Terrorists or criminals?

In the previous post, I observed that the Obama administration views the war on terror as something less than a war. To them, it's a simple matter of law enforcement. It's almost like the President was trying to make that point for me when he came out Monday and said:

"Here's what we know so far: On Christmas Day, Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit. As the plane made its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a passenger allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body, setting off a fire."

"Allegedly?" Does anyone, anywhere, doubt that was what happened? Obama then went on to refer to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab four times as a "suspect," as though he had just been pulled over for possible drunken driving or something.

This is the language of law enforcement. When an American citizen is observed doing something that might be illegal, that person is a "suspect," and they are only "alleged" to have done something until it is proven in a court of law. The words represent basic constitutional rights of Americans.

Citizens of other countries, who train in terrorist camps and try to commit mass murder on an airplane, and NOT entitled to these rights, no matter how many crybaby ACLU lawyers come out of the woodwork.

Instead of treating Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant, and taking him to a military base for interrogation, we are treating him like a suspected burglar, or some such thing. According to today's Washington Post:

"Abdulmutallab remains in a Detroit area prison and, after initial debriefings by the FBI, has restricted his cooperation since securing a defense attorney, according to federal officials. Authorities are holding out hope that he will change his mind and cooperate with the probe, the officials said."

Isn't that beautiful? We've made sure he has an attorney, and now we are "holding out hope" that he might decide to talk. Think about the message that sends to all of the other would-be bombers training in al-Qaeda camps: "Don't worry, you'll either blow yourself up and go to paradise, or you'll get a nice warm jail cell and a lawyer, and at your trial you'll be able to tell the whole world about the greatness of Allah and the need for jihad. And don't worry about ending up in some detainee camp like Guantanamo, because Obama already promised to close that up."

Until this administration decides we are at war, not just policing the neighborhood, more and more American lives will be at risk.