Jen Rubin flags Brennan’s response to Fox News’ Chris Wallace this Sunday about the administration’s decision to put the Christmas bomber in the criminal court system instead of treating him as an enemy combatant. Just as in the case of the decision to try certain Gitmo detainees in NYC, the administration’s rationale is pretty unclear. After listening to Brennan, you’re almost left thinking there must be some lefty-blog penned justification that’s more convincing than this. Brennan says the decision was appropriate, that indeed the bomber can clam up as he pleases, but that there are certain things “on the table” that might prevent him from doing so. Instead of just admitting that the liberal lawyers at the Justice Department and the administration believe being nicer to terrorists will pay some amorphous and as yet unseen dividends in the way the world perceives us, thereby creating fewer terrorists, Brennan tries to argue there is no upside to bringing this terrorist into civilian courts:
Well, one of the upsides would be you wouldn’t have to plea bargain with a terrorist. Another would be while you weren’t plea bargaining, you could be getting actionable intelligence about other terrorist attacks. But instead of wrestling with those issues, Brennan chooses the “trust me” message Holder used when confronted by 9/11 family member Alice Hoagland in November over the KSM trial:
Yeah, Mrs. Hoagland wasn’t convinced either.
