-By John Armor
Last week, I wrote about 11 factually false statements in President Obama’s State of the Union address. Normally, one should not repeat the same subject next week. But, did you see the appearance of Obama before the Republicans meeting in Baltimore? I know that a few hundred of you are political junkies like me, and you saw that live.
I’m going to ask you a question. Don’t think. Don’t pause. Answer with the first thing that comes to mind. What occurred to you, when you heard Obama say, “I am not an ideologue.”?
I thought of Richard Nixon, toe to toe with Dan Rather (back when Rather was actually a reporter), Nixon answering, “I am not a crook.” Did you think the same thing? If so, here’s why.
When people have their backs to the wall, they will tell an obvious lie, perhaps just to fool themselves. Is Obama an ideologue? Here’s some of the evidence.
The trial of KSM and other planners of the 9/11 attacks should be in a military tribunal. The decision to move the trial to ordinary criminal court in New York City was not, could not have been, made by Attorney General Eric Holder. He has zero authority over the military, and they had custody of these terrorists when they caught them.
This decision was made by Obama. Holder may be setting himself to be the fall guy when this issue does south. But he did not make that decision.
Here is a link to the unanimous Supreme Court decision in 1942 which held that terrorists, one of them an American citizen and all captured in the US, could and should be tried by a military tribunal. The case is Ex Parte Quirin. It is 26 pages. Laymen can read and understand it. No one who has not read it is competent even to comment on the way to try terrorists, since Quirin is still good law.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/quirin.html
Has Obama read this case? Given his touting of his legal and constitutional background he must understand it Only an ideologue would deliberately ride roughshod over a unanimous Supreme Court decision to reach his desired result – trial in an ordinary criminal case.
Look at the factual side of the same question. These defendants were ready to plead guilty, issue a lengthy diatribe against the US, and then accept their fate. Obama stopped that procedure just before the guilty pleas were accepted. Had Obama not intervened, these defendants would already have been convicted, sentenced, hanged by the neck until dead, then buried in some mud hut backwater to the uluation of thousands of women in bags.
Only an ideologue would throw away that outcome, in favor of trying to find an American jurisdiction willing to accept $200 million to have the criminal trial of KSM and friends in an ordinary criminal court in their town. And this is leaving aside the fact that some charges have already been dropped against these defendants.
The Quirin case points out some extremely important differences between a military tribunal and an Article III criminal court. Only an ideologue would throw away the substantial advantages to prosecutors in maintaining all charges, and offering all probative evidence.
It is not just in dealing with terrorists that Obama is a hard-wired ideologue. Look at his economic policies. The Constitution, laws, and history of the United States show more phenomenal growth and economic success than any other nation in world history. It has been built on individual effort and creativity. It has come from the private sector.
Ignoring this law and history of success, the policies of the Obama administration go in the opposite direction. Citizens should be herded into government programs, or into businesses that are controlled and run by the government. It is the leftists of the world, in socialist, communist, and fascist nations, who share this ideological viewpoint.
What is an ideologue? When they are very committed, all who disagree with them become enemies – immoral fools whose views are unworthy to be considered. In short, an ideologue is like a three-year-old boy with a wooden hammer and a box of blocks. Because he thinks a square peg will go into a round hole, he will pound away for hours, and tell anyone who asks that he is making fine progress.
If Obama really is an ideologue, we are all in danger. Our homes, our jobs, our schools, our communities, our military, and our lives as civilians are all at risk from Obama and the current appointees in the administration.
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John Armor is a graduate of Yale, and Maryland Law School, and has 33 years practice at law in the US Supreme Court. Mr. Armor has authored seven books and over 750 articles. Armor happily lives on a mountaintop in the Blue Ridge. He can be reached at: John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
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