Commander Kirk Lippold, USN, Is Correct

Once the Captain of the USS Cole (damaged by terrorists whilst at anchor in Aden harbor, Yemen, on October 12th of 2000), Commander Kirk Lippold, USN retired, made a statement on Friday, January 30th, that hammered a Rivet of Truth into the already-damaged hull of President Obama's Ship of Defeatism regarding Guantanamo:

We shouldn't make policy decisions based on human rights and legal advocacy groups," retired US navy Commander Kirk Lippold said in a telephone interview.

"We should consider what is best for the American people, which is not to jeopardize those who are fighting the war on terror - or even more adversely impact the families who have already suffered losses as a result of the war."

Further:

Yesterday, Lippold called Pohl's decision "a victory for the 17 families of the sailors who lost their lives on the USS Cole over eight years ago."

Why this comment and why now? From the Miami Herald:

The chief judge of the Guantánamo war court Thursday spurned a presidential request to freeze the military commissions, and said he would go forward with next month's hearing for an alleged USS Cole bomber in a capital terror case.

Abd el Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian, faces a Feb. 9 arraignment on terror charges he helped orchestrate the October 2000 al Qaeda suicide bombing that killed 17 U.S. sailors off the coast of Yemen.

Nashiri is now held at the remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba after years of CIA detention in which the agency has confirmed it waterboarded him in secret custody.

"On its face, the request to delay the arraignment is not reasonable," the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, wrote in his three-page ruling denying a prosecution request to delay Nashiri's first court appearance.

So, President Obama stymied already? Sorry to report, apparently: yes.

BZ