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On Terror Case, Rare Silence From Obama

Also a reversal of Bush attempts to 'conflate' threat to US: Ambinder

By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 29, 2009 7:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – The absence of a statement from the Obama administration on the arrest of terror suspect Najibullah Zazi is quite a contrast from a president Americans have gotten used to seeing just about every time they turn on the TV—and from the treatment such incidents received during the Bush administration, when, Marc Ambinder points out, threats were often greatly exaggerated.

Bush officials “regularly inflated the significance of incidents that, in retrospect, turned out not to be as dangerous,” Ambinder blogs for the Atlantic. “Plots, real and imagined, were conflated into a diffuse and ongoing, severe and acute terrorist threat that required constant vigilance from Americans.” An Obama insider says the silence is “deliberate,” a decision to “leave enforcement matters to law enforcement, and to not let politics seep into at all.”

J. Michael Dowling, lawyer for suspected terrorist Najibullah Zazi, speaks after his client's appearance in court today.
J. Michael Dowling, lawyer for suspected terrorist Najibullah Zazi, speaks after his client's appearance in court today.   (AP Photo)
This courtroom sketch shows suspected al-Qaeda terrorist Najibullah Zazi in Brooklyn Federal Court today.
This courtroom sketch shows suspected al-Qaeda terrorist Najibullah Zazi in Brooklyn Federal Court today.   (AP Photo)
Najibullah Zazi is escorted off an NYPD helicopter by US Marshals after being extradited from Denver, Sept. 25, 2009.
Najibullah Zazi is escorted off an NYPD helicopter by US Marshals after being extradited from Denver, Sept. 25, 2009.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 14 comments
yummines
Sep 30, 2009 12:36 PM CDT
hopefully he doesn't say anything because he shouldn't have to. a terror suspect is arrested and put to trial. that's it
Face-Of-RNC
Sep 30, 2009 11:07 AM CDT
Silence = please direct me to that quote. I missed it.
SilenceDogood
Sep 30, 2009 7:16 AM CDT
It’s probably because Obama has stated “The war on terror is over”, he is simply confronted with his own mistake, a terrorist.

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