A Good Week for Violent Islamists
By Christian Whiton

Two events last week serve as stark reminders that the U.S. and our allies are not politically prepared to deal with those who make war on us.  On Monday, a court in Pakistan released Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the man who likely masterminded last year’s coordinated terrorist assault on Mumbai.  Three days later, in a move cheered by the Obama Administration, the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives rejected a measure to prevent detainees at Guantanamo Bay from being transferred to the U.S. mainland. 

These events demonstrate the stark contrast between the brave efforts of those fighting for us on battlefields and the parlor games of the political class in Washington and some allied capitals.

The release of Saeed is a stunning unforced error in the war.  He is head of a front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist group with expanding capacities for violence and subversion in South Asia.  LeT’s assault on the Indian city of Mumbai last November paralyzed the city and cost 163 innocent lives.  His release demonstrates once again the folly of using civilian courts to process those waging war against us. 

Pakistan claimed it lacked evidence to charge Saeed directly for the Mumbai assault.  He was held on lesser charges, but even those did not prevent his release from detention. 

With the actions of the Pakistan court, one can at least wonder if persistent enmity for India, rather than an incoherent approach to handling combatants, was a factor in the release.  No such alternate explanation exists for the actions of our politicians in Washington.  Thursday’s near party-line vote to facilitate the movement of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. reveals a lack of seriousness in handling violent Islamists.    

A Gallup Poll in June showed that 65% of all Americans oppose closing Guantanamo and bringing detainees stateside.  Those Americans, unlike our political class, know that Guantanamo detainees are not common criminals.  Rather, they are enemy combatants who knowingly eschew the laws of war.  They wear no uniforms, target non-combatants intentionally, hide among civilians and mercilessly mistreat prisoners.  They clearly do not meet the criteria of prisoners of war under the Third Geneva Convention, hence the apt but now unstylish label of “unlawful combatants.”

Why would Congress even consider moving them to the U.S. and trying them in ordinary courts?  In January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cheered President Obama’s desire to close Guantanamo saying it “will make the American people safer” and “begin to restore the standing of the United States in the eyes of the world.” 

But that defies logic and practice.  This step will almost certainly result in the acquittal of actual terrorists, if only because evidence against them obtained in combat zones does not meet the high standards of U.S. courts and centuries of common law relating to civilian, not military, arrests.  After an acquittal, the terrorists will be free to walk.  One might hope they could at least be deported upon acquittal, but in fact they could just as easily seek refugee status within our borders.  Does this make America safer?

Furthermore, the claim that processing terrorists through U.S. courts would help our image abroad fundamentally misunderstands the causes and effects of anti-Americanism.   Those angry at Guantanamo, especially the European political class, will effortlessly sashay to their next gripe about America should Guantanamo be closed.  Theirs is a thirst that can never be quenched, and defending America and our allies should always trump geo-social ambitions.

Regrettably, it is clear that we lack the political will and moral courage to deal properly with detained unlawful combatants.  The bravery of our servicemen on the battlefield is the mirror opposite of the moral cowardice of our political classes.  These politicians cannot see what is plainly obvious to the people they are supposed to serve: only extraordinary means can thwart terrorists who operate not against the law but entirely outside the law.