How Many Americans Believe the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber Has a Right to Remain Silent?

I'd love to see that question polled.

This administration's handling of the Christmas Day bomber is nothing short of a dereliction of duty. Barack Obama, you are the President of the United States, and your highest duty is to protect American lives and property.

Sure, it was ridiculous that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was even allowed on a plane to Detroit, given all the red flags that existed prior to the attempted attack. But that's not your fault, sir. It was a bureaucratic failure- a major one, a nearly catastrophic one, but not a presidential failure. I had no harsh words for you, although I did question whether your Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, ought be allowed to soldier on after boldly claiming that "the system worked."

But it's the handling of the Underwear Bomber in the aftermath of the attack that has been an absolute travesty. We questioned Abdulmutallab for just 50 minutes, and then decided to read him his Miranda rights. "You have the right to remain silent," we told this barbarian...despite the fact that he's not an American citizen and not a lawful combatant of any sort. He's a war criminal who attempted to blow an airplane out the sky on Christmas. But, under your administration, Abdulmutallab has a right to remain silent. It's unconscionable and indefensible.

How do I know it's indefensible? Simple. You have yet to offer any coherent defense of your administration's handling of terrorists like Abdulmutallab. You spoke for 70 minutes the other night during your State of the Union address. Mr. President, if you honestly believe this man has a right to remain silent, by all means, PLEASE explain why and on what grounds. After all, you're supposedly a constitutional law expert. And you have no shortage of regard for your abilities. So, for the love of God, why do terrorists have the right to remain silent?

I'm angry. I'm angry that your administration is willfully imperiling our national security. Mr. Obama, you can't put American lives at risk and then not even explain to us WHY you're doing it (or, alternatively, why in your opinion your policy isn't actually putting lives at risk). You owe me and everyone else whose lives would seem to be at a higher risk now an explanation.

This isn't a one-time thing, either. Mr. Obama, you announced your decision to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay and transfer detainees to American soil...but your only explanation for this decision has been that it removes one of al-Qaeda's key recruiting tools/rallying cries. Mr. President, with all due respect, that's garbage. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing happened before Gitmo ever existed. So did the bombing of the USS Cole. So did 9/11. Gitmo doesn't cause terrorism. Period. If you seriously expect us ordinary folks to accept that line of argument, that's an insight into just how foolish and ignorant you think we are.

Of course Osama bin Laden is going to say that al Qaeda attacks innocent Americans because of Gitmo. It's called propaganda. Mr. President, when did we start taking our cues from Mr. bin Laden? Last I checked, that's called appeasement. And it's appeasement of the worst possible kind. Al Qaeda also lists American support for Israel as a reason for their continued violence...so should we stop supporting Israel?

Mr. President, on Christmas Day, we got INCREDIBLY fortunate as a nation. Hundreds of innocent lives were spared when the bomb failed to detonate on that airplane, thanks to incompetence on the part of the terrorist and the bravery of the passengers, and no thanks to the "system," which failed miserably.

But that's not the only reason we were lucky. You see, Mr. President, as we carted the terrorist with his scorched crotch off of that airliner, we had an extraordinary opportunity to gather important intelligence information by interrogating him. We could have gotten phone numbers, contact information for the people who trained him. We could have learned where the Islamic terrorist training camps are in Yemen. We could have found out what Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula knows and doesn't know about our efforts to hunt them down. The list goes on. It was an incredible chance to get a leg up in the global War on Islamic Terror that, based on the terminology you and your administration use, apparently no longer even exists in your mind. But in the real world, it does exist. It's still all too real.

Mr. President, I implore you: please explain why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has a right to remain silent. He was babbling freely right after the attack, and then we inexplicably decide to tell him you have a right to keep quiet...and a right to a lawyer, at taxpayer expense??? That's awful, sir. You owe us either an explanation, or an apology and a change in direction. I sincerely hope it's the latter, because this is a question of national security. For your good and the good of your country, swallow your pride this time, admit your mistakes, and change course. It won't make you a flip-flopper, except maybe to the anti-war loons in your party. It'll make you seem like someone who is learning on the job. It'll make the country safer. And it'll make you seem humble.

And believe me, Mr. President, you could use a healthy dose of that.