McCain Embraces Nuremberg-Type International Trial For Bin Laden
Woah, this seems significant. In an interview to be broadcast later this afternoon on CNN, John McCain seemed to favor a Nuremberg-type international trial for Bin Laden -- even though McCain previously criticized Obama for saying we needed to take care in determining how Bin Laden should handled legally should he be captured..
In the interview, McCain told Wolf Blitzer the following:
"We have various options. The Nuremberg Trials are certainly an example of the kind of tribunal that we could move forward with. I don't think we'd have any difficulty in devising an international -- internationally supported mechanism that would mete out justice. There's no problem there."
But McCain sharply criticized Barack Obama last month when Obama said we needed to avoid making Bin Laden "into a martyr" and "to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions."
Obama's comment wasn't perfectly clear, but it's obvious that he was saying that if Bin Laden were captured, and not killed -- which seems extremely unlikely to begin with -- Obama would favor some sort of above-board legal method for dealing with him that wouldn't inflame tensions in the Muslim world.
Late Update Here's the video:
More than that Greg, didn't Obama actually specifically cite the Nuremberg trials back then?
Yup, he sure did: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5199128
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 25, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great catch, dansac! This makes Obama's position on Nuremburg trials clear as crystal. Can you update your post with this, Greg?
July 25, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, Bush appeases to Iran and sends a diplomat; Iraq, Britain, and Bush all agree we should withdraw from Iraq; McCain takes his Afghanistan policies; and now this.....
Jeez, McCain didn't they teach you in grade school that copying was bad?
July 25, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Correction : appeases, should be "appeases". Bush's appeasement talk was BS. of course they weren't negotiating, nope it was, "talking". And it's not a withdrawal timeline but a "horizon" Riiiight.
July 25, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Will McCain also support a similar trial of George W. Bush and members of the current Administration?
July 25, 2008 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that is the question.
July 25, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, that IS the question, because a Nuremberg-style trial is one aimed at rooting out the main actors in state-sponsored terrorism. Why would we need such a systematic undertaking for one independent agent and maybe a claque of followers?
The only other question is, where would a trial of Bush and company be held?
July 26, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
My thoughts exactly.
July 26, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a bit of a shift from McCain's earlier position:
"I will follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products," McCain said.
July 25, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
How many products do you think he can carry -- especially when we send McRambo into that cave all by himself.
Maybe he thought he was still in the cheese aisle.
July 26, 2008 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, for someone trashing Obama so much, he sure seems to agree with him a lot lately.
July 25, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Greg, I think Obama was pretty clear there with his intentions and I also think he's right about making bin Laden a martyr, but hell, it's too late.
If he dies of kidney disease he will still become a holy martyr - he will. They already worship him in parts of the middle east - because he came in and did things like give poor villages money - shit like that.
We followed that up with bombs. Which helped bin Laden's cause no end, and made loads of money for Bush I, whose money is all in armaments these days - it was a win-win for the bin Laden - Bush partnership.
And if you don't believe bin Laden is part of that - fine. But it is a fact that the Bushes and bin Ladens have been in business togetgher for over 35 years. It is also a fact that Cheney's Halliburton holdings went from a a value of around $300,000 to $9 billion in one year.
July 25, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's see if the MSM picks up on this glaring flip-flop. Of course they've let the first 67 or so pass with nary a mention.
July 25, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think folks realize just how brazen a flip-flop this is. This is from McCain's statement attacking Obama:
So does this raise serious questions about McCain's judgment and experience and whether he's ready to be CIC? Paging the Beard....
July 25, 2008 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the GOP response last month to Obama's suggestion of the Nuremberg trials as a model, and the importance of handling bin Laden in a way that would "strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism":
Now he's been to Iraq, now he's been briefed in person by the military leaders over there, and--now McCain seems to be admitting that Obama was right all along.
But wow, I can't believe McCain has actually taken that position, after the GOP invested so much in deriding as "useful idiots" those of us who have been advocating this approach all along.
July 25, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
McSame might very well want to chase Bin laden to the gates of hell - the only problem is that when you are driving a 'rascal' it might take a looong time. I'm reminded of the gang of elderly chasing George in Seinfeld.
July 25, 2008 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain has seen his personal gates of hell.
Obama giving a speach to 200K in front of the lined up to the Brandenburg gate.
July 25, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's amazing how those who do not stay plugged into the real world, that is to say, unplug from Corporate Media, buy into the idea the Obama is the flipper, and not McStain. I speak with many people who say that Obama takes all stands on all issues, when in fact, McStain is all over the map, and the media is all over Obama.
Most idiots get their news from ABC, NBC, CBS, and of course FAUX.
July 25, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
God, I'm watching McSame on CNN now it's cringe-worthy:
1) How do you know what that Maliki didn't really mean what he said about withdrawal? "Because I know him. I know him. I know Iraq. I've been 8 times. I know him."
2) How are you going to end the war? "I know how to win wars. I know war. I know how to win."
3) What's the first thing you'll do to fix the economy? "Restrain spending."
Ugh!
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 25, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Still wondering what wars Grampy McSmae has "won."
Vietnam? Uh, no.
Maybe her's claiming Grenada or Bosnia.
LOL
July 25, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are they lambasting him or just basking in the glow of his Surge-infused Maverickiness?
July 25, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's Wolf Blitzer, take a wild guess.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 25, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
So much for it being the "weak-kneed liberals" wanting to bring bin Laden to justice in a trial.
