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He'd Change U.S. Strategy

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TERROR : KINGS VIEW

In Todays Paper

An LI battler
Slams Obama policy, still backs him on Afghanistan Despite GOP push, King hesitant about Senate race
BY ELIZABETH MOORE
elizabeth.moore@newsday.com

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Speaking his mind

Not afraid to speak his mind, King the night before called CNN, asking why the president hadnt yet appeared on TV to reassure the public. By the time Barack Obama emerged from his Hawaiian vacation Monday to pledge a full investigation in how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, managed to walk onto the plane even though he was on a terror watch list, he was playing catch-up with Kings critique. King said he isnt just tossing the partisan football and strongly supports Obamas approach in Afghanistan and Yemen. But as former chairman of the

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This was supposed to be the week Rep. Peter King spent talking with family and friends about whether to bow to his partys wishes and run for the U.S. Senate. The Seaford Republican has been talking, all right with CNN, Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC and pretty much anyone in America with a television, keeping the Obama administration on the run over its terrorism policies and its handling of the Christmas Day bombing attempt of a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines passenger jet. Members of the administration have said this week that the airline security system failed. President Barack Obama said there were deficiencies in the system that would be fixed and the overall system strengthened. The system did not work, King told Face the Nation Sunday morning, in a pointed rebuke to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitanos televised assurances offered minutes earlier that the system had worked. The following day, Napolitano conceded that the airline security system had in fact failed, allowing a Nigerian man with explosive materials sewn into his underwear to board the plane.

House Homeland Security Committee and now its ranking Republican, King has found a home on media speed dials as the most vocal, quotable advocate for the war on terror. That phrase, so often on the lips of former President George W. Bush, expresses a philosophy toward Islamic terrorism rejected by Obama, who commonly opts for the word extremists. And as the president, one year into his term, has had to defer his campaign promise to shut down Guantnamo, King has forcefully argued to keep it open.

A state of war
He is not afraid to call this what it is: . . . a state of war, said Jeffrey Addicott, founder and director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Marys University in San Antonio, and a supporter of Kings stance. He certainly has essentially been the sole voice out there that is following the premise to its logical conclusion . . . that were at war, lets use the war toolbox. Tuesday morning, King was on the Today show to urge that the bombing suspect be tried by a military tribunal a position opposed by the Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). Later, King revived his call for religious profiling of air travelers, telling Newsday, its common-sense screening. If youre looking for the IRA, you go to Irish bars and Catholic churches; if youre looking for the Mafia, you go to Little Italy; if youre looking for the Ku Klux Klan, you dont go to Harlem, he said. As for that Senate race: Weary King watchers note he has floated the idea of a run before against Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1999, against Charles Schumer in 2003, and again last year, when Caroline Kennedy was the lead contender for Clintons seat. But this week, he rated his enthusiasm for a race against Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand as a 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

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Its extremely difficult because Peter is enormously popular here on Long Island, but will that popularity translate to the $20 million he would need as a Republican to run a statewide campaign? asked GOP consultant Desmond Ryan, who is skeptical about the partys promises of support.

If all the TV jousting has pleased Republican leaders, pollsters say it has had little effect on Kings standing with voters outside his home turf. Still, last weekend, stopping at the Melville Costco, King found himself swarmed by supporters urging him to run. Hes put off his decision by another week. A4-5

Inside Explore LI

The push for body scans at airports

Will Kings recommendations be put into effect? Look for news updates. newsday.com

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takes on terror
Kings recommendations
OBAMA SHOULD TOUGHEN HIS LANGUAGE. Part of his liberal DNA is that he does not want to use the word terrorism unless he absolutely has to. That sends the wrong signal.

10 ways Rep. Peter King would change U.S. policy, followed by Obama administration positions.
HALT CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF CIA INTERROGATORS. That is having such a destabilizing and demoralizing effect in the intelligence community.
Attorney General Holder launched a criminal investigation of CIA interrogators after the release of a classified report.

SUSPEND THE ORDER TO CLOSE GUANTNAMO. What theyre trying to do is put a square peg in a round hole they are trying to find countries to accept these detainees . . . virtually no countries want them.
As a candidate, Obama pledged to close Guantnamo by the end of 2009, but he has been forced by various factors to postpone the move.

DONT USE CIVILIAN COURTS TO TRY GUANTNAMO DETAINEES. I would be trying them in military tribunals . . . not under the rules of criminal procedure.

Excessive concern about anti-Muslim discrimination has hobbled authorities, preventing them from taking action on disturbing communications by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan the alleged Fort Hood killer, King argues.
At a service for Fort Hood victims, Obama never referred to the Muslim beliefs of the Army psychiatrist who opened fire on them. But this much we do know: No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts, he said.

END POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.

The administration has sought to cool the international dialogue on terrorism, labeling al-Qaida extremists. Administration officials have used the word terrorist.

Attorney General Eric Holder has vowed several top 9/11 suspects could be tried safely in New York. Obama predicted decision would be validated when 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gets the death penalty.

SEND A BIGGER SHARE OF HOMELAND SECURITY MONEY TO NEW YORK. Federal formulas send too much of the money to places where its not needed, King says.
Local congressional Democrats have also complained that the city has received too small a share. For example, on Dec. 9 the metro area was allotted about $200 million of an available $2.7 billion from the federal government.

USE ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS PROFILING OF MUSLIMS. Odds are, a Scandinavian grandmother is not coming to bomb the U.S.

USE WATER BOARDING. We did it three or five times and got a lot of information out of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. . . . that has saved hundreds if not thousands of lives.

ADOPT FULL BODY SCANNING AT AIRPORTS. There is a brief violation of privacy with the full body scan, but on the other hand we can save thousands of lives.
In June, the House including most of the New York delegation voted 310 to 118 to bar widespread use of full-body scanning technology, after it was opposed by civil libertarians.

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BE MORE SUSPICIOUS. Only 14,000 are on the selectee list, a subset of the intelligence database that targets some for more careful searches at airports.

Obama made a campaign pledge to ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies, and his Web site currently says he will work to ensure that federal law enforcement agencies do not resort to the practice.

Last April, Obama announced that he had banned the practice of water boarding and considered it torture.

For security reasons, the government has not said how it decides who goes on selectee or no fly lists.

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The latest
The Netherlands said it will immediately begin to use full body scanners on all flights to the U.S. from Amsterdam. The devices could have prevented the Christmas Day bombing attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria, said Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst. In cases where the 15 body scanners in use in the Netherlands arent enough to

cover the workload, some passengers will be subjected to pat-down searches, officials said. The government of Yemen vowed to attack al-Qaida training camps and bases in the country. We will continue carrying out strikes until they are eliminated, said Deputy Interior Minister Major General Saleh alZawari. Officials in Somalia said they arrested a man in November who tried to board a commercial airliner there

carrying powdered chemicals and a syringe that could have caused an explosion. Samples of the powder were sent to London for testing, the officials said. We dont know whether hes linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed, a Somali police spokesman said. Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama of trying to pretend we are not at war

with terrorists, pointing to the White House response to the attempted bombing as reflecting a pattern that includes banishing the term war on terror and attempting to close the Guantnamo Bay detention center. A senior Democrat said in response: Its telling that in attacking the president and the administration, that Vice President Cheney did not condemn the attack against our nation on Christmas Day. Compiled by Anthony M. DeStefano