War on Terror
No words
I am a person who is not often caught speechless. This does it. Maybe tomorrow I'll be less PISSED OFF and able to react fully. You know, evil is a word I use sparingly. This is evil. I don't know. This needs to end. I'm going to go and cry/scream/hit things.
Beyond Iraq
In retrospect, the War on Terror was lost in 2002 when President Bush began campaigning for war in Iraq. It wasn’t even the act of bombing and invasion. It was his insistence, the inevitability, the lack of discussion, the assertion that America was allowed to topple a country that, for all its terrible flaws, did absolutely nothing to deserve being torn down by a state all the way on the other side of the world.
We lost the hearts and minds of people all over. Only a minority within the U.S. --- the liberals --- stood up for peace and were easily swept aside by a panicky, easily manipulated, ignorant, bloodthirsty mass who called themselves patriots and accused everyone else of being traitors. Bush got his war. America signed its own death warrant. The “moderates” and the “centrists” and other people with no principles besides taking the easy path and not rocking the boat, all went along with it. Never forget.
We often measure the cost of war as five and a half years, 3500 dead soldiers, 27000 wounded, an impossible-to-pin-down number of dead and wounded Iraqi civilians, police and military, hundreds of billions of dollars and so on. But what about the other consequences? The ones that don’t have numbers?
They might hurt even worse.
The War on Terr'r
CNN big attention grabbing headline: Al Qaeda strongest since September 11, 2001
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Al Qaeda is the strongest it has been since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a new U.S. government analysis concludes, according to a senior government official who has seen it.
snip
Despite a campaign of military action and counterterrorism operations, al Qaeda has regained its strength and found safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the report says, according to counterterrorism officials familiar with the report.
snip
Tuesday Open Thread
Downing Street distanced itself yesterday from an attack by Hilary Benn on the Bush administration's strategy for the "war on terror", in which he claimed military force alone would not defeat al-Qa'ida.
The International Development Secretary called, during a visit to New York, for the strategy to be redirected at winning the trust and support of communities where the terrorists prospered. He said he would not use the phrase "war on terror" - a favourite expression of President George Bush - because it helped to unite fragmented terrorist groups under one banner.
Civil Rights and the War on Terror
A Public Symposium Consisting of 8 different speakers and numerous Civil Rights topics:
Prof. David Aronofsky--The Supreme Court and The War on Terror
Prof. Jim Taylor--The Military Commissions Act of 2006
Bruce Zagaris--National Security Letters and he Patriot Act
Nancy Hollander--Representing of a Guantanamo Detainee
Donna Newman--Jose Padilla and the War on Terror
Prof. Debbie Smith--Immigration and the Patriot Act
Major Tom Fleener, Office of Defense Counsel--Can Military Commissions Provide a Fair Trial?
Civil Rights and the War on Terror
A Public Symposium Consisting of 8 different speakers and numerous Civil Rights topics:
Prof. David Aronofsky--The Supreme Court and The War on Terror
Prof. Jim Taylor--The Military Commissions Act of 2006
Bruce Zagaris--National Security Letters and he Patriot Act
Nancy Hollander--Representing of a Guantanamo Detainee
Donna Newman--Jose Padilla and the War on Terror
Prof. Debbie Smith--Immigration and the Patriot Act
Major Tom Fleener, Office of Defense Counsel--Can Military Commissions Provide a Fair Trial?
Wednesday Open Thread
- President Bush now accepting applications for "war czar" to manage Iraq and Afghanistan. Three generals have already rejected the offer.
- "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," said retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq.