Years ago, I wrote about how certain factions in this country were trying to turn us into a nation of pants-piddlers, fearful of some of the very things that makes America what it supposedly is. I’m sorry to say that, as the case of Ahmed Abu Khatallah demonstrates, nothing much has changed.
While the suspected mastermind of the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi is now on U.S. soil, the political fallout related to his prosecution may just be beginning.
The criminal complaint against Ahmed Abu Khatallah was filed nearly a year ago, and he was nabbed two weeks ago in eastern Libya. He appeared in a federal court in Washington on Saturday – much to some Republicans’ chagrin.
© Berkeley Breathed, via thecomicstrips.com
They’re afraid to entrust this guy—or any other alleged terrorist—to the criminal justice system of what they so often claim is the greatest country in the world. It’s a great country, I guess, for only so long as they control the narrative and the outcome.
Over at Booman Tribune, BooMan laments the cowardice shown by so many of our leaders:
I’m not a rah-rah macho kind of guy, but I do expect my government to demonstrate some testicular fortitude. It embarrasses me when American elected officials act scared of anything, even when it is in some way understandable. This country is known for its can-do attitude, and I like that.
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On most political issues, I disagree with the Republicans because I have different values than them. But when it comes to folks who are afraid to hold trials for terrorists, it’s much more personal. I feel like these people are destroying my country’s reputation. They’re cowards. They’re cowards and they’re the face of my country. I have a really hard time abiding that. I don’t want anyone else in the world to see or even know that some of my countrymen are this pathetic because it shames me.
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I want these people to shut up not because I care about whatever political points I think they might be scoring but simply because I am ashamed of them. I am ashamed that they are Americans.
