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Presidential Candidate Howard Dean Defends Bin Laden
December 26, 2003

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.