Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, demanded that suspected plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab be tried in a military tribunal. Speaking to NBC, he said, "I think that the administration has made a mistake by treating this terrorist as a common criminal — by putting him into the criminal justice system. I wish they would have put him into a military tribunal so we could get as much intelligence and information out of him as we could."
He also said, "My concern is that we did miss the opportunity, because once we put him into the criminal justice system, he gets a lawyer and Miranda rights." King has been vocal about the Obama administration's failings in dealing with the incident so far.
In the meantime, President Obama said today, "The warning signs would have triggered red flags and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America. A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable."
