'The Situation Has Changed'
Terrorists are a threat to America. Who knew?
JANUARY 29, 2010.
By JAMES TARANTO
"The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan," reports New York's Daily News:
The dramatic turnabout came hours after Mayor Bloomberg said he would "prefer that they did it elsewhere" and then spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder. . . .
Sen. Chuck Schumer said he was "pleased" that the administration is reconsidering the location of the trial.
Earlier in the day, Schumer spoke "with high-level members of the administration and urged them to find alternatives," said the senator's spokesman, Josh Vlasto.
The order to consider new venues does not change the White House's position that [Khlaid Sheikh] Mohammed should be tried in civilian court. . . .
"They're in a tizzy at Justice over Bloomberg," a federal law enforcement official said. "It's like a half-baked soufflé--the plan is collapsing."
The Hill reported earlier yesterday that the administration was being urged in this direction by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat:
Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is the highest-ranking Democrat to urge the administration to reverse course on its decision to bring the terror leaders to Manhattan for trial.
"In my view, from an intelligence perspective, I think the situation has changed with the Christmas attack," Feinstein said on MSNBC, citing confidential intelligence briefings.
That makes sense. The situation has changed! Because of the Christmas attack, we now know that America is in danger of being attacked by terrorists. It's not as if there have been any other major attacks on America soil that might have clued us in.
Oh wait, we just thought of one. A long time ago, a bunch of terrorists hijacked four airplanes, destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, and murdered nearly 3,000 people. Come to think of it, that attack has been in the news recently because of President Obama's decision to give the masterminds a criminal trial in New York City rather than a military one at Guantanamo Bay.
But like we said, that attack was ages ago, long before Obama was president. It's part of the mess he inherited from his predecessor. It's completely different from the current terror threat, the one that started when the situation changed on Christmas. That is Obama's fau--uh, sorry, we mean that's a different part of the mess he inherited from his predecessor, so you can't really blame him for, um . . . hmmm . . .
Look, you try cooking a soufflé!
Anyway, that's the bad news. The good news is these people won't be running our health care.
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