Fred Thompson Wants To Give Bin Laden Due Process To Squeeze Him

Fred Thompson has been working on his position on Osama bin Laden the last few days. In Iowa on Friday Thompson told reporters that bin Laden was, “more symbolism than anything else.” Thompson then added that bin Laden’s presence in the “mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan is not as important as there are probably al-Qaida operatives inside the United States of America.” Of course this comment drew criticism from opposing candidates, so later in the day Thompson clarified and said that bin Laden, “ought to be caught and killed.” Today Thompson had to clarify that and said he didn’t mean kill bin Laden immediately. “No, no, no, we’ve got due process to go through. I’m not suggesting those things happen simultaneously,” Thompson said. Besides there is the possibility bin Laden might provide valuable intelligence. A spokesman for the campaign had to explain what Thompson was saying. The spokesman said, “the same rules ought to apply to him as to everyone at Guantanamo Bay, and there ought to be due process thru a special military court or commission.” “For anyone to suggest that we shouldn’t squeeze out every last bit of intelligence information has absolutely no understanding how to fight a long term global war on terrorism,” spokesman Todd Harris said. “It would be very dangerous for the long-term security of our country to not try to milk bin Laden for every ounce of information he has.” So it really isn’t about due process, but about what kind of information we can “squeeze” and “milk” out of bin Laden. Sounds painful, but I bet it is not torture. Thompson also explained that bin Laden can be replaced. “But we also need to understand that there will be people who can replace him. You know, that top dog in Iraq that we killed a while back, you know, that was a great big deal, too. But how much changed after that?” Thompson said.
Thompson also took some time out to talk about same sex marriages while in South Carolina. He blamed the whole mess on judges saying there are laws against same sex marriage but judges allow it to happen because judges, “more often than not are the main violators of the rule of law.” Thompson said the “same sex marriage business” is a “judicially created thing and needs to be addressed by a constitutional amendment.” Did I hear Karl Rove? Then he explained immigration by saying absolutely nothing, “This is their home, this is our home. And together, we get to decide who comes into our home.”
Alan Cosgrove