Concord, New Hampshire
(AP) - Democratic presidential front-runner Howard
Dean spoke up on behalf of 9/11 terror mastermind Osama
bin Laden on Friday, saying U.S. leaders shouldn't
prejudge him before he's tried and convicted in a court
of law.
Asked if he thought bin
Laden deserved the death penalty, Dean told the Concord
Monitor, "I've resisted pronouncing a sentence
before guilt is found."
 "I
still have this old-fashioned notion that even with
people like Osama, who is very likely to be found
guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of
executive power, not to prejudge jury trials," he
explained.
"I do think if
you're running for president, or if you are president,
it's best to say that the full range of penalties should
be available," the Vermont Democrat added.
"But it's not so great to prejudge the judicial
system."
Earlier in the month,
Dean sounded a whole lot less forgiving of President
Bush, reminding a Washington, D.C., radio host that some
believe he may have been complicit in the 9/11 attacks.
"The most
interesting theory that I've heard so far – which is
nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved – is
that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis,"
the leading Democrat explained.
Not fit to serve in the White House
Both Rep. Richard Gephardt and Sen.
John Kerry slammed Dean and said his comments show that
the former Vermont governor is not fit to serve in the
White House.
"It's very clear to the American
people that Osama bin Laden is an international
terrorist who has admitted guilt in organizing the 9/11
attacks," said Gephardt, who is running neck-and-neck
with Dean in Iowa.
"We are at war with Osama bin Laden.
If captured alive, he should be prosecuted and
executed," the Missouri congressman continued in a
statement. Massachusetts Sen. Kerry quipped, "You don't
have to listen too carefully to hear the sound of
champagne corks popping in Karl Rove's office,"
referring to President Bush's strategist.
"What kind of muddled thinking is it
if you can't instantly say that in your heart you know
bin Laden is guilty?" Kerry asked a Manchester, N.H.,
crowd.
Dean's comment described as
"the ultimate in soft on crime."
With his comments
defending confessed 9/11 terror mastermind Osama bin
Laden on Friday, Democratic presidential front-runner
Howard Dean may have doomed any chance he had of
defeating President Bush next November.
Reacting to Dean's
statement that bin Laden's guilt should not be
prejudged, columnist Charles Krauthammer described the
comment as "the ultimate in soft on crime."
Krauthammer
is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist with the
Washington Post.
"In the general
election this will kill him," he predicted.
Appearing with
Krauthammer on Fox News Channel's "Special Report
with Brit Hume," Roll Call editor Mort Kondracke
agreed.
"Osama bin Laden has
admitted that he [organized the 9/11 attacks] and [was]
proud that he caused 9/11," he noted. Kondracke
added that he was bewildered that "a candidate for
commander-in-chief, can't make up his [mind], can't see
an enemy when he's in front of his very eyes and has to
wobble about it."
Wondered Krauthammer,
"What kind of extenuating [circumstances] could
Dean have in mind: That someone didn't read [bin Laden]
his Miranda Rights? What exactly would be his excuse,
the insanity defense?"
"This makes for a
trifecta," noted Kondracke. "We already knew
Dean resembled George McGovern on the war. He resembles
Walter Mondale on taxes. Now he represents Michael
Dukakis on civil liberties."
Dean hastily retracted
his comment late Friday, saying he now thinks bin Laden
deserves the death penalty. But his revised remarks may
not do much good.
During a 1988
presidential debate with former President Bush, Gov.
Dukakis said he wasn't sure whether he'd want someone
who raped and murdered his wife to get the death
penalty, insisting it wasn't a deterrent.
Like Dean, Dukakis tried
to undo the damage, saying a few days later he had
rethought his answer to the death penalty question.
Still, his first answer
stuck in the public's mind and is widely believed to
have cost the Massachusetts Democrat the election.
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