In the wake of the arrest of alleged terrorist Faisal Shahzad, a number of Republican politicians have expressed outrage that the naturalized American citizen is being afforded the constitutional rights of citizenship.
Major General (ret.) Paul Eaton told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Tuesday, "I am a little surprised that we're here to defend our Constitution against a Republican senator and a Republican representative's attack on it."
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Representative Peter King (R-NY) have both suggested that it was an error to read Shahzad his Miranda rights and to keep him in the civilian justice system rather than immediately handing him over to the military.
"From a national security perspective, it's damaging," Eaton said of their statements. "Right now, the FBI and our police forces are looking over their shoulder every time they hear a Republican come off with a remark like that. ... Since January of 2009, we have seen a relentless attack on our FBI, on our armed services, on our policemen by the Republican Party. Any opportunity that they can find ... they have pursued. ... I want them to cut it out."
Eaton, who retired from the Army in 2006, has since been a supporter of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He is currently a senior adviser with the National Security Network, a progressive think-tank with close ties to the Obama administration. It was Eaton who slammed former Vice President Dick Cheney last fall as an "incompetent war fighter," after Cheney had criticized the Obama administration as weak on national security, and he appears to be carrying out the same function now.........................
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