Hope and change
Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent
Complete with a newly coined, creepy Orwellian euphemism – ‘disposition matrix’ – the administration institutionalizes the most extremist powers a government can claim
I thought it was Bush who did all that?
October 25th, 2012 at 11:42 am
I still don’t understand why this is an issue.
Al Qaeda has declared war on the US.
Identify yourself as a member of Al Qaeda, and it is the duty of our armed forced to kill your dumb ass.
If you don’t like that, quit and desert, or go to the nearest US embassy or military unit and surrender.
We don’t shoot POWs, and we don’t shoot enemy deserters.
October 25th, 2012 at 11:50 am
I think one aspect is asking the Liberals who excoriated Bush so harshly why they’re not screaming and kicking about this.
For example I haven’t seen the code pink folks outside my office since 2008, they up and left when Obama got elected. The ‘game’ is, as far as I still understand still on.
They’re not anti-war, they’re just anti-republican.
October 25th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Kristophr —
The “problem” is that the determination of “the problem” (who’s a terrorist) is left entirely to the President to decide. If he says you’re a terrorist, you are — no matter what you say or do. It’s kinda like the No-Fly List: seemed like a good idea at the time to prevent “problems” from getting on-board a plane, but now all manner of innocent people (disabled children, government critics, etc.) are on the rolls. Witness the case of the Wade Hicks just a few days ago.
There is no oversight, no appeal, no redress, and no limit. You don’t see a problem with that?
October 25th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Kristophr, describe the al-Queda uniform, please?
Right, they don’t have one. Pursuant to the Geneva Convention, we can shoot any of those that we capture or turn themselves in. We just don’t. Cause we’re pussies.
October 25th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
Greenwald is one of the few who didn’t change his tune once Obama took office. I disagree with the guy more often than not, but I give him credit for being true to a set of beliefs rather than to a party.
October 25th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Mike:
The one the most complaints are being made about, that American, had declared on the freaking internet that he was AQ.
Is that good enough for you?
If an American had joined the Waffen-SS during WWII, and helped make propaganda films, and the Army Air-Corp had dropped a bomb on his ass, we would not be having this discussion.
October 25th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
ATLien: That has been my take on the folks at gitmo … if they aren’t being useful, they need to be lined up against a wall and shot for violating the Hague Treaty by fighting out of uniform.
October 25th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
AT-Lien: Depends on the circumstances of surrender.
If they were fighting and ambushing troops while un-uniformed, then that part of the Hague Convention would apply.
If they just came forward and gave up out of the blue, you would be hard-pressed to prove they were fighting out of uniform at the time.
October 25th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
So Mike, that is how someone like Ghaddann ( sp? ) can avoid getting his ass shot off after publicly joining AQ and making internet propaganda films.
Surrender.
Then he can have his treason trial.
October 25th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Damn, it never occurs to anyone that a list (be it a “kill list” or a “No Fly List”) can ever be abused, huh? You’d think people would have learned something in the past few years, but even all the dead innocents brought to you by the Teleprompter Jesus can’t snap some folks out of their faith in BIG GOV. New rule of American governance: if the Prez kills you, you MUST have done something. QED.
I hope that “rah, rah” blind faith in the Executive brings comfort when the boot is on YOUR neck, brother.