Selective memory? Former Bush official Hughes ignored Reid’s ties to Al Qaeda
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on January 18th, 2010 5:51 am by HL
Selective memory? Former Bush official Hughes ignored Reid’s ties to Al Qaeda
On Meet the Press, public relations executive and former Bush administration official Karen Hughes argued that Northwest Airlines bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should not be tried in a criminal court — as “shoe bomber” Richard Reid was — because the “circumstances weren’t similar. He [Reid] was not sent here by Al Qaeda to engage in an act of war against our country.” However, Reid’s indictment explicitly tied him to Al Qaeda training camps; the FBI reportedly believed “an al Qaeda bomb maker” made Reid’s bomb; and, during his sentencing, Reid professed “allegiance” to Osama bin Laden before saying he was “at war” with the United States.
Hughes claims Abdulmutallab and Reid situations “weren’t similar” because Reid wasn’t “sent here by Al Qaeda”
From the January 17 broadcast of NBC’s Meet the Press:
HUGHES: I do think that President Obama has made some decisions that have been very ill-advised in the area of national security. For example, the decision to try the Christmas Day — the Al Qaeda operative who came here to engage in an act of war against our country on Christmas Day — in civilian courts is a mistake. He’s someone who was training in the training camps in Yemen. He might have knowledge of other pending attacks against our country. He should have been interrogated legally and designated as an enemy combatant and interrogated —
DAVID GREGORY (host): He did provide a good deal of information just being interrogated by existing methods.
HUGHES: Well, he could have, you say.
GREGORY: No, he was. He provided a lot of information so far.
HUGHES: I hope so. But again, I think it’s a mistake to take someone — we have to be very honest about what is at stake in this war against Al Qaeda.
JOHN PODESTA (CEO, Center for American Progress): That’s exactly what the Bush administration did with Mr. Reeves [sic], the shoe bomber, who was — in very similar circumstances, was traveling to the United States.
HUGHES: The circumstances weren’t similar. He was not sent here by Al Qaeda to engage in an act of war against our country. It was not a similar situation.
Reid indictment tied him to Al Qaeda training camps
Two of the counts against Reid said “[at] various times relevant to this count, Richard Colvin Reid received training from Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.” On January 16, 2002, a grand jury indicted Reid on eight counts related to terrorism, including “attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against a national of the United States,” and “attempted homicide of a national of the United States outside the United States.” For those two charges, the indictment states:
1. At all times relevant to this count brought under Title 18, United States Code, Chapter 113B–Terrorism, Al-Qaeda was a designated foreign terrorist organization pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §1189.
2. At various times relevant to this count, Richard Colvin Reid received training from Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
FBI reportedly suspected Al Qaeda involvement in Reid’s attempted attack
NY Times: “Prosecutors said they found evidence that” Reid “had help” with constructing his bomb. In a January 31, 2003, article on Reid’s sentencing, The New York Times reported: “Although Mr. Reid told investigators that he had constructed the bombs himself from materials he bought in Europe, prosecutors said they found evidence that he had help. Among the evidence was a human hair in the bomb and a palm print on the paper used to make the detonator.”
Mueller reportedly said FBI believed “an al Qaeda bomb maker” made Reid’s bomb. In a May 2002 speech before the National Association of District Attorneys, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III reportedly said that the FBI believed that ”an Al Qaeda bomb maker” made Reid’s shoe bomb.
During sentencing, Reid pledged “allegiance” to bin Laden and said he was “at war” with the U.S.
Reid: I “admit my allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah.” According to CNN transcripts from Reid’s January 30, 2003, sentencing hearing, Reid said: “I further admit my allegiance to Osama bin Laden,” and “I am at war with your country.” He added:
REID: With regards to what you said about killing innocent people, I will say one thing. Your government has killed 2 million children in Iraq. If you want to think about something, against 2 million, I don’t see no comparison.
Your government has sponsored the rape and torture of Muslims in the prisons of Egypt and Turkey and Syria and Jordan with their money and with their weapons. I don’t know, see what I done as being equal to rape and to torture, or to the deaths of the two million children in Iraq.
Reid: “I am at war with your country.” Reid further stated:
REID: So, for this reason, I think I ought not apologize for my actions. I am at war with your country. I’m at war with them not for personal reasons but because they have murdered more than, so many children and they have oppressed my religion and they have oppressed people for no reason except that they say we believe in Allah.
