Still, some of Farouk1986′s writings offer a hopeful tone. He writes about expecting to get over his loneliness when he attends university classes and joins local Islamic groups. He discusses television and soccer, but at one point gets upset after another person posts a sarcastic remark about soccer loyalties.
“I had butterflies going through my stomach reading that,”Farouk1986 wrote. “I acted hypocritically? May Allah forgive me for that. I’m very sorry. Now i feel all bad. Maybe its time to say bye bye to this thread. I’m sorry if i offended anyone. Please all should forgive me.” (Emphasis mine)
(CNN) — The man who allegedly lit an explosive on board a U.S.-bound international flight deserves none of the constitutional protections afforded American citizens, a former top Bush administration official said Monday.
Tom Ridge, who served as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005, made the comments on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”
“I take a look at this individual who has been charged criminally, does that mean he gets his Miranda warnings? The only information we get is if he volunteers it?” Ridge said. “He’s not a citizen of this country. He’s a terrorist, and I don’t think he deserves the full range of protections of our criminal justice system embodied in the Constitution of the United States.”
Right! Torture ought to get the information out of him! Except that Abdulmutallab is already talking. In fact, he’s singing like a bird:
Abdulmutallab claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, said a U.S. law enforcement official. But others cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately. Another official said the U.S. had known for at least two years that that the Mutallab could have had terrorist ties and was on a list that includes people with known or suspected ties to a terrorist organization.
So he’s freely giving details of the plot and he’s obviously incompetent in the whole blowing-up things department, but we’re supposed to, what, send him to Gitmo? It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. But then, when it comes to terrorism the last eight years haven’t made any sense. Back to CNN:
Ridge also said he was “not surprised” about reports that two former detainees in the detention center at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had joined up with the group that claimed responsibility for Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab’s failed terrorist attack.
“It’s a symptom of a larger challenge that this country has, and that’s how do you adjudicate these individuals that we pick up from these places and make a determination if they should be incarcerated for a long time, if not permanently,” he said.
Here’s what you do with Abdulmutallab: you put him in a jail cell. A regular, old-fashioned one. you question him. You try him and convict him for the actual crime he has actually committed. Then you leave him to rot in prison for as long as the sentence lasts. When his sentence is finished, you deport him.
You treat him according to the laws, because the laws are what makes us America. You don’t throw out the laws and make up new ones in secret just because you’re afraid. And instead of demonizing him, you see him for what he actually is: a frustrated, lonely young man full of guilt at his good fortune who is now only too happy to talk because he’s the center of attention.
