After the son-in-law of Usama bin Laden, a top al Qaeda spokesman, was captured overseas, Mr. Obama has accorded the terrorist the same rights to judicial access as American citizens.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is in New York awaiting access to a defense team after pleading not guilty at his arraignment on Friday. Ghaith was recently captured in Jordan and secretly transported to New York City.
Republicans have long held the opinion that terrorists, particularly high-ranking members of al Qaeda, should not be processed through the U.S. civilian justice system.
Mr. Obama has been reluctant to use the words “war against terrorism” and his administration would prefer allowing terrorists to access the U.S. justice system instead of being held and processed through Guantanamo Bay, also called GITMO.
Mr. Obama claimed he would immediately close GITMO while campaigning in 2008, however more than four years later the American-operated Cuban outpost that holds some of the world’s big-name terrorists remains open.
The capture of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith drew praise from Republicans who at the same time disagree with Obama’s decision to bring him to New York for trial where terrorists are able to orchestrate a circus atmosphere around their public trials while sending messages to their followers.
Republicans Sens. Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte, said Thursday the Obama administration's decision to bring Abu Ghaith to court in New York is wrong, "sneaky" and against the will of Congress, according to a Fox News report.
The case against Ghaith will likely be very expensive for U.S. taxpayers who have been banned from taking traditional public tours of the White House due to the Obama Sequestration law that signed by the president.
Ghaith's father-in-law, Usama bin Laden, masterminded the 2001 attack on New York City, the Pentagon and three U.S. airliners that led to the Afghanistan war, the country where the terrorists involved were trained.
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