On the same day that Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty to charges of planning a New York City terrorist attack, Attorney General Eric Holder took the opportunity Monday to again defend the use of the criminal justice system in fighting terrorism.

The use of criminal courts have come under withering attack by some conservatives who accuse the Obama Administration of misunderstanding the nature of the fight against terrorists. Those conservatives, like former Vice President Dick Cheney, have publicly stated their preference for military tribunals even though the Bush Administration also used the criminal courts to prosecute a number of terrorist suspects.

Holder said:

This plot is further evidence that al Qaeda continues to plan attacks against the homeland of the United States. We are at war against a very dangerous and intelligent and adaptable enemy, and we must use every weapon available to us in order to win that war.

In this case, as it has been in so many other ones, the criminal justice system has proved to be an invaluable weapon for disrupting plots and incapacitating terrorists, one that works in concert with our intelligence community and in concert with our military. We will continue to use it to protect the American people from terrorism.

 

Now, as I've stated on other occasions, the criminal justice system also contains powerful incentives to induce pleas that yield long sentences, and that gain intelligence that can be used in the fight, in the war against al Qaeda. We will use all available tools whenever possible against suspected terrorists.