Weekly Standard Blog

Who are the 300 Terrorists Convicted under the Bush Administration?

10:42 AM, Feb 5, 2010 ·
BY John McCormack
Byron York reports on Senator Jon Kyl's efforst to get to the bottom of an Obama administration talking point on Gitmo and terrorism. Attorney General Eric Holder reiterates in his letter to the Senate this week that "Bush administration used the criminal justice system to convict more than 300 individuals on terrorism-related charges," but Holder has been unable to provide the names of those individuals even though Jon Kyl has been asking for them since May 2009. "It's a disingenuous argument," says Kyl. "There haven't been 300 high-profile, dangerous terrorism cases in the United States -- if there were, we would have heard about them."

To grasp just how evasive the administration is being, read the whole thing.

Jed Babbin-Founder of Human Events Asks the Big Question

Obama, the Weak Horse
by Jed Babbin
01/11/2010

Soon upon us will be the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration. It’s time to ask, are we safer or in more danger than we were a year ago? By every objective measure -- what we know about Islamic terrorism, its intentions and capabilities -- the answer is no. We are far less safe now than we were then.

To ask how much danger are we in is fatuous. You may as well ask, “[H]ow much danger is there”? The president has taken actions that -- again objectively -- have increased our vulnerability tremendously. Two of the actions he took immediately after taking office prove the point. And the actions he and Attorney General Eric Holder have since taken only increase the danger.

Last week, White House counterterrorism czar John Brennan said that we would still, on a case by case basis, release Gitmo detainees to Yemen. This despite the facts that would-be underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was trained there by an al Queda cell that reportedly contains two Gitmo alumni and that the Yemenis released Jamal al-Badawi, one of the men responsible for the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

“The Intelligence Committee has held a number of briefings and hearings in the past year that clearly demonstrate that the security situation in Yemen has deteriorated. Terrorists, including al Queda, have found Yemen to be a relative safe haven from which to plan attacks, both against Yemeni targets and externally. Unfortunately, we cannot rely on assurances that detainees transferred to Yemen for detention will be held securely until they no longer pose a threat.”

HisHighness is Stonewalling on Gitmo

Boehner Statement on Delay of Administration’s Six-Month Report on Guantanamo Bay Terrorist Prison
WASHINGTON, DC - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the delay of the Administration’s six-month report, as ordered by the President’s executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison by January 2010:

“For months, Republicans have been asking the President to present his plan for what to do with the dangerous terrorists currently housed at the Guantanamo prison. The delay of this six-month report is further proof that the Administration has no plan, and six months away from the his arbitrary deadline for closing the prison, the American people are right to ask if the Administration will import any of these terrorists into the United States. Despite the fact that a solid majority of the American people and a bipartisan majority here in Congress oppose releasing or bringing these imprisoned terrorists into the United States, the White House has yet to provide the American people an iron-clad guarantee that it will not choose this dangerous course of action. Instead of taking unilateral action that could put our nation at risk, the Administration should listen to these concerns, take them into account, and outline a comprehensive strategy for keeping these terrorists off American soil.
“Two months ago, Republicans introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act to protect Americans from dangerous terrorists being imported into our communities. This legislation includes common sense provisions to require governors and state legislators to pre-approve the transfer of prisoners into their states. In the absence of a plan from the White House, if Democratic leaders are serious about protecting the American people, they will schedule this bill for a vote in the House of Representatives.”

NOTE: On May 7, House Republicans introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act (H.R. 2294) to:
(1) affirm Congress’ opposition to transferring or releasing terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States;
(2) prohibit the Administration from transferring or releasing any terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay to any state without express approval from the state’s governor and legislature; and
(3) prohibit the President from transferring or releasing a terrorist detainee into the United States unless he provides notification and certification to Congress.

Military Families United Issues Report on Ohbaby

America's leading military family advocacy organization has released President Obama's 100-day National Security Report Card, evaluating the administration's policy decisions in a number of key areas.

The grades were not so glowing in a report card issued by Military Families United (MFU), which evaluated Obama and his defense team on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, veterans, defense policies, and military family issues. Commander Kirk Lippold (USN-Ret.), the senior military fellow for MFU, says while Obama scored Bs on Iraq and Afghanistan, he received an F for his actions involving Guantanamo Bay.

"I think that the decision to close Guantanamo Bay by an arbitrary date with no plans in place, no policy established, and no idea about what you're going to do with those detainees, clearly is nothing more than a political model," he contends. "And our nation's security cannot be driven by politics."

Obama, according to Lippold, needs to be closely watched. "I would say that overall his performance has been average. And quite frankly, he bears a lot of watching," he adds. "You have to, again, look at what he does -- not what he eloquently says he's going to do. Keep an eye on him because if you don't, he will try to fly things under the radar and do things in the dark of night."

Lippold says Obama received C grades in the areas of veterans and defense policy, but only a D on handling issues related to military families.