debate, which failed. The Senate then adjourned.

"Senators went home and listened to angry constituents stirred up by the loud voices on radio and TV," he writes. "By the time they came back to Washington, immigration reform was dead."

And because of that failure, Bush says "coyotes are still in business, immigrants continue to cross the border illegally, and a divisive political issue remains unsolved."





Bush Writes Of Anger, Resolve After Sept. 11 Attacks

The terrorist attacks on America on September 11, 2001, gave his administration a clear goal and him the resolve to find out who was responsible and "kick their ass," former President George W. Bush writes in his new book.

In "Decision Points," Bush describes his reaction when his then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice informed him of the crash of a third airplane into the Pentagon.

"I sat back in my seat and absorbed her words. My thoughts clarified: The first plane could have been an accident. The second was definitely an attack. The third was a declaration of war," the former president writes in his 481-page book, which goes on sale Tuesday.

"My blood was boiling. We were going to find out who did this, and kick their ass," Bush writes.

"In a single morning, the purpose of my presidency had grown clear: to protect our people and defend our freedom that had come under attack."

CNN on Friday obtained a copy of the book, being released by Crown Publishers.

In the book, Bush also recounts the government response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

He calls the response "not only flawed" but "unacceptable," and describes his own failures in this way: "As the leader of the federal government, I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster. I prided myself on my ability to make crisp and effective decisions. Yet in the days after Katrina, that didn't happen. The problem was not that I made the wrong decisions. It was that I took too long to decide."

Bush writes he also failed to "adequately communicate my concern for the victims of Katrina" -- a problem he calls one of "perception, not reality."

"Yet many of our citizens, particularly in the African-American community, came away convinced their president didn't care about them."

The former president recently told NBC's Matt Laurer that the "worst moment" of his administration was when rapper Kanye West declared during a Katrina celebrity telethon that "George Bush does not like black people." West this week expressed a sympathetic view of Bush's reaction to the comment.

Bush writes the Katrina had a lasting legacy on his second term.

"Just as Katrina was more than a hurricane, its impact was more than physical destruction. It eroded citizens' trust in their government. It exacerbated divisions in our society and politics. And it cast a cloud over my second term."

In "Decision Points," Bush also details how he came to utter those infamous words "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" about Michael Brown, the FEMA chief who was leading the government's response to Katrina in the days immediately following the storm.

Bush writes that he was in Mobile, Alabama, meeting with the Alabama and Mississippi governors and asked them if they were getting adequate federal support. "'That Mike Brown is doing a heck of a job,' Bob said," referring to Alabama governor Bob Riley. "I knew Mike was under pressure and I wanted to boost his morale," Bush writes, so he repeated Riley's words a few minutes later when he spoke to the press.

"I never imagined those words of encouragement would become an infamous entry in the political lexicon. As complaints about Mike Brown's performance mounted, especially in New Orleans, critics turned my words of encouragement into a club to bludgeon me."

The former FEMA head, who resigned two weeks after the compliment, told CNN in August that he winced when Bush uttered the line.

"I knew the minute he said that, the media and everybody else would see a disconnect between what he was saying and what I was witnessing on the ground," Brown said. "That's the president's style. His attitude and demeanor is always one of being a cheerleader and trying to encourage people to keep moving. It was just the wrong time and the wrong place."

Bush in recent years has talked about his past problems with alcohol abuse and his 1986 decision to give up drinking completely.

Just days before the 2000 presidential election, news broke that Bush had been arrested for driving under the influence in Maine in 1976. In his memoir, Bush writes, "Not disclosing the DUI on my terms may have been the single costliest political mistake I ever made."

He says he had decided against doing so because he didn't want to undermine his admonitions to his daughters about drinking and driving.

After the news came out -- so close to election day, Bush writes, he went to bed that night on the campaign trail thinking, "I may have just cost myself the presidency."


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Sources: Amazon.com, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, Google Maps

Bush Discusses Waterboarding, Other Decisions & Mistakes

Bush Says New Orleans Flyover After Katrina A "Huge Mistake"

Former President George W. Bush said he made a “huge mistake” in not stopping in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and allowing photographers to take pictures of him looking at New Orleans as he flew over the city.

