Troublesome Acquittals in Plot to Blowup Jetliners

The first story excerpted below illustrates again why we can not turn over the apprehension and punishment of Islamic terrorists who are non-citizens to the civilian criminal justice system that failed us so markedly after the 1993 World Trade center bombing. Although three men were convicted in Britain, others went free. We need to have the military services of the United States and our allies deal with these butchers on a war footing and under wartime rules. This is a war with no boundaries. That’s been the policy of the Bush Administration, and that’s been the policy that has kept us safe these last seven years; and that policy includes battlefield combat, enhanced surveillance, imprisonment in Guantanamo and rough questioning if necessary.

British jury finds 3 men guilty of conspiracy to murder in terrorist bombing plot

September 8, 2008 StarTribune.com (Excerpt)

“LONDON - Three British Muslims with ties to Pakistan were found guilty Monday of conspiracy to murder in a terrorist bombing campaign but jurors failed to reach a verdict on whether they plotted to blow up multiple trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks.

The failure to get convictions on the more serious charges was a major setback to the British government, which has struggled to put suspected terrorists behind bars with intelligence from multiple countries.

Last month, government prosecutors failed to convict three other men of helping to plan the deadly London transit bombings of 2005 — the worst attack on Britain's capital since World War II.

In Monday's decision, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and co-conspirators Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were convicted of trying to make a bomb out of hydrogen peroxide.

But the jury struggled to find enough evidence to support prosecutors' claims that the men planned suicide attacks targeting passenger jets flying from London to major North American cities.

The three will be sentenced at a later date.

The men were arrested on Aug. 10, 2006 — a date that would go down in history as the day when air travel changed dramatically.

Airports in the United States and Europe ground to a halt with hundreds of flights canceled over security concerns. Planes were stuck on runways for hours. Tempers flared as passengers lined up to surrender carry-on items under new security precautions that severely restricted the quantity of liquids in their luggage — limits that remain in place until today.

Prosecutors said they would consider a request for retrial of the three men. The jury failed to reach verdicts Monday on four other men facing the same charges — Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan, Waheed Zaman and Umar Islam. Prosecutors would consider a retrial for them as well.

An eighth man, Mohammed Gulzar, was found not guilty.
Prosecutor Peter Wright said during the trial that the men planned to attack United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada flights at the height of the 2006 summer vacation season.

British and US intelligence officers said the alleged plot was uncovered during a marathon investigation that led to a number of different sites including a bomb factory in eastern London, British woodlands where chemicals had been dumped, Japan, Mauritius, South Africa and Pakistan's lawless tribal areas where conversations were intercepted.

Police swooped down and arrested two dozen suspects in dawn raids across Britain on Aug. 10, 2006.” StarTribune.com

In an obvious appeal to their moonbat supporters on the radical left, Barack Obama and Joe Biden announced that, if they win the presidency, they will try Bush and others for crimes. This is another great reason for not letting these leftists anywhere near the American Presidency.

Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush

September 03 2008 guardian.co.uk (Excerpt)

“Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

Obama sounded a similar note in April, vowing that if elected, he would ask his attorney general to initiate a prompt review of Bush-era actions to distinguish between possible "genuine crimes" and "really bad policies".” Guardian

So here we have a Democratic candidate for president threatening to prosecute a sitting president with whom he disagrees. Perhaps we can figure out a crime for which we can prosecute Senator Obama. No, no matter how much we’d like to, only Democrats try to criminalize political differences.

It was, after all, primarily the Bush Administration’s electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists and their accomplices that led to the apprehension of these airplane bombers, and shut down the attempt to bring down 10 jetliners en route from Great Britain to America.