Obama Gives Terrorists Miranda Rights?

The Obama Administration has ordered the FBI and CIA to inform terrorists overseas that they have the right to remain silent before probing them for information to save American lives. The Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to inform high value detainees captured on the battlefield in acts of terrorism that even though they are not uniformed and are carrying out actions beyond the scope of the Geneva convention, we will provide them with a liberal interpretation of the 5th amendment.

Obama has ordered that before we question any terrorist captured in the act of killing innocent civilians that we tell them that they have the US constitutional right to remain silent, they have the right to an attorney, and if they can not afford an attorney, they have the right to have one paid for by US taxpayers to defend them in a court of law.

From the World Net Daily story about this:

Rep. Mike Rogers (Republican from Michigan), former FBI special agent and U.S. Army officer, recently met with military, intelligence and law enforcement during his fact-finding trip to Afghanistan.

"The administration has decided to change the focus to law enforcement," Rogers told the Weekly Standard. "Here's the problem. You have foreign fighters who are targeting US troops today – foreign fighters who go to another country to kill Americans. We capture them … and they're reading them their rights – Mirandizing these foreign fighters."

Rogers told Hayes the Obama administration has never informed Congress of the Miranda policy.

"I was a little surprised to find it taking place when I showed up because we hadn't been briefed on it, I didn't know about it," he said. "We're still trying to get to the bottom of it, but it is clearly a part of this new global justice initiative."

Beyond the fact that Obama has unilaterally granted rights to terrorists (in defiance of the Geneva Convention), there are other issues here too. Obama put in place these policies without consulting with Congress- in fact, it appears as if he has made a deliberate attempt to hide these policies from Congress. Senator Obama and the Democrats were very passionate that the President could not put in place policy such as this without consulting Congress. I am also pretty sure that this Obama policy is illegal- I seem to remember the Supreme Court recently ruling that all policy decisions regarding detainees must come from Congress, not the President.

From the Fox News story on this:

The move is reportedly creating chaos in the field among the CIA, FBI and military personnel, according to US Congressman Mike Rogers.

Rogers, a former FBI special agent who served in the U.S. Army, just returned from Afghanistan and a visit to Bagram Air Base, where he said the rights are being read.

"I witnessed it myself... anytime that you offer confusion in that environment that's already chaotic and confusing enough, you jeopardize a soldier's life."

Later in the story, you will read about how the Obama administration tries to play dumb about this issue, like they don't know about it, and about how the FBI claims they don't know anything about it either. That's a lie.

The Obama administration is lying and covering up a major scandal here. Giving terrorists caught in the act in a foreign country Miranda rights is a big deal. It is being done as a matter of policy. Someone ordered this decision made, and then ordered it hidden from the press and Congress. That's a scandal, and a lot worse than some of the stuff Bush was supposed to have done.

Here is Congressman Mike Rogers' page to contact him about this issue and encourage him to see this thing through. I heard about this story during an interview he did for 760 WJR this morning on the Paul W Smith show- perhaps there will be a podcast of this interview up later, so here is the link to that station.

PERSONAL NOTE: In case you are interested, here is the email that I sent my Congressman.
"This morning I heard an interview of Mike Rogers on 760WJR. As a registered and active voter, I am stunned that the administration would put in place such a policy as giving terrorists in foreign country captured on the battlefield Miranda Rights. Is this true? Is the Obama administration and the FBI reading Miranda Rights to terrorists overseas? This issue needs to be dealt with, and it is very important also to discover why the Obama administration said they know nothing about it and why the FBI said they know nothing about it- who is running things over there? This is a major policy decision- someone must have ordered it, and why did the FBI and Obama not know about it? I suspect someone is lying. Also, these policy actions are illegal- Congress is constitutionally charged with putting in place policies regarding captured enemies, and thus it is Congress and not the President who is supposed to be making these decisions. Someone broke the law and should be punished for this. This was an issue when Bush did it- a person with integrity would deal with this issue now that Obama is in the White House."

UPDATE: Best headline on this issue- "Miranjihad rights"