The photograph, taken on board Air Force One, made him look “detached and uncaring,” Bush said in an interview scheduled for broadcast on NBC next week in connection with the Nov. 9 release of the former president’s book, “Decision Points,” about his time in office.

Bush was widely criticized for the federal government’s botched response to the 2005 storm that devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf of Mexico coast and for not going to the area soon after the hurricane hit.

“I should have touched down in Baton Rouge, met with the governor and walked out and said, ‘I hear you. We understand. And we’re going to help the state and help the local governments with as much resources as needed,’” Bush, 64, said according to excerpts from the interview with Matt Lauer scheduled to air at 8 p.m. New York time on Nov. 8.

In his book, Bush writes that a low point in his presidency was a remark by rapper Kanye West shortly after Katrina hit that the government’s response to the disaster showed Bush “doesn’t care about black people.”

“I faced a lot of criticism as president,” Bush wrote, according to the NBC excerpt. “I didn’t like hearing people claim that I lied about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or cut taxes to benefit the rich. But the suggestion that I was racist because of the response to Katrina represented an all- time low.”

‘Not True’

In the interview Bush said, “I resent it, it’s not true, and it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.”

The former president, who served two terms in office, defended his decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, saying the world would be much more unstable if Saddam Hussein were still in power.

Bush began the U.S.-led attack on Iraq on March 19, 2003, because, he said, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had scorned the United Nations’ 12 years of mandates to get rid of its chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

He wrote that he felt “sickened” when the U.S. found no weapons of mass destruction. In the interview, Bush said he never considered apologizing for the decision to go to war.

“Apologizing would basically say the decision was a wrong decision,” he said. “And I don’t believe it was the wrong decision.”

In the interview and in his memoir, Bush talked about his struggles with alcohol. Drinking “became a love,” he said, according to interview excerpts. “And therefore, began to compete for my love with my wife and my daughters.”

He said he was able to quit on his own because he was never “chemically addicted.” He described himself as a “habitual drinker” before stopping at the age of 40. He said he has not had “a sip” of alcohol since 1986.


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Sources: Bloomberg.com, MSNBC, National Geographic, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

Eric Holder vs. The Obama Administration; Thrown Under The Bus Too?

The Attorney General's Friendly Fire


The GOP has been out for Eric Holder's head for weeks over his handling of the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial. But lately, some Democrats worry the White House may be Holder's most dangerous enemy.

Eric Holder has been under fire from across the aisle for weeks now. Sarah Palin bashed the attorney general's decision to try terrorists in federal courtrooms instead of military tribunals, saying he should resign because "of the way that we are treating these terrorists and allowing them our constitutional protections when they don't deserve them."

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey told Fox News—the favorite broadcast venue for Holder's critics—that the management of terrorism trials under Holder created the appearance of "amateur night" at the Justice Department. Missouri Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined the chorus a few days ago, tearing into the AG's decision to pursue a civilian trial for the young Nigerian accused of trying to bomb a jetliner on Christmas Day. "I think Eric Holder has been totally wrong, and he should go," Bond told The Wall Street Journal.

But now, it seems, Holder has a far worse problem: being second-guessed, very publicly, from within the administration—by the president himself.

On Friday, the White House disclosed that the president will become involved in the decision of how and where to try to terrorist suspects—decisions that Holder had previously described as free of political influence because they were his and his alone.

The drumbeat of criticism has anxious Democrats wondering if the attorney general, despite what appears to be a genuine friendship with Obama, can hold on to the job that admirers say he has coveted since he first signed on at the Justice Department as an ambitious young prosecutor in the 1970s.

"Eric needs to fight back hard," a senior Senate Democrat tells The Daily Beast. "He has real enemies among the Republicans, who want to make him the face of how Democrats have supposedly gone soft on terrorism. And it looks like he has real adversaries in the White House, too."

