2007.08.16 Politics and National Defense Roundup
Padilla convicted on terrorism support charges
One-time dirty bomb suspect, 2 others found guilty of aiding extremists
MIAMI - Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism support charges Thursday after being held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration's zeal to stop homegrown terror.
Padilla, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, was once accused of being part of an al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S., but those allegations were not part of his trial.
Padilla, 36, and his foreign-born co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas, which carries a penalty of life in prison. All three were also convicted of two terrorism material support counts, which carry potential 15-year sentences each.
See also:
Quick hits:
- Your Black Muslim Bakery update: More trouble, more CYA
Michelle Malkin: Three Your Black Muslim Bakery staffers will be in court today on separate matters: Devaughndre Broussard was set to enter a plea in the murder of veteran black journalist Chauncey Bailey, who was investigating the bakery. Yusuf Bey the fourth and his brother, Joshua, are also due in court, where they’re charged in a separate case involving kidnapping and torture charges of a woman. So, who else was helping to prop up the thug-dominated neighborhood enterprise? ...
- The Importance of Border Security
Fred Dalton Thompson: You can’t have national security without border security. It’s not only necessary for any meaningful immigration reform; border security plays a key role in both the interdiction of illegal drugs and in defending America against terrorist threats. Weak borders allow terrorists and smugglers, as well as millions of illegal aliens, easy entrance to the United States. Unfortunately, it’s not at all clear our government is committed to its first responsibility: the protection of our borders. ...
Vacation’s over. Where’s TNR?
Update: The questions Peter Beinart should have been asked
Michelle Malkin
When last we revisited the Scott Thomas Beauchamp saga one week ago today, questions lingered about Colonel Quotey McQuoterton and Bob Owens had exposed hidden expert Doug Coffey. In the meantime, Bill Roggio received word from the Army’s Col. Steve Boylan that TNR’s claims of being stonewalled were flatly untrue:
[...]
The response from TNR? As of this morning, I can’t find one. Can you? ...
*** TNR, back from vacation, still silent on STB
Bryan Preston
I’ve tried to keep all emotion out of the TNR’s Scott Thomas Beauchamp scandal, but frankly, Peter Beinart’s defense of TNR in today’s What’s Your Problem (on NRO) made my blood boil a bit.
He professes shock, shock that anyone on the right would seek ideological causes for the scandal in an ideological magazine such as The New Republic.
He calls Beauchamp a “good writer,” which is obviously untrue. The man writes with more purple than Prince.
He calls conservative criticism of TNR “cartoonish.” What has been cartoonish is the Apocalypse, Now! approach in which a soldier outs himself as so greatly stressed by war that he mocks disfigured women, when he had never even been to war when that incident is now supposed to have occurred. That’s cartoonish.
And then he says that TNR has done a good job trying to re-report the facts underlying Beauchamp’s writing?
Fred Thompson's Gamble
By David S. Broder
When Fred Thompson makes his long-delayed entrance into the Republican presidential race, he will not tiptoe quietly. Instead, he will try to shake up the establishment candidates of both parties by depicting a nation in peril from fiscal and security threats -- and prescribing tough cures that he says others shrink from offering.
In a two-hour conversation over coffee at a restaurant near his Virginia headquarters, the former senator from Tennessee said that when he joins the battle next month, he "will take some risks that others are not willing to take, in terms of forcing a dialogue on our entitlement situation, our military situation and what it's going to cost" to ensure the nation's future. ...
*** Fred stuns Beltway with bold agenda of … basic conservative positions
Allahpundit
Well, pre-Bush conservatism, I should say. Bigger military, more effective domestic intelligence, fewer entitlements, tax reform: David Broder thinks it’s a bombshell and Jim Geraghty’s genuinely flabbergasted, although that may be because he seems to think Fred’s hinting at raising taxes and I don’t. He has made some noise about the Fair Tax, but so have five other candidates including conservative stalwart Duncan Hunter so he’s not exactly out on a limb. ...
*** Fred Thompson's Did-He-Really-Just-Say-That? Agenda
Jim Geraghty
For weeks, I’ve been wondering about the quiet from the Thompson not-quite-campaign, and when discussing it, my biggest lament has been wondering the “why”, or more specifically, what’s the case for his candidacy beyond conservative hesitation about the other candidates.
Today, in an interview with the oldest of old-school political columnists, David Broder, Thompson offers up a big, bold – and extremely politically risky – "why": ...
John Edwards, sanctimonious hypocrite
John Edwards has spent several months lambasting Fox News Channel; its parent company, News Corp.; and Rupert Murdoch, the founder, chairman and CEO of News Corp. Calling upon all other Democratic presidential candidates to return contributions from News Corp. employees, Mr. Edwards insisted that "every dime" of the $500,000 advance he received from News Corp. subsidiary HarperCollins Publishers for a book project about homes "has gone to charity." It seems that one of the charities is College for Everyone, which Mr. Edwards himself established and has been citing throughout his campaign. Thus, while condemning Mr. Murdoch and Fox, it is clear that Mr. Edwards has funneled money from a News Corp. subsidiary to his own charity. Campaign Communications Director Chris Kofinis refused yesterday to tell The Washington Times how much of the $500,000 went to College for Everyone. ...
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