Former Homeland Security Advisor and then DHS Secretary Tom Ridge says that it’s some sort of a shande to try Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab in civilian courts. I know a lot of Republicans are making this argument now. But can we at least get some Republicans who didn’t oversee doing exactly the same thing on their watch? Just for consistency’s sake?

Remember, the AbdulMutallab case is virtually identical to the Richard Reid “Shoe Bomber” case from December 2001 — to an uncanny degree. Same explosive, (PETN), same MO (blowing up an airliner bound for the US), same failed attempt.

It’s really about as close to identical cases and you get. And, of course, Reid was tried in civilian courts and is now serving a life sentence. Seemed to work fine in his case. And unless I’m misremembering, I don’t remember anybody criticizing this approach at the time. Read More

Avi Zenilman Greg Sargent makes a good point. While Republicans are kicking into high gear with partisan criticisms of the White House over the attempted terror attack over Detroit, Dems have been almost completely silent.

It’s not that you’d expect them to be defending the TSA’s practices, which may or may not makes sense. But Republicans are making a broader attack — claiming that Obama’s more general stance on the world stage is leading to more terror attacks. That should not be a hard argument to push back against. And it’s really a mistake that they’re not.

Fox News: Real presidents don’t say ‘allegedly’ about terrorists!