For months, conservatives have looked desperately for a reality-based argument against bringing terrorists to justice using America's federal courts.  First they said our criminal justice system was unsafe.  When that failed, they moved to arguing that a trial in a federal court would be a propaganda tool for terrorists.  Now, Liz Cheney and Keep America Safe have resorted to peddling ‘urban myths' that federal courts cannot protect America's intelligence secrets.  The reality is that federal courts are one of the most effective instruments in America's counterterrorism arsenal, offering protection for intelligence secrets, leverage to yield actionable intelligence, a superb conviction rate, tough sentences, and a platform for condemning extremism before the entire world.

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Prominent conservative lawyers and Bush administration officials denounced as "shameful" a video by Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol's conservative organization Keep America Safe that suggests lawyers who defended Guantanamo Bay detainees are complicit in terrorism.  Signatories include top Bush Administration attorneys and officials, even those who have vocally defended its controversial policies - as well as Kenneth Starr.  Separately, Bush administration Solicitor General Ted Olson defended the attorneys attacked in the video.  These developments dramatize the split between former Bush administration officials and the Cheneyites, who advocate for irresponsible and dangerous counterterrorism policies. 

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In the last nine months, American soil has not been attacked, perhaps the most significant plot against the U.S. since 9-11 has been stopped, key terrorist operatives have been killed, and operations disrupted, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and global support for the U.S. has skyrocketed. But prominent neo-conservatives Liz Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President, and Bill Kristol have launched a new foreign policy initiative devoted to attacking President Obama. Subtly titled “Keep America Safe (KAS)”, the initiative is more about defending the Bush administration and its failed policies than advancing approaches that would enhance American security.

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