IOKIYAR (It’s OK if You’re a Republican): the John Campbell edition

Rep. John Campbell, the Congres-man from Irvine (yes editors, spelled deliberately that way because that’s the way Campbell’s people spell “Congress”) gives a new gift to us for the category of “It’s OK if You’re a Republican.”  First up, the Congres-man admonishes President Obama’s handling of the Christmas Day underwear bomber on Jon Fleischman’s FlashReport. 

He writes:

“The way the Obama Administration has handled the so-called “underwear bomber” on Christmas Day is atrocious. This guy was a foreign national operating as part of an inter-connected worldwide organization with the intent to kill United States citizens and further a process of bringing down our government and destroying our way of life. He should have been immediately declared an enemy combatant, interrogated, and tried in a military tribunal, as has been done in similar incidents for more than a century.

He was injured and his mission had failed. There was significant potential to garner intelligence about his network and connections in order to prevent future attacks, and save lives. Yet he has been treated as though he was caught smoking or tampering with the smoke detector in the airplane lavatory.  He was read his Miranda rights, assigned an attorney, and told NOT to say anything. Unbelievable. This administration just fails to see that radical Islamic terrorism is a serious threat, unlike the rest of us, and therefore we are less safe.”

But let’s see how the Bush administration handled the arrest of Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber.  From this post on the Huffington Post:

“On December 22, 2001, Richard Reid — known more infamously as the shoe bomber — failed in his attempt to blow up a Miami-bound jet using explosives hidden in his shoe. Coming less than four months after September 11, there already were deep concerns about a potential attack during the upcoming holiday break. Nevertheless, President Bush did not directly address the foiled plot for six days, according to an extensive review of newspaper records from that time period. And when he did, it was only in passing.”

But was Reid declared an enemy combatant and sent to Gitmo for waterboarding, er, “harsh interrogation?”  Nope.

“In (a) press conference, Rumsfeld was also asked about Richard Reid — now five days after the incident. “That’s a matter that’s in the hands of the law enforcement people and not the Department of Defense,” he said. “And I don’t have anything I would want to add.”

More from the HuffPost story:

“The Bush White House downplayed not just the Reid incident (handing over lead responsibilities to federal law enforcement officials) but also consciously deflected attention away from bin Laden out of concern about elevating his latest antics.

In contrast to that response, the current White House has been quite active. The attempted bombing of the plane over Detroit occurred on December 25. That night, Obama convened a secure conference call with his Homeland Security and counter-terrorism advisers. He did the same the next morning and the morning after that. On the 27th, the president dispatched his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, and the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, to the Sunday shows to take questions on the matter. And on December 28, he gave a public statement while still on site in Hawaii.”

From the Wiki version of events:

Reid was immediately taken into custody after the incident. Three days later he was charged in U.S. federal court at Boston, Massachusetts in a criminal complaint with “interfering with the performance of duties of flight crew members by assault or intimidation”. The crime was reported as carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The judge ordered Reid to be held in jail pending trial due to the seriousness of the charges and the high risk that Reid would attempt to flee.^[11] At that time, forensic results indicated Reid’s shoes contained 10 ounces of C-4 plastic explosives, enough to blow a hole in the plane and cause it to crash.^[11] During a preliminary hearing which was held on December 28, an FBI agent testified that forensic analysis had identified the chemicals as PETN, the primary explosive, and TATP (triacetone triperoxide), a chemical needed to detonate the bomb.^[4]

The prosecutor proceeded to obtain a grand jury indictment and on January 16, 2002, Reid was charged with eight criminal counts related to his acts of terrorism, namely: attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted homicide, placing an explosive device on an aircraft, attempted murder, interference with flight crew members and attendants, attempted destruction of an aircraft, using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence and attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle.^[2]

Reid pled guilty to all eight counts on October 4, 2002.^[14] On January 31, 2003, he was sentenced by Judge William Young to life in prison with no possibility of parole with three life sentences to be served consecutively.^[15] Eight fines of $250,000 each were also imposed.^[15][16] During the sentencing hearing Reid stated that he was an enemy of the United States and in league with Al-Qaeda.^[17] Though Reid proclaimed he was a soldier of Allah under the command of Osama Bin Laden, Judge Young declared:

‘You are not an enemy combatant, you are a terrorist’ … ‘You are not a soldier in any army, you are a terrorist. To call you a soldier gives you far too much stature.’^[15]

Reid also showed lack of remorse and a combative nature during the hearing.^[15][16] He is serving his sentences in the ADX Florence, a Supermax prison in Fremont County, Colorado.^[18]

Now Campbell wasn’t a Congressman duiring this time, but why criticize the way President Obama handled the underwear bomber when it appears that the Bush administration handled the Shoe Bomber in pretty much the same way.  Because IOKIYAR.