If you were Obama... (a mental exercise for everyone)

Pretend for a minute you are Barack Obama.

At 7:30AM this morning, get a call telling you that a terrorist attack has been interrupted.

At 8:30AM you are briefed. Four hours earlier, a white male, approximately 40 years old was rear ended at a light, and knocked unconscious. When police arrive they find very suspicious bits in his car, and decide to search the vehicle. By the time the suspect has regained conciousness the police (working with the FBI) have determined that his vehicle is slightly radioactive. A judge is woken from bed and signs a warrant to search his house. The police find a variety of bomb making material.

At 9:30AM the suspect, a self-identified evangelical Christian, admits to the plot. He claims that if he is part of a larger network of Christians, working with hard-core Israelis, who are trying to provoke Iran. Their plan is to blow up dirty bombs are 50 of the largest churches in America.The bombs are already in place.

Now here's the catch:

The FBI believe if he EVER sees the inside of ANY courthouse the bombers accomplices will detonate the bombs. They believe he has moles in various agencies and they will know the second he is in any way processed.

Assuming a trial is therefore going to result in a massive terror attack, what do you do?

-Kill the guy?
-Lock him up somewhere and throw away the key?
-Try and turn him and use him to break the rest of the plot open?

I know a lot of you love 24, just wondering what people think Obama should do in this very specific (and ridiculous, I know) situation.

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


Drop him off in IRAN smh. Otherwise if you know he will cause the detonation of weapons to KILL others then prevent his ability to be seen to do so. (camp xray)

I believe this is precisely where "aggressive" interrogation techniques come into play. Whatever it takes in such a ticking time bomb scenario. If it does more damage than can be seen in public? Kill him at the end of it. Whatever.... Preparing to bomb 50 churches makes his life and the life of everyone in that group forfeit. If they HAD been on our side before that stunt, they'd need to be considered enemies above even Al Qaeda afterward.

That cover the bases for the reaction? Now in reality, I think we'd see current leaders give in while the last set would have started world war III. I think my solution threads the needle for the closest to middle ground that situation would allow. Just my thinking on your scenario.

The only answer is you try him in a court of law anyway. It is the only option viable by our Constitution.But seeing as he is probably an agent of the CIA anyway and Obama would know of the plot he would probably just disappear or die of natural causes.

No one is going to go to the trouble of planting 50 bombs if they don't intend on setting them off anyway. So the threat is BS, Those bombs are going to detonate.

Find as many as you can, give him a plea deal for names.

Cool responses guys, please keep them coming.

Originally posted by captainnotsoobvious
Pretend for a minute you are Barack Obama. ..... Assuming a trial is therefore going to result in a massive terror attack, what do you do?

1 - If I'm really Obama I'd be totally clueless as to what to do so I'd be calling Hillary for advice.

2 - If I'm me .. in Obamas skin ... I'd ...
a - make the guy disapear into a super secret big black hole somewhere for interrogation.
b - alert all law enforcement (federal, state, local) of a plot.
c - let the experts handle it ... and by experts I mean NOT the elected politicians but instead those trained in this sort of thing ... FBI, CIA, and other law enforcement assets including the TSA and border control.

I won't be answering as Obama - answering as President Wicked Ole Me

Sodium Penthanol (spelling?)

Get all the names I could, details etc.

Another dose with an accidental large air bubble into the veins.

Oooopsey!

Put government medical examiners in charge of autopsy. (spelling?)

Cause of death, embolism sustained in that auto accident.

If *I* were Obama, or rather if I were the president, I would look for the government agency enabling this group.

I really doubt a Christian Terror Network in the USA could obtain enough material for 50 dirty bombs without an inside group enabling them, protecting them, guiding them.

So yeah, as far as the immediate threat I wouldn't be against using "enhanced" interrogation techniques to neutralize the immediate threat, but my long term goal would be to identify every link in this chain and expose everything to the American People.


I would also take the opportunity to villainize radical Christians the way we like to villainize radical Muslims. Both groups in the right atmosphere are willing to kill in the name of their faulty ideologies... If this scenario were happening it would definitely be time to call a spade a spade and drive it into people's heads that religious types will always be much more radical and dangerous that normal people. That's right, I said Jesus freaks aren't normal.

Let me channel the POTUS.

Oh yea, Crisis, Reaction and Solution. Never let a good crisis go to waste.

I could see this Admin using aggressive interrogation techniques to find out where they are and defuse many, but not all of the bombs. Allowing two or more to detonate causing a anti-religious backlash.

Then I can see this Admin and the DOJ clamping down on the Constitution again...particularly the 2nd Amendment. (What guns have to do with bombs, I have no idea, but they will find a way to link them.) All in the name of keeping the citizens safe.

Why does this thread remind me of the WBC folk?

reply to post by TDawgRex


Sorry for my ignorance, but what's WBC? Westboro Baptist Church?

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


Yeppers

Bunch of crazies if you ask me...which you didn't.

reply to post by TDawgRex


We def agree on that!

I don't see a big problem in this scenario. You've 50 radioactive bombs in the 50 largest churches. If you have the resources of the US government you can search the largest 200 churches in a day. Even in a best case scenario, that guy won't see the inside of a courtroom for months.

Find the bombs, put the guy on trial, and investigate where these people found enough radioactive material for 50 dirty bombs. No reason for any drastic action. If the US Government isn't up to the task, hire some Vegas casino security people. They can catch people doing math in their heads.

reply to post by VictorVonDoom


You may have a solution to National Security.

Imagine if Vegas Security guys were in charge of DHS.

I doubt they would take the job though...Vegas businesses pay more than a Government job.

All the headaches with great pay, vs. all the headaches with crappy pay. You do the math.

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


You follow the law and you don't negotiate with terrorists. You arrest him, book him, give him the opportunity to get legal counsel, and you mobilize your other resources to prevent any further attacks. You issue a press release that such a situation exists, but that it has not been verified nor found credible, but you let the public make their own decisions on whether or not to attend church for the next few days. You use your FBI, Marshalls, and local Police forces to do a thorough investigation on your suspect, and if any accomplices exist, you find and arrest them. If there are no accomplices, you try this guy and put him in jail.

The law is the law. We don't need someone trying to usurp it at every turn.

Now, if there is credible information connecting him to these other bombs, and if your investigators are 100% certain a clear and present danger exists and is time-sensitive, then I have no problem with torturing or drugging the guy to get the info. Torture laws are not part of the Constitution, they are part of International Treaties, so screw the torture laws, get the info at all costs, but only if it is 100% credible info, and only if it is immediate, real-time info that can immediately save lives.

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious
I started hearing this in my head halfway through your second paragraph...

So yeah, I would torture him, and cut off somebody's head so I could go undercover, and get hooked on heroin, and shoot my partner, and die a couple of times, and save the world. Again. All in a day's work. (Sorry for the spoilers, non-fans )

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


I would want to speak to him alone, and once alone I would tell him... "let me be clear... I told you not to get caught."

Ahhh hem......
As the POTUS i would call the likes of me.
Turn him over to me.
Use what ever means i desire to draw from him the location of said bombs.
I would then kill him and chop him up in 50 peices.
Use all dedicated, intel controlable resources to locate and remove bombs.
In the bombs place i would place the body peices.
Release no info of knowlegde of bomb placement to public/news.

Instead story reads......" mystery body parts show up at 50 churches today, authorities have no clues as to where they came from. Body cannot be identified to a person. More to follow"

Problem solved. Message sent!!! Lol

Sorry but I would rather not pretend to be Obama we already have a pretender in the oval office.

Second line passes Sorry.