The administration is scrambling to find somewhere to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after Holder's original plan—to hold the trial in a civilian courthouse in Lower Manhattan, only blocks from ground zero—was opposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had originally supported the idea.

City officials feared that "the trial of the century," as Holder once proudly described it, would be a neon-lit invitation to terrorists to attack again.

In an embarrassing about-face, the White House is now holding out the possibility that Mohammed and four other 9/11 plotters will face a military tribunal, and that the trial will take place somewhere—anywhere—other than New York.

The White House is eager to head off a Senate bill that would bar any terror suspect held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp from being brought to the United States for civilian trials; the idea has support from moderate Democrats.

Some liberals have questioned whether Obama's involvement represents an improper assertion of the White House into a matter properly left to the Justice Department—political pressure on a law-enforcement decision. But former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, a Republican who served under President George H.W. Bush, says the White House had made a mistake from the start by trying to burden the attorney general with sole responsibility for terrorism prosecutions.

"I don't want to be too hard on Eric Holder," said Thornburgh, adding he has long admired the AG. "I think the mistake was made in off-loading the whole decision on him in these cases."

Thornburgh said the White House should have stepped in much earlier in decisions about "where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to be tried and how do you deal with the Christmas bomber—those are classic national-security questions" that go well beyond the Justice Department.

Through his spokesmen and others at the Justice Department, Holder insists that the Republican criticism of his decision-making smacks of politics ahead of this November's mid-term elections, when the GOP hopes to portray the Obama administration as soft on terrorism.

"Much of the criticism has been more focused on politics than on facts, and that's unfortunate," his chief spokesman, Matthew Miller, tells The Daily Beast.

The reports of strife between Holder and White House officials, especially Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, are "overblown," Miller said. "We work well with the White House on a number of issues."

But others in the administration say Holder often does feel under siege from White House officials, Emanuel in particular, who believe the attorney general is unnecessarily antagonizing Republican leaders—and voters—in trying to prove that civilian courts can deal with terrorist cases.

Recent polls suggest that the public, by an overwhelming margin, prefers that terrorists be dealt with in military tribunals, not in civilian courts.

Whatever the flap over terrorism cases, Holder's defenders insist that he has otherwise done well in his first year at the Justice Department given the turmoil he found there in the aftermath of the Bush years, when the department was regularly accused—and not just by Democrats—of being turned into a political arm of the White House.

Behind the scenes, aides say, Holder has been rebuilding parts of the department that the Bush administration had effectively neutered, if not shut down, especially the divisions that are charged with enforcing Federal Laws on Civil Rights, Anti-Trust, and the Environment.

After years of scandal, many department Veterans, Democrats and Republicans alike, agree that Holder has restored a sense of calm and competence in the long-battered agency.

"Eric has made real efforts to earn the respect of the American public for the department, which rightly or wrongly lost a lot of respect in the latter years of the Bush administration," Thornburgh said. "That's an accomplishment."

Sources: The Daily Beast

New 9-11 Terrorist Attack Photos Surface; Great Political Move

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New Aerial Photos Of 9/11 Attack Released






















Newly released aerial photos of the World Trade Center terror attack capture the towers' dramatic collapse, from just after the first fiery plane strike to the apocalyptic dust clouds that spread over lower Manhattan and its harbor.

The images were taken from a police helicopter — the only photographers allowed in the air space near the towers on Sept. 11, 2001. They were obtained by ABC News after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which investigated the collapse.

The chief curator of the planned Sept. 11 museum, which is compiling a digital archive of attack coverage, said the still images are "a phenomenal body of work" that show a new, wide-angle look at the towers' collapse and the gray dust clouds that shrouded the city afterward.

The photos are "absolutely core to understanding the visual phenomena of what was happening," said Jan Ramirez, chief curator at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The images of the dust clouds rising as high as some downtown skyscrapers "are some of the most exceptional images in the world, I think, of this event," Ramirez said.

ABC said the NIST gave the network 2,779 pictures on nine CDs, saying some of the photographs had never been released before.