Didn't Rotten Rudy deride anyone all during the Repub primary as "soft on terror" if they dared suggest a trial for the terrorists, instead of immediate execution?
July 25, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus.. The moment Obama touches down in the U.S tomorrow, I want him to go after McDouche with both fucking barrels - guns a-blazing!
July 25, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama should hold a press conference on the tarmac attacking McCain for all his ridiculous statements made overt the past week.
July 25, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly.. My dream scenario, while Obama addresses the media in America for the first time since his trip abroad, would be that he'd say something like this:
"While I've been away, meeting with World Leaders, having constructive conversations with General Petraeus, talking with the fine men and women in the armed services who bravely protect our freedoms every day - the good Senator from the state of Arizona has spent that same time chasing his proverbial tail around. Whether it was him lobbing clumsy attacks in my direction, failing to have a pedestrian knowledge of the "surge" which he incorrectly cites as being the sole reason violence in Iraq has decreased, or eyebrow raising gaffes that has the American people seriously questioning his fitness to be president. To be completely blunt, John McCain is the "Barney Fife" of presidential candidates."
July 25, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's just a matter of days until McCain will change his position to judge Bin Laden in a U.S. Court (in Gitmo probably). The neo-cons will not tolerate some kind of Nuremberg trial. For them, that's not "American Justice", because America comes first and the world doesn't matter. Limbaugh and Hannity are going to be over him for this.
Just watch your clocks and keep counting.
July 25, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see - so, now the GOP *does* want something that passes a 'global test'.
Will any reporter or analyst notice the hypocrisy here? Of course not, because as always, IOKIYAR
July 25, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
You got it.
July 25, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
The odds of capturing Bin Laden are so remote that it is difficult to believe a candidate would waste any energy discussing what should be done if it happens. It IS significant that McCain has reversed himself yet again and embraced a position recently attributed to Barack Obama and it is ALSO significant that McCain (and the MSM) appear completely oblivious to the fact that he has done so. It reminds me of Tom Hanks playing Mr. Short-Term Memory on SNL.
July 25, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I intended to say the odds of capturing Bin Laden ALIVE.
July 25, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
totally agreed.
July 25, 2008 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
The next thing you know McCain will be claiming that he is the "black candidate" and that he won the Democratic nomination in a land slide.
July 25, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, didn't Karl Rove say McCain fathered a black child during the 2000 primary? We've never seen the child's mother - so McMaverick could be the source of the "blackness".
These guys are pathetic.
July 25, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
As Benazir Bhutto said to David Frost, not long before they blew her away: "OBL is dead."
IF he were not, a Nuremberg-type trial would be the last thing US power would want or permit -- since US intelligence, BCCI, the Bush Family, most members of the Reagan Adminstration, Zbigniew Brysynski, the Saudi Royal Family, and the entire government of Pakistan would be in the dock with him.
A very, very good idea. But this is just McBomb flapping his false teeth.
July 25, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just one more of these and John McCain is going to start having to go around in black face, while calling himself "Mini-Me"!
July 25, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
It amazes me that GW, the CIA, and the military couldn't find Ben Laden, but along comes McCain he knows how to get him, he knows how to win wars because he's been to the area. What a great man!
July 25, 2008 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gleaned from HuffPo
Doesn't this beg the rather obvious question - Why have you been withholding this information from Bush and Co?
July 25, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can't withold information you don't have.
July 25, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's see. The great mighty power of the United States and multi gazillion dollar black ops of CIA are not able to catch four guys on donkeys. What makes Granpa think he can do it? All this talk about what to do once you catch him is silly and dumb. You've got to catch him first! As long as the US is pandering to the two-faced Pakistanis, this will not happen. They caught him once in Bora Bora and let him escape! They have been playing this two face game that the great superpower either was too dumb to recognize or could not do anything about. Just like what's happening today in Afghanistan. Pakistan is sending terrorists anywhere they want without immunity and the great super power stand by like big dumb paralyzed bully!
July 25, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now they arming that terrorism-sponsoring Pakistan with F16's. Go figure.
July 26, 2008 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
so you're a brainiac, so correct me if I'm wrong ...
The Nuremberg Trials were an act of German Soverenty by the conquering Allied Armies
ie, German political leaders surrendered Germany's soverignty to the Allies, and the Allies used that soverignty to prosecute German War Criminals
if I'm not wrong, what the fuck does Nuremberg have to do with osama bi laden ???
try the fucker under the criminal code of the United States and the State of New York
anybody got a problem with that ???
worked with that mcvey putz, it'll work on bin laden
July 25, 2008 8:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
First he says he knows how to get 'em! Now he wants a Nuemberg trial for a man he cannot catch. What a nut!!!!
I cannot believe people nominated this man!!!
July 25, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
It shouldn't surprise anyone that McCain is ripping Obama off. McCain's original positions and all issues, i.e. Iraq, the economy, health care, tax cuts, all run counter to the feelings of the American people. If he wants to have a snowball's chance he has move. Of course I think his campaign is just changing his position hoping our attention span is short enough that we'll think this has been his position all long.
Does anyone remember before McCain sealed the nomination, while Obama's message of change was resonating with people all his rivals, including Hillary, McCain and other Republicans were referring to themselves as "the candidate who can bring change to Washington"? Everyone's been coopting Obama's theme since the Iowa caucuses.
July 26, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink