Authorities questioned the failed Times Square bomber for three to four hours before notifying him of his rights, but Liz Cheney seems to be ignoring that fact.
The daughter of the former vice president told Fox News' Chris Wallace that the Obama administration's "first instinct" was to read wannabe bomber Faisal Shahzad his Miranda rights.
"When the administration captures a terrorist and their first instinct is to inform him that he’s got the right to remain silent, that is exactly the wrong way to win this war," Cheney said Sunday.
"If you aren't willing to acknowledge that you're facing a committed network of terrorists as your enemies, and that it's radical jihadist Islam, then your response to that is gonna be, by definition, insufficient time and time again," said Cheney.
There appears to be little substance to her claims in the most recent case. Attorney General Eric Holder has insisted that reading Shahzad his rights has not limited their case in any way.
He was apprehended two days after parking the SUV loaded with explosives in Times Square, and arresting officers immediately questioned him about imminent threats before informing him of his right to remain silent. They invoked the "security exception" a legal means of circumventing the Miranda rights he is guaranteed by his US citizenship.
Think Progress notes:
Asked on Friday whether Mirandizing Shahzad had impeded the ongoing investigation, Attorney General Eric Holder said, “No, it did not. Reading suspects their Miranda warnings has not deterred them from speaking to investigators, and Mr. Shahzad is, in fact, continuing to cooperate with us.� But, in Liz Cheney’s world, this represents a failure.
Holder faces criticism from the left as well, after calling for Congress to consider an update to Miranda rights in a television interview Sunday.
This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast May 9, 2010.