The network posted 12 photos this week on its Web site, all taken by ex-NYPD Aviation Unit Detective Greg Semendinger, who was first in the air in a search for survivors on the rooftop. He said he and his pilot watched the second plane hit the south tower from the helicopter.

"We didn't find one single person. It was surreal," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "There was no sound. No sound whatsoever, but the noise of the radio and the helicopter. I just kept taking pictures."

He took three rolls of film with his Minolta camera, plus 245 digital shots. Semendinger said he gave the digital images to the 9/11 Commission and believes those images were released by the NSIT. In the days after the attack, he e-mailed some of the photos to friends and several were posted on the Internet.

Later, nine of the images were published in a book called "Above Hallowed Ground: A Photographic Record of Sept. 11" without his consent. The book was a tribute to the officers who were killed that day.

The photos capture the enormous scope of the dust that enveloped the area.

In some images, the tops of the nearby Woolworth Building and other skyscrapers can be seen rising above the billowing dark plume against a clear blue sky. Buildings can hardly be seen at all in one image — just a burst of dust clouds hanging over the serene Hudson River at the southern tip of Manhattan.

A close-up image from earlier in the morning shows orange flames and black smoke rising past the antenna on top of the north tower, the first hit by a hijacked plane.

Ramirez said the museum, which is slated to open in 2012, saw a selection of the photos at police headquarters several years ago.

They are extremely important because the NYPD aviation unit had the clearance to be up in the air in lower Manhattan only "moments after the first tower was hit," and stayed in the area for the remainder of the day, she said.

Sometime after 10 a.m., she said they were able to "predict that the north tower was going to fall." It did just before 10:30 a.m.

The museum hopes to get a complete set of the photos.

"We've had our sights set on this body of visual evidence for several years," Ramirez said.

Semendinger retired from the NYPD in 2002 after 35 years, 20 of them in aviation. He said he has thought about publishing his work from those days.

"I almost didn't realize what I was seeing that day," he said. "Looking at it now it's amazing I took those pictures. The images are ... stunning."


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Sources: NYPD, MSNBC, ABC News, Wikipedia, Google Maps

The War On Terror Has Become Obama's "Political Football"

The current media feud between John Brennan & Kit Bond is further proof of how Pres. Obama's Administration has consistently used Partisan Politics to divide our country on every issue, including National Security.

Pres. Obama and his "Chicago Politics" Senior Advisers frequently use Mainstream Media organizations to play the Victim role as a means of diverting attention away from his Administration's failure to accomplish anything substantive.

They intentionally pick fights with Republican Leaders, Right Wing Leaders or Fox News in order to blame their failures on "GOP Obstructionists".

In addition to save his own skin Pres. Obama has consistently thrown White House/ Administration employees under the bus.

The latest poor soul: John Brennan

Here's the real deal:

1) Pres. Obama its not that American Voters personally hate you or wish to see you fail.

2) Its not that GOP or Right Wing Leaders personally hate you or want to see you fail.
(I'm sure everyone realizes Rush Limbaugh doesn't represent the entire Conservative, GOP or Right Wing movement.)

3) Pres. Obama its Your Comprehensive Policies that are failing!

4) Scott Brown's victory was not just some Political Fluke!

Due to your administration playing Political Games voters have become fearful. Scott Brown sensed this fear and seized it to win.

5) If you continue pushing Your Policies instead of listening to Voters and more experienced Congressional Leaders (Democrats & Republicans), your administration will FAIL and you will be a one term President.

Hopefully I'm wrong on this observation but it seems as if Barack Obama doesn't care about our country failing, because his election was only for personal reasons.

Check out the unnecessary feud between Kit Bond and John Brennan on the videos below.

I don't know about you but I'm praying for our nation.

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Kit Bond: John Brennan "Needs to go"


Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) called fTuesday or the removal of the White House's top counterterrorism official, intensifying Republican criticism of the administration's handling of the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day.

Bond said John Brennan, a special assistant to the president for counterterrorism, needs to resign because of the politcal role he has played.

Brennan "needs to go," Bond told the National Review Online, a position spokeswoman Shana Marchio confirmed.

