Now this is downright funny....

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http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/wh-some-critics-serving-
the-goals-of-al-qaeda.html

Political Punch

Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent
Jake Tapper


WH: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'
February 09, 2010 7:16 AM


In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan -- Assistant to the President and 
Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and 
Counterterrorism -- responds to critics of the Obama administration's 
counterterrorism policies by saying "Politically motivated criticism and
unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

Brennan writes that, "Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they 
deserve the abject fear they seek to instill."

In the oped, titled "'We need no lectures': Administration disrupts 
terrorists’ plots, takes fight to them abroad," Brennan writes that 
politics "should never get in the way of national security. But too many
in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political 
points, instead of coming together to keep us safe."

The administration op-ed is in response to a USA Today editorial 
entitled "National security team fails to inspire confidence; Officials’
handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour."

Brennan provides a detailed defense of the administration's handling of 
failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab whom, he says, was
"thoroughly interrogated and provided important information."

He suggests that many critics are hypocritical and clueless.

The most important breakthrough in the interrogation occurred "after 
Abdulmutallab was read his rights, which the FBI made standard policy 
under Michael Mukasey, President Bush's attorney general," he writes, 
noting that failed shoe bomber Richard Reid "was read his Miranda rights
five minutes after being taken off a plane he tried to blow up. The same
people who criticize the president today were silent back then."

Brennan said anyone who wants to change the policy would be casting 
aside lessons learned "in waging this war" on extremists. 

"Terrorists such as Jose Padilla and Saleh al-Mari did not cooperate 
when transferred to military custody, which can harden one's 
determination to resist cooperation," he writes. 

He calls it "naive to think that transferring Abdulmutallab to military 
custody would have caused an outpouring of information. There is little 
difference between military and civilian custody, other than an 
interrogator with a uniform. The suspect gets access to a lawyer, and 
interrogation rules are nearly identical."

Moreover, Brennan says, hundreds of terrorists have been convicted in 
criminal courts while only three have been convicted in the military 
tribunal system.

The former CIA official also asserts that the Obama administration is 
doing a better job than the Bush administration did in taking the fight 
to al Qaeda. "This administration's efforts have disrupted dozens of 
terrorist plots against the homeland and been responsible for killing 
and capturing hundreds of hard-core terrorists, including senior leaders
in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and beyond — far more than in 2008."

"We need no lectures about the fact that this nation is at war," he 
says.

USA Today's editorial writers see it all a bit differently, of course, 
writing that though "the Obama administration's national security 
officials have struggled to assure the public that they know exactly 
what they're doing," they are so far "achieving the opposite, and 
they're needlessly adding some jitters in the process."

The editorial writers fault the Obama administration for announcing 
"last week that an attack by al-Qaeda is likely in the next three to six
months. The warning is bound to frighten the public, with no obvious 
benefit beyond the ability to say 'I told you so.'" 

They also refer to National Intelligence Director Admiral Dennis Blair 
(ret.) as having "had a 'Duh!' moment" for acknowledging that 
"authorities fumbled the initial questioning of Abdulmutallab by failing
to call in the high-value interrogation group, which was created to 
question terrorism suspects. Refreshingly candid, yes, but not a 
statement that inspires confidence. Especially when the same day, at 
another Senate hearing, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that the 
high-value unit was still in its 'formation stages' and that 'there was 
no time' to get it to Detroit."

USA Today's editorial writers say that when senior administration 
officials revealed Abdulmutallab's cooperation with authorities, "the 
news pretty much negate(d) earlier claims that no intelligence was lost 
when Abdulmutallab was prematurely read his rights."

- jpt

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