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Because Barack Obama supports the recent Supreme Court ruling that suspected terrorism detainees have a right to challenge their detention, McCain campaign advisor Randy Scheunemann accused him of possessing, “the prefect September 10 mindset.” For all of you, who had June 17 in the pool as the date when McCain would invoke 9/11 consider yourself a winner.

During an interview with ABC News yesterday Obama said, “What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated. And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, ‘Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.'”

Apparently invoking the rule of law makes Obama a threat to American security, “Barack Obama’s belief that we should treat terrorists as nothing more than common criminals demonstrates a stunning and alarming misunderstanding of the threat we face from radical Islamic extremism. Obama holds up the prosecution of the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 as a model for his administration, when in fact this failed approach of treating terrorism simply as a matter of law enforcement rather than a clear and present danger to the United States contributed to the tragedy of September 11th. This is change that will take us back to the failed policies of the past and every American should find this mindset troubling,” McCain campaign Foreign Policy Advisor Randy Scheunemann said today.

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Ask yourself, how did the handling of the first World Trade Center bombing lead to 9/11? The answer is that it didn’t. The mistake after the first World Trade Center bombing was that the U.S. settled for the low level al-Qaeda people who carried out the attack, instead of pursuing the strategic masterminds of the attack and Osama Bin Laden. If the government would have detained instead of tried the first WTC bombing defendants, it would not have prevented the second attack.

This just more flawed Bushian logic that is designed to rape the Constitution, and before anyone argues that the Constitution does not apply, in this situation, I would stress that this same principle of presidential power that Bush advanced and McCain wants to continue was the basis for the secret domestic spying program.

Only a fool would believe that John McCain, a man who wants to continue all of Bush’s policies, would protect our civil liberties. The rule of law must apply in all situations, and if we truly want to provide a Democratic example for the Muslim world, then we need to first respect our own laws.

McCain Camp Statement