Feigning indignity, outrage, and remorse, the Obama Administration quietly watched from the sidelines as a Hezbollah commander, guilty of planning the murder of five U.S. Marines, was set free on July 30th by the Iraqi central criminal court.
In January of 2007, a dozen or more terrorists dressed in U.S. uniforms opened fire on a military camp in Karbala, just south of Baghdad. One soldier died at the scene; and four others were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the terrorists. The mastermind of this complex and well-planned attack was Ali Mussa Daqduq, a Lebanese national taken by U.S. forces in Basra just 2 months after the operation.
For 5 years, Daqduq was held at Camp Cropper, a US military detention facility in Baghdad. Yet neither George Bush nor Barack Obama saw fit to try the terrorist killer for his crimes.
For the criminal prosecution of Daqduq, whether in a civil or military proceeding, was not permitted under the terms of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, a resolution passed by Congress and signed by the president on Sept 14, 2001. According to that resolution, in order to be legally prosecuted, an accused terrorist must be a member of either al Qaeda or the Taliban, one of the groups known to have attacked the US on 9/11. And Daqduq apparently belonged to neither.
Moreover, according to an agreement between the US and Iraq signed by George Bush, all American-held prisoners were to be turned over to the Iraqi government by the end of 2011. Had the US ignored that agreement, Obama Administration officials claimed it would have “…fractured the new and ‘enduring’ relationship with Iraq that President Barack Obama has sought to build.”
So Daqduq was released to Iraqi officials in December of last year. And they in turn released him! For according to his lawyer “no document was provided [by the US to the Iraqis] that indicate[d] the guilt of Daqduq, and all of what was shown to the court were copies and not originals. There was no testimony and the charges had no foundation.” In short, “the Central Criminal Court of Iraq issued a ruling to release Ali Daqduq… because of a lack of evidence.”
According to the US Military, “…it could not share evidence related to Daqduq because it included sensitive intelligence.” Of course, once in Iraqi hands, the Lebanese terrorist would quite possibly not have been prosecuted anyway. But the Obama Administration make CERTAIN of it with its refusal to release evidence of Daqduq’s guilt to the Iraqi court.
Did Obama fear a political backlash for refusing to prosecute Daqduq as details of his crimes made their way to the American public? Or did Obama refuse to provide evidence of Daqduq’s guilt in order to protect the “credibility” of the Iraqi court and the Regime’s relationship with the nation of Iraq and its new leaders?
Whatever the reason, 2 United States presidents have betrayed the families of 5 U.S. Marines by refusing to prosecute the terrorist responsible for their deaths.
Laws exist today that allow a president to arrest and imprison American citizens while affording them no access to their constitutionally protected rights of habeas corpus and trial. NO evidence of guilt need be presented, and the accused has no right to an attorney or defense. The suspicions of the president alone are sufficient to hold an American in custody until “the end of hostilities.” Yet a known Muslim terrorist and killer will avoid all responsibility for his crimes.
Will Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans make an issue of this disgraceful and cowardly behavior on the part of the White House? Or must members of the US military learn to accept torture and death as unfortunate, occasional consequences of the political necessities of the day?!
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