Pat Dollard | Young Americans

One question? When did we put the Nazis of WWII on trial, before or after the war ended?

June 18, 2008 4:03 PM

ABC News’ Sunlen Miller, Teddy Davis, and James Gerber Report: Two more Obama advisers acknowledged Wednesday that Osama Bin Laden would be extended Habeas Corpus rights if the al Qaeda leader were brought to Guantanamo Bay.

The Obama advisers were quick to add, however, that this reading of Bin Laden’s rights, which was established by last week’s Supreme Court ruling and would be binding on the next president no matter who wins in November, does not mean that the man who claims credit for the 9/11 terrorist attacks would be released.

The decision in Boumediene v. Bush would only guarantee Bin Laden and other terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay the right to request a hearing at which the government would have to establish through due process why the detainee should be held.

Speaking on a conference call arranged by the Obama campaign, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Mass., said that if Bin Laden were granted a Habeas hearing before a federal court “the judge would dismiss it” and rule that the United States has “ample grounds to hold him.”

Obama foreign policy advisor Greg Craig argued that the question of the Al Qaeda leader’s rights was unlikely to arise because “there is an outstanding shoot-to-kill order with respect to Osama bin Laden.” He added that the hypothetical question would only come up “if he’s captured alive” and “if he’s transported out of wherever he’s been captured and brought to Guantanamo.”

“I have no doubt that there would be no problem establishing a basis, an evidentiary basis, to hold him and try him,” said Craig, referring to Bin Laden. “And hold him responsible for murdering 3,000 people.”

Obama adviser Susan Rice, who joined Smith and Craig on the call, would not engage the hypothetical question of what rights Bin Laden would be afforded. Instead, she invoked the existing authority to use lethal force against Bin Laden. She also pointed to a 2007 speech on Pakistan by Obama in which he promised to use actionable intelligence to go after high-value Al Qaeda targets like Bin Laden even if, in Rice’s words, the “host government is unable or unwilling to act.”

Wednesday was the second day in which Obama supporters found themselves explaining what rights Bin Laden would be afforded if he were brought to Guantanamo Bay under last week’s Supreme Court ruling. On Tuesday, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D) and former counterterrorism czar and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke offered a similar reading of Bin Laden’s rights.

On a Wednesday call arranged by the McCain campaign, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he was “startled” by Kerry’s acknowledgement that Bin Laden would be given Habeas rights at Guantanamo under last week’s Supreme Court ruling.

Because Obama agreed with last week’s decision and McCain did not, Giuliani said Kerry’s remarks on behalf of Obama were a reminder of “what we would have in store for us if we have a Democratic presidency.”