"Our problem now is that we have to wonder whether we can trust Brennan after he has been a mouthpiece for the political arm that I thought only came out of the White House press office," Bond said. "Instead of having real debates on our nation's terror-fighting policies, the national security team has become a bench of political spokespeople."

Bond has accused the administration of negligence for reading the suspected Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, his Miranda rights after less than an hour of questioning. Bond's call for Brennan's resignation comes in the wake of a USA Today op-ed Brennan published Tuesday accusing Republicans of jeopardizing national security with political attacks.

Bond's criticism is directed at a background briefing the administration held for reporters that revealed Abdulmutallab was again providing intelligence to federal investigators — a move designed to thwart Republican attacks accusing the White House of sacrificing valuable intelligence in favor of a fair judicial process.

Bond sent a caustic letter to the administration on the subject, a move that prompted White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to demand that Bond apologize to the White House and the intelligence community. Bond refused.

Bond, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is not the only member of Congress to criticize Brennan; his House-side counterpart, Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan has also accused Brennan of not sharing information with Congress.

Others with ties to the intelligence community think Brennan — who works in closer proximity to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel than any other intelligence official — is behind the push to fight back against political attacks on White House Counter Terrorism Policy.

"There is tension between the intelligence community and Brennan," a Republican member of Congress who has long worked on intelligence issues told POLITICO. "They just feel that he is trying to micromanage, and also playing somewhat of a political role."


Sources: Politico, MSNBC, Meet The Press, Fox News, TPM, Youtube

Arlen Specter Agrees With GOP On Terror! No Miranda Rights!

This afternoon during an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, Democrat Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) of whom by the way is a former Prosecutor, agreed with his G.O.P. Congressional colleagues that Terrorists who come on American soil and commit War Crimes should NOT be Mirandized or given Legal Rights.

He also sees nothing wrong with holding trials for Terrorists in Military Tribunals.

OMG!

Does the Obama Administration have egg on its face?

You should have seen Andrea Mitchell's face.

She thought Senator Specter was going to bash Republicans for saying Pres. Obama's Admininstration handled Umar Matallab's Interrogation incorrectly.

Instead he agreed with them.

Ha Ha!

As Scott Brown mentioned when delivering his victory speech, the American government should NOT be wasting Taxpayer dollars on ensuring that Terrorists who come to KILL American citizens, have legal rights.

Pres. Obama let me ask you when it comes to the "War on Terror" what's more important?

Protecting American Citizens or Mirandizing Terrorists for symbolic purposes??

As the 44th elected U.S. President who is your allegiance to the world stage or American citizens?

I hope Senator Specter doesn't suffer Retaliation from Pres. Obama or Democrats for speaking the truth regarding this situation.

Check out the videos below to hear both sides of the Terror debate including Senator Specter agreeing with Republican Party leadership.

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Sources: MSNBC, CNN

Its Official! No 9-11 Trial Held In NYC! Voters Win!

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9/11 Trials To Be Moved From NYC


Pressured by a growing clamor from New York, the Obama administration has decided to move the trial of Sept. 11 terror suspects away from Manhattan, where it had been scheduled to take place just blocks from the site of the twin towers attack.

Multiple media outlets, including NBC News, The Washington Post and The New York Times, reported on Friday night that the administration has abandoned its plan to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the city.

"New York is out," one administration official told the Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been officially announced. "We're considering other options."

The Justice Department is drawing up plans for possible alternate locations to try Mohammed and four alleged accomplices, two administration officials told The Associated Press earlier Friday.

Though the officials wouldn’t discuss locations under consideration, others have suggested Governors Island, a former military base in New York Harbor that now welcomes summertime picnickers and bike riders; the U.S. Military Academy at West Point or Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters Friday that a backlash had made it “unlikely” the case would go forward in the city. He said plans to hold the trial there started to unravel after a speech he gave recently detailing the enormous costs and logistical challenges of ensuring security at the Federal Courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Criticism of the plan, which had been announced by Attorney General Eric Holder last year, reached a crescendo this week when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his earlier support. On his weekly radio show Friday, Bloomberg said he had spoken with “high level” people in the Obama administration about his concerns and they were “trying to do something.”

