Graham demands Answers about extradition of al-Qaeda Members

U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with eight of their Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, sent this letter yesterday to current U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch demanding answers about the current extradition of two Yemeni al-Qaeda members from Saudi Arabia to the United States for prosecution in an Article III civilian court. The two Yemenis, Shaddiq Al-Abbadi and Ali Alvi, are charged with conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and for providing material support to al-Qaeda. “It appears in this case that the U.S. government relied on foreign governments to detain and interrogate the Yemenis and share that information with the United States,” wrote Graham and Grassley. “In the case of Al-Abbadi, it took almost five years after his initial capture for this Administration to take him into custody. Moreover, when it did, the Administration decided to pursue an Article III prosecution, transfer him to New York, read him his Miranda rights, and give him an attorney. This is no way to fight a war. Rushing to prosecute al-Qaeda terrorists picked up on foreign battlefields or in foreign countries unnecessarily limits the life-saving intelligence that could be collected by our military. Unfortunately, this is a recurring theme under the current Administration. The United States cannot criminalize the war for ideological purposes. We must use every tool at our disposal to defeat our radical enemy.”