FLASHBACK: Republicans Touted Terror Convictions Under President Bush

Since the failed airplane bombing on Christmas Day, conservative attacks on President Obama's terrorism policies have been louder than ever.  Whether decrying civilian trials for terror suspects or professing outrage at use of Miranda warnings, the overall theme of the criticism is clear: the Obama administration is charting a dangerous course by treating terrorism as a matter of law. 

Congressional Republicans, intent on making political hay of the issue, have gone so far as to bemoan the fact that the underwear bomber is cooperating with authorities, while hurling insults at the FBI.  (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently claimed that CNN's Larry King conducts tougher interrogations than the FBI, a bogus offense for which he really should apologize.)

Of course, the president's critics conveniently ignore the unambiguous parallels between current policies and those followed under the Bush-Cheney administration.  But, as more information surfaces, the conservative arguments are becoming even more implausible.  Yesterday, the Huffington Post uncovered a memo distributed by the Bush Justice Department in 2005 touting its success at convicting terrorists in U.S. courts.  From the memo:

Altogether, the Department has brought charges against 375 individuals in terrorism-related investigations, and has convicted 195 to date.  While every component within the Justice family has contributed to the fight against terror, the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney's Offices, and the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review have led the Department's work to protect America from terror, with the assistance of other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners across the nation.

It's not clear whether the figures in the memo are embellished or not.  Either way, the point remains that less than five years ago Republicans believed that convicting terrorists in U.S. courts warranted bragging. Contrast that with the following statements regarding terrorism trials under the Obama administration:

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY):

They are mainstreaming foreign national terrorists into the U.S. court system. That's a big mistake. That was done a couple of times in the Bush administration. [2/4/10, via Nexis]

Rep. Pete King (R-NY):

This isn't a question of conviction. It's the precedent we are going to set. Are we going to be putting terrorist into the criminal justice system, which makes it much harder to get information from them and intelligence from them? [2/5/10, via Nexis]

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME):

How did we get to this point? How did the Obama administration decide to treat a foreign terrorist, who had tried to murder hundreds of people, as if he were a common criminal? [1/30/10]

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN):

Trying terrorists like ordinary criminals puts international public relations ahead of public safety and makes a mockery of American justice. [11/20/09]

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA):

We have no judicial precedents for the conviction of someone like this. [6/9/09]

To review, Republicans have accused President Obama of "mainstreaming" terrorism trials, making "a mockery of American justice," and either setting a new "precedent" or repeating a "mistake" that was made "a couple of times" before.  Those are all blatant lies, according to the Bush administration.  The false scare mongering is bad enough on its own, but coming from a party that claims to have a monopoly on taking national security seriously, it's downright disgraceful.