The folly of criminals vs. combatants

Simple. We can't get any intel out of them when we catch them. They get all lawyered up.

Finally, behold, yet again, the folly of President Obama's law-enforcement approach to terrorism. Not only has the assignment of counsel in the criminal case denied us whatever intelligence Mutallab could be giving us about Yemen. The criminal case is complicating the President's ability to do his jobs as president and commander-in-chief. This morning, Obama declared flatly that Mutallab conspired with al Qaeda in a heinous attempted terrorist attack. It was refreshing to hear the president not hedge with "alleged" this and "alleged" that. FDR never suggested that the "fear itself" we needed to fear was "alleged." But, of course, defense counsel will now claim the president is hopelessly prejudicing Mutallab's ability to get a fair trial — in Detroit or anyplace else — by smearing him in the press and eviscerating the presumption of innocence. The usual judicial reaction to such claims is not to dismiss an indictment but (a) to postpone the trial indefinitely until the negative (to the defendant) publicity dies down, and (b) to direct the executive branch to stop making statements that prejudice the case (on pain of having the indictment dismissed due to "government misconduct").