Barton outrage over terror arrest

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, sent out a statement Friday about the man arrested Thursday, suspected of trying to blow up the 60-story Fountain Place building in Dallas. The man, Hosam Maher Hussein Smadi lives in Italy, Texas, in Barton's district.

"Good old fashioned Texas justice would suggest that he is to be taken back to Italy and let the local justice of the peace handle him," Barton's statement said. "Mr. Smadi is lucky he's in America, where he's going to get actual justice instead of the vengeance that outfits like the Taliban and al Qaeda mete out. He deserves and I believe he will get a fair trial and if he's convicted, a punishment that fits the crime.

"This episode should remind us that we must resist slipping into a post-9/11 complacency," Barton said. "We're at war with terrorism because terrorists are at war with us."

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Comments

[PatGreenberg]

More bloviating from the bloviator. If he wants to end terror, he could try being a more effective US Congressman.

[KC]

Not everything should be turned into a publicity stunt.