Setback for Obama?

New York Gov. David Paterson said he was “elated that our concerns are being considered by the president and the federal government.” He had said earlier this week that if the cases went forward in the city, “Every time there is a loud noise during the two years of those trials it’s going to frighten people, and I think New Yorkers have been through enough.”

Moving the trial would be a setback for President Barack Obama. His administration has spent weeks defending its handling of terror threats following the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner, a case that reignited the debate about whether such terror suspects should face civilian or military justice.

Obama has long supported trying some terrorists in federal, civilian court, while Republicans have argued that terrorists — including the five alleged 9/11 conspirators — should be tried in military tribunals where other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be judged.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said Thursday he has introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds to try Guantanamo detainees in federal civilian courts. Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he’ll introduce a similar bill in the Senate next week.

In a letter sent to the White House Friday, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said the terrorist threat to the U.S. remains high and New York is a prime target. The trial of the most significant terrorist in custody would only add to the threat, she wrote.

When asked by reporters Thursday about the president’s commitment to holding civilian trials, White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama believes Mohammed and his alleged accomplishes could be successfully and securely brought to justice in a federal court.

“Currently our federal jails hold hundreds of convicted terrorists, and the president’s opinion has not changed on that,” Burton said.

Patrick Rowan, once the top counterterrorism official in the Bush Justice Department, said he expects the administration to try to find a new location somewhere in the same federal court district, which extends into suburban counties north of New York City.

“It’s more likely to be a place like a military facility, where the security issues are essentially as tied down as one could expect them to be,” said Rowan.

Mayor Nicholas Valentine of the small upstate city of Newburgh has offered his community as a possible location. The city has a new state-of-the-art courthouse, he said, and is less than a 90-minute commute from Manhattan. The air base there has been used in the past to fly in terror suspects facing trial in the district.

Six senators on Tuesday wrote to Holder and urged him to abandon the idea of a New York City trial.

The letter read, in part, “You will be providing them one of the most visible platforms in the world to exalt their past acts and to rally others in support of further terrorism.”

It was signed by Graham, as well as Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine, Democrats Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jim Webb of Virginia, and independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.



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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Bloomberg, New Yorkers Pressure Obama To Move 9-11 Trial

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White House Asks Justice Department To Look At Other Venues For 9-11 Trial


The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.

The dramatic turnabout came hours after Mayor Bloomberg said he would "prefer that they did it elsewhere" and then spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder.

"It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that's too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood," Bloomberg told reporters.

"There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City."

State and city leaders have increasingly railed against a plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan federal court since Holder proposed it last month.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said he was "pleased" that the administration is reconsidering the location of the trial.

Earlier in the day, Schumer spoke "with high-level members of the administration and urged them to find alternatives," said the senator's spokesman, Josh Vlasto.

The order to consider new venues does not change the White House's position that Mohammed should be tried in civilian court.

"President Obama is still committed to trying Mohammed and four other terrorist detainees in federal court," spokesman Bill Burton said Thursday.

"He agrees with the attorney general's opinion that . . . he and others can be litigated successfully and securely in the United States of America, just like others have," Burton said.

Burton referred questions about the location debate to the Justice Department. While not commenting publicly, a department official disputed the characterization that the White House ordered the possible move.

But another insider told the Daily News that Justice officials have been caught off guard by the fiery opposition in New York.

"They're in a tizzy at Justice over Bloomberg," a federal law enforcement official said. "It's like a half-baked soufflé - the plan is collapsing."

Julie Menin, the chairwoman of Community Board 1 who helped rally opposition to the plan, called the shift "a step in the right direction."

"I'm thrilled the White House is reconsidering," Menin said. "The trial has to be moved out of New York City."

Meanwhile, a source told The News that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was the driving force behind the push by Manhattan business leaders to change the mayor's mind on the trial.

