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Pakistanis capture American Taliban commander Adam Gadahn; UPDATE: Gadahn or not Gadahn?

American-born Taliban commander Adam Gadahn has been captured by Pakistani intelligence officials. There seemed to originally be some confusion as to whether or not it was Gadahn who was captured, but it looks like it’s been clarified that Gadahn is indeed in custody. He’s already been charged with treason… the first American to be charged with treason since World War II.

Not so long ago, Adam Gadahn, who has both Jewish and Catholic ancestry, was growing up on a goat farm in Orange County, California. Now he’s been charged with treason against the United States — “perhaps the most serious offense for which any person can be tried under our Constitution,” according to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.

But Gadahn, aka Azzam al-Amriki or “Azzam the American,” 28, is accused of deliberately making the choice to leave his country and join al Qaeda, providing “aid and comfort” to the country’s most determined enemy.

Announcing the charges at an afternoon press conference at the Justice Department Wednesday, the Deputy Attorney General asserted that “in fact Mr Gadahn is the first person to be charged with treason against the United States since the World War II era.”

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Santa Ana, California, includes a second charge of providing material support to a terrorist organization.

But it is the treason charge that is most serious; in fact, it is so unusual that it is the only crime specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. In the entire history of the country, only about 40 individuals have ever been charged with the crime. The charge of treason carries a maximum possible penalty of death, but the decision whether to seek the ultimate penalty will not be made until Gadahn is apprehended and brought into court.

The FBI has him listed as one of their Top Ten Most Wanted Terrorists, and also lists his many aliases:

Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhail Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb, Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, Yayah, Azzam the American, Azzam Al-Amriki

And now, he’s been captured.

Coincidentally, a video featuring Gadahn was just released today. You can see it here; in it, he praises Nidal Hassan (the Fort Hood shooter) and encourages other Muslims in the military to follow suit. JWF has a pretty good timeline of events.

The question now is, what will happen to Gadahn? If he’s handed over to the United States, it’s hard to not be worried when we have a president like Obama in office. It’s undeniable that he has, at the absolute least, given aid and comfort to our enemy. Will Obama be sure to get him a lawyer first? Read him his Miranda Rights and make sure he’s got a teddy bear to keep him comfy in his prison cell? The penalty for treason is death, but what are libs going to do? To them, even lethal freakin’ injection is cruel and unusual punishment. Frankly, if I had my way, Gadahn would be castrated, hung, and then drawn and quartered. Publicly, too.

But where should Gadahn be tried?

Knowing Obama, he’ll probably give him a nice civilian trial in federal court. Or will he? He’s reversed Eric Holder’s decision to give KSM and the other 9-11 conspirators a federal trial. In this case, though, would a federal trial be the best option? Considering the indictment for treason against him from 2006, a federal trial might not be a bad idea. He is a civilian, after all, and proving treasonous activity won’t exactly be difficult. The problem would be the sentencing. Even if he is convicted and sentenced to death, will he be able to just sit in a jail cell for decades until we finally get around to executing him? Jose Padilla was tried in a federal court and only got sentenced to 17 years and 4 months in prison. There’s also the possibility of an appeal with a federal trial. That can’t be allowed to happen. He needs to be convicted quickly and executed even more quickly. Would a military tribunal accomplish that?

The sad part about all of this is that we should be celebrating. Unfortunately, we have a president who we know is not concerned first and foremost for the safety of the country. Were President Bush still in office, no one would be worried that the president would be hemming and hawing about what to do. Obama, right about now, is probably worried about who he should betray: the American people or the liberals he represents. Obama has a serious chance here to redeem himself with the public. He needs a political victory, and bad. This would give it to him, and it would give him the patriotic, tough, strong appearance that Bush always had. Obama comes across as a pansy ass; this could be the first step towards changing that. The pathetic thing is that his reputation and a political victory are probably the only reasons he would act tough on this issue. If he thought being lenient would make him look better, that’s probably what he would do.

Here’s hoping that, for once, Obama will forget about his socialist liberal base and do the right thing for the country.

UPDATE: UPDATE: There’s been confusion over whether or not Gadahn is who was captured. It seems that if it wasn’t Gadahn, then it was some other American traitor who deserves to get executed mercilessly. The AP has updated their story, and Pakistani officials are saying that an American who has been charged with treason was captured. Sounds like Gadahn, right? But US officials haven’t confirmed the story.

Two Pakistani officers and a government official said Sunday that an American charged with treason for working with al-Qaida had been captured, a development that could deliver another significant blow in the U.S.-led battle against the terror network.

U.S. defense, intelligence and law enforcement officials could not immediately verify the reported detention of Adam Gadahn, a 31-year-old spokesman for al-Qaida who has appeared on videos threatening the West, including one that emerged earlier Sunday.

The reported arrest of Gadahn follows the recent detention of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi, including the group’s No. 2. Those detentions have been seen as a sign that Pakistan, which has been criticized as an untrustworthy ally, was cooperating more fully with Washington.

Some observers were cautious about giving credence to the claim that Gadahn was in custody as reports emerged that the man arrested might instead be a Taliban militant leader. There was no way of independently verifying the arrest or identity, and detentions of terror suspects in Pakistan are often surrounded by conflicting reports.

So, is it Gadahn or isn’t it? Frankly, if Pakistani officials are saying it is an American who was charged with treason, it sure as heck sounds like it is Gadahn. And if US intelligence operatives weren’t involved in this capture, then how would they know whether it is or isn’t Gadahn?

Either way, an American traitor was caught and that’s reason to celebrate, whether it is Gadahn or not… unless of course Obama messes it all up and throws away an opportunity to execute a traitorous dirtbag.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

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Posted by Cassy Fiano on March 7, 2010 7:19 pm

» Filed Under 9-11, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Border Control/Homeland Security, Crime, Death Penalty, DoJ, Domestic Enemies, Islamicfascism, News, Pakistan, Taliban, Treason, War On Terror, terrorism

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