KY?s Terrorism Case Pits Sen. McConnell against A.G. Holder
By Ellen Cannon
���� The fierce debate over the status of Guantanamo and the venue for trying terrorist cases is playing itself out in a pitched political battle between the Kentucky Senator and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Attorney General Eric Holder.
���� Senate Minority Leader McConnell loudly attempted to rally citizens of Kentucky to send a clear message to the President and Attorney General Holder to send the Iraqi nationals arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky to the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Claiming to be speaking in behalf of the residents of Bowling Green who fear that a terror trial in their neck of the woods would bring retaliatory attacks.
���� Warren-County Judge Executive, Mike Buchanan, agreed, saying ?the residents of Bowling Green, the home to Western Kentucky University as well as Junior Senator Rand Paul, (R-KY) ?feel exposed since the alleged terrorists were arrested .??They are worried about becoming a soft target.?
���� Minority Leader McConnell took to the floor of the Senate to make a speech that was meant for the ears of the Attorney General who strongly advocates terrorist suspects be tried in federal civilian court as well as have full rights extended to all parties in a federal trial.� Arguing that foreign terrorists belong at the secure detention facility at Gitmo, he said ?There is a wide, bi-partisan opposition to giving the rights of U.S. Citizens to men who tried to kill our troops on the battlefield?Unfortunately, this administration has been working since its first week in office to do just that, regardless of the opposition in those communities or their elected officials in Congress.?(www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts-law-attorney-general-defends-civilian-terror, 6/17/11)
��� Hitting home the sense of vulnerability civilians felt in Kentucky said on Friday, ?Before this ill-advised decision to try these foreign terrorists in Bowling Green, I think I?m fairly safe in saying there is probably not a foreign terrorist in the world who could have found Bowling Green, Ky., on a map. They know where it is now.? (Bruce, Schreiner, AP, ?McConnell: Ky. Terror case unique, should be moved.)
���� Minority Leader McConnell also said that?Sending them to Gitmo is the only way we can prevent Kentuckians from having to cover the cost and having to deal with the disturbances and disruptions that would come with a civilian trial.� And sending them to Gitmo is the best way to ensure that they get what they deserve.� So today, I am calling on the administration to change course- and get these men out of Kentucky.? (www.kentucky.com, 6/17/11)
���� Waad Ramadan Alwan, 30, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, the alleged terrorists at the center of this latest legal drama, are Iraqi refugees living in Bowling Green.� They were indicted for plotting to send sniper rifles; rocket-propelled grenade launchers, explosives and money back to Iraq to be used in attacks on U.S. troops. Alwan is charged in a 23 count indictment with conspiracy to kill a U.S. national, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support for terrorists.� Hammadi is charged with� knowingly transferring, possessing or exporting a device designed or intended to launch or guide a rocket or missile .(www.kentucky.com/6/09/11).
���� Junior Senator Rand Paul adds an additional critical concern to the case- The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and visa entrees for persons assisting U.S. forces. Senator Paul wants to know how these two men entered the United States, spent two years plotting to help al-Qaida attack American soldiers in Iraq, while federal officials unknowingly had evidence to link one of the alleged terrorists to a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005.
���� Alwan?s fingerprints were lifted off an improvised explosive devise near Bayki, Iraq, in September 2005. In order to enter under refugee status, ?he had to provide a set of fingerprints for a security check. The DHS acknowledged that authorities failed to connect the fingerprints until January.? (www.kentucky.com, 6.2.11).The DHS has stated that the ?gaps that allowed Alwan and Hammadi to slip in have been filled since the time of the error.?� According to the Associated Press, the FBI would not say how the two men were granted refugee status nor would they address why it took so long to match Alwan?s fingerprints to those lifted off the IED. Homeland security officials did tell the Associated Press, that the gaps began to be filled in at DHS as a result of the Christmas Day bombing in 2009. Following that incident ?DHS started comparing applicant information against a broader set of data after the arrest of Uman Farouk Abdulmutallab.?(AP, www.kentucky.com6/2/11)�
���� According to Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Studies program at George Washington University, what is the most troubling is having this much evidence that was not recognized by US officials. Senator Paul has called for congressional hearings to determine how the two men entered the United States and were granted refugee status. He said, ?I will work in the Senate to fix the visa process, or I will end it.
���� The administration, Attorney General Holder, and legal experts have argued that prosecuting the men in federal court is a proven method to ensure the country?s safety. U.S. Justice Department official Dean Boyd stated that ?there has never been a military- commission prosecution of a terror suspect arrested on American soil.?� U.S. Attorney David Hale, the top federal prosecutor for the western half of Kentucky stated, ?Neither suspect is charged with plotting terrorist attacks in the U.S. and hundreds of people have been convicted of terrorism related offenses in civilian courts?Not one of these individuals escaped custody. Not one of the judicial districts involved has suffered retaliatory attacks.?(www.kentucky.com 6/16/11)
���� Minority Leader McConnell is not the first to challenge an Attorney General over this matter. Members of Congress have successfully pressured the administration to change a terror trial to a military commission.� The most famous case involved Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 attack.
���� In an address to the American Constitution Society?s convention, Attorney General Holder stated that ?the rigid ideology of opponents will not result in a change of course from civilian courts which he said have proven to handle hundreds of cases successfully to military commissions.�� Mr. Holder bemoaned the introduction of politics into what he said must remain an ?impartial and effective administration of justice.?
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