MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“Obama Reclaims War on Terror,” Ellis Henican Column, amNew York, May 22, 2009
No one was water-boarded. No secret tribunals were held. The word “Guantanamo” wasn’t even mentioned.
It was old-fashioned police work, overseen by a civilian federal court, that busted open America’s latest terror plot. Investigation, arrest, arraignment, evidence, prosecution and defense — the time-honored techniques of the justice system serve
us well again.
This is worth remembering as Barack Obama tries to reclaim the war on terror from the political scaredy cats, those nervous nellies who think we have to trade our basic American values in order to be safe.
It’s a false choice, the president made clear.
Our leaders went “off course” in the war on terror, he said Thursday at the National Archives. Water-boarding and other torturous techniques “did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts — they undermined them.” And the “mess” at Guantanamo Bay “has weakened American national security” by handing our worst enemies their easiest rallying cry.
And yet 10 blocks away at the American Enterprise Institute, there was Dick Cheney, still defending the discredited tactics of the past. “They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do,” the former vice president said.
It’s an important debate, this question of exactly what we believe in and exactly what we will do. But like most such debate, it’s unlikely to change many minds.
Maybe this will: A confidential informant. A careful surveillance program. A crafty sting. And the fine, quiet work of the New York Police Department and the FBI.
Thanks to the tools of traditional law enforcement, four alleged terrorists were taken off the streets Wednesday night and likely on their way to long prison terms.
The scaredy cats keep telling us that basic American justice doesn’t work any more, that concepts like evidence and proof and constitutional rights are just too risky for such a dangerous age.
They say we just can’t afford the values we used to afford.
Well, some hard hard-working cops and agents had a well worn answer for that kind of thinking.
“You’re under arrest,” they said.
Email ellis@henican.com. Follow at twitter.com/henican
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