The Failed Policies of the Past

Barack said something horrifying in his interview with Jake Tapper yesterday. When the conversation turned to last week's Supreme Court decision on Gitmo, Barack volunteered the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 as evidence of how treating terrorists like common criminals was a superior approach to treating them like the violent, military enemy that they are. Talk about wanting to return to the failed policies of the past!

And it is my firm belief that we can track terrorists, we can crack down on threats against the United States, but we can do so within the constraints of our Constitution. And there has been no evidence (offered)... that we can't.

The criminal trials may have put some of the culprits behind bars, but they left those who conspired overseas to attack the World Trade Center unchecked, and able to be involved in future terrorist acts.

And, you know, let's take the example of Guantanamo. What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks -- for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.

What's odd is that there was no need for Barack to mention this - it wasn't necessarily cogent to the point about Gitmo - it was as if he was looking for a chance to make the point.

And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, "Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims."

I wonder which countries these are, and what the numbers are that he's defining as a huge boost. Anyway, the McCain campaign organized a conference call with the media today so they could parade out experts to take exception to Barack's point. McCain wants Barack talking about foreign policy, since he's obviously not good at it.

"Senator Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mindset," declared Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's director of foreign policy and national security.

James Woolsey, CIA director during the Clinton administration, said Obama was advocating "an extremely dangerous and extremely naïve approach toward terrorism."

America's Mayor also weighed in.

"Throughout this campaign, I have been very concerned that the Democrats want to take a step back to the failed policies that treated terrorism solely as a law enforcement matter rather than a clear and present danger," Giuliani said. "Barack Obama appears to believe that terrorists should be treated like criminals -- a belief that underscores his fundamental lack of judgment regarding our national security. In a post 9/11 world, we need to remain on offense against the terrorist threat which seeks to destroy our very way of life."