Kelly made an "extremely powerful" speech to a roomful of 150 prominent business leaders about how disruptive and costly the trial would be for lower Manhattan at an annual police charity event on Jan. 13, the source said.

"What turned this around was when Ray made a presentation to the Police Foundation," the source said. "Everyone went from thinking, 'Justice will be served' to thinking 'We are screwed.' "

What followed was a barrage of complaints to the mayor from some of New York's most powerful tycoons - part of a tide of pressure that led Bloomberg to turn against hosting the trial.

Estimates put the cost of a multiyear terror trial in lower Manhattan at about $200 million a year. Leaders have suggested other venues for the trial, such as the Military Academy at West Point or Stewart Air National Guard Base in upstate Newburgh.

The federal government has said they would reimburse the city for the costs, most of which cover overtime for increased security, but they won't reimburse business owners for lost revenue during the chaos, said Steven Spinola, president of the heavyweight business group Real Estate Board of New York.

"Is the federal government going to give the city $1 billion plus the cost of propping up businesses? I don't think so," Spinola said.

"The mayor clearly has been thinking about this. The tide is turning," he said.


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Sources: NY Daily News, MSNBC, The Daily Beast, Google Maps

Bloomberg, Congress Oppose Holding 9-11 Trials In NYC

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Mayor Bloomberg Doesn't Want 9-11 Trials In NYC

Mayor Now Says It'd Be "Great" to Move Terror Trials


A week after he said trying five high-profile terror suspects half a mile off the tip of Manhattan was one of the "dumber ideas" he's ever heard, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is saying a change of venue from NYC wouldn't be so bad.

If the feds can find another spot to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused terrorists, Bloomberg now wants them to go for it.

"It's up to the federal government ... but if they were to move it elsewheres I'd be very happy. But you'd have to ask them," Bloomberg said at a Q&A session Wednesday.

The mayor's support for an alternative location to hold the 9/11 terror trials marks a complete reversal from his sentiments last week, when he flatly rejected proposals to move the trial to the less trafficked, less populated Governor's Island.

Bloomberg's outright dismissal of the idea earned him reprimand from political players like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver accused him of being insensitive to the concerns of residents of Lower Manhattan who feared the implications of holding the trial Downtown.

But as projected security costs for the high-profile trial continue to escalate and the complex plan develops, Bloomberg appears to be reconsidering his options. "The mayor supported the decision to hold the trial in lower Manhattan in principle, but the security plan has since been developed and the practical implications of that plan will have a real impact on downtown residents," Bloomberg spokesman Jason Post told NBC New York. "He therefore would support an alternate venue."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly initially estimated costs for the trial would run around $75 million. That estimate quickly upped to a whopping $250 million a year for as long as the suspects are detained in the city.

Now Bloomberg says costs could soar as high as $1 billion. He reached the staggering sum by multiplying the $250 million a year estimate by four, pointing out no one could know for sure how long the trials would last.

"It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn't cost $1 billion, which using downtown will and it will also impact traffic, commerce and people's lifestyles downtown and it would be great if we didn't do it," Bloomberg said.

Ultimately, the decision is up to the federal government.

"The key thing here is that this is not the mayor’s decision; this is a decision to be made by the federal government," Post told NBC New York. "The city’s role would be to provide security outside the courtroom."

The mayor had backed the Obama's administration to hold the terror trials down the block from Ground Zero since Attorney General Eric Holder announced the decision in November. At the time, Bloomberg called it a "fitting location" and said he had confidence the NYPD could handle the additional security requirements.

Residents in Lower Manhattan banded together to battle the decision, arguing it could endanger their homes and hamper local business. Concerned citizens, led by Community Board 1, proposed the trial be moved to Governor's Island.

Kelly ordered an initial review of the viability of trying the five terror suspects on Governor's Island, but analysts determined it to be an unsuitable location.

"An NYPD initial review has found Governor’s Island an impractical alternative as a site for the trial of the 9/11 defendants, principally because of risks related to transporting the prisoners to and from the island, as well as the general lack of modern infrastructure there," Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said in a statement last week.


Sources: MSNBC, AP, Youtube