Clipmarks | masbury's 'terrorism' clips

Obama's Senate service, Part 2

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:28:00 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Especially focused on foreign policy and veterans' affairs; becomes chair of Foreign Relations' Committee's subcommittee for European Affairs.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges

sponsored the "Iran Sanctions Enabling Act" supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry

co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism

sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries

Committees

assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations

Environment and Public Works

Veterans' Affairs

ook additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

has made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa

Tags: obama, senate

Bushco wrote war pitch BEFORE knowing intel

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:39:28 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: National Security Archive reports the Bush-Cheney White paper "justifying" the invasion was developed a full three months in advance of the intelligence data and analysis that should have served as the basis for that justification; then doctored NIE report to agree with their own White Paper. Only imminent threat mentioned was the possibility of Iraqi terrorism in USA if Saddam regime was threatened - but Bushco deleted it before giving the report to Congress.

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

the Bush-Cheney White paper "justifying" the invasion was developed a full three months in advance of the intelligence data and analysis that should have served as the basis for that justification. The National Security Archive summed it up succinctly:

"The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq,

"The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002." National Security Archive in "Scoop' Independent News, August 24, 2008.

4.0 million Iraqis are "displaced

ten percent of Iraq

dead or injured

5.0 million

orphan

Tags: bush, war, iraq

Biden vocal, consistent Gitmo opponent

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:28:34 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "[The Bush administration] has destroyed faith in America's judgment. And it has devalued America's moral leadership in the world. Instead, this administration has focused to the point of obsession on the so-called "war on terrorism" and produced a one-size-fits-all doctrine of military preemption and regime change ill suited to the challenges we face. It has made fear the main driver of our foreign policy. It has turned a deadly serious but manageable threat -- a small number of radical groups that hate America -- into a ten-foot tall existential monster that dictates nearly every move we make. Even if you look at the world through this administration's distorted lens, you see a failed policy."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Sen. Biden has been unstinting in his opposition to the prison at Guantánamo Bay. In June 2005, he called for Guantánamo to be closed, telling ABC News that it had "become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

also voted against the much-criticized Military Commissions Act of 2006, which reintroduced military trials at Guantánamo after they were declared illegal by the US Supreme Court, and in May 2007 he co-sponsored the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act, which not only called for the closure of Guantánamo, but also proposed moving prisoners against whom a case could be built to the maximum security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and releasing all those who had not been charged. In July 2007, he followed this with proposals for a National Security with Justice Act, which sought to "prohibit extraterritorial detention and rendition

Tags: biden

Foreign policy experts: Get US out of Iraq.

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:41:16 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Annual survey of experts from left and right.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

REPORT: 69 percent of foreign policy experts favor redeployment from Iraq.

Today, the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy released their annual “Terrorism Index,” a survey of more than 100 U.S. foreign policy experts, conservatives and liberals alike, on developments in international affairs. Some highlights:

– 80 percent say that the U.S. has focused too much on the war in Iraq and not enough on Afghanistan.

– 69 percent recommend that the majority of U.S. forces in Iraq be redeployed in the next 18 months, up one percent from last year.

– Zero percent say Iraq is most likely to become the next al Qaeda stronghold; 51 percent say Pakistan will be.

– 81 percent say U.S. policy towards Iran has negatively impacted national security.

Tags: war, iraq

End the "sovereignty of militarism"

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:43:37 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Ramping up in Afghanistan is not the way to defeat terrorists

Clip Source: ofamerica.wordpress.com

A recent report on how to best combat “terrorism”

by the hardly-peace-loving Rand Corporation concluded that, “In most cases, military force isn’t the best instrument.”

This report

make obvious that big money military-industrial interests have failed to deal with what some national security specialists call “asymmetric threats”

this failure raises a critical question: why another clunky build-up in Afghanistan to fight another nimble threat?

continued big-money militarism in Afghanistan continues to guarantee the that global corporations will rule the economic, political and personal lives of people across the world

Obama and McCain appear to be sending signals not to the voters, but to the Pentagon and

companies whose stock values depend on the extension

of what Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz calls a “3 Trillion Dollar War.”

Without stopping those who profit handsomely

we will not have the economic resources required to build a more just society

ending the sovereignty of

militarism

Tags: afghanistan, war

US has more military musicians than it has diplomats

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:02:54 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: “There is no battlefield solution to terrorism,” the report declares. “Military force usually has the opposite effect from what is intended.”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The United States has more musicians in its military bands than it has diplomats

Incredibly, the most eloquent spokesman for more balance between “hard power” and “soft power” is Defense Secretary Robert Gates

the United States is hugely overinvesting in military tools and underinvesting in diplomatic tools. The result is a lopsided foreign policy that antagonizes the rest of the world and is ineffective in tackling many modern problems

“One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success is not sufficient to win,”

the entire American diplomatic corps — about 6,500 people — is less than the staffing of a single aircraft carrier group

Our intuitive approach to fighting terrorists and insurgents is to blow things up. But one of the most cost-effective counterterrorism methods in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan may be to build things up, like schooling and microfinance. Girls’ education sometimes gets more bang for the buck than a missile.

Tags: foreign policy, war, iraq

Not since Terry Schiavo ...

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:13:21 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: have Repubs been riled enough to demand a return from recess. This time, for a giveaway to Big Oil.

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

Food for thought: the last eight years have seen numerous acts of terrorism, here and elsewhere, two wars, a catastrophic hurricane, floods, multiple violations of law by officials in government, confirmation of actually occurring global climate change, children's toys contaminated with ingestible lead, and a collapse of the mortgage market that has had nationwide housing and banking impacts. To name a few.

During this time, I believe there have been only two circumstances that have riled Republican congressmen enough for them to demand returning to Washington during a recess. The first was done so that 535 legislators plus the President of the United States could play collective doctor to Terri Schiavo based on a videotape and the pronouncements of Senator Bill Frist.

The second was to stage a mock debate

to demand new lease giveaways to oil companies during a time of record profits. After ending the previous session by blocking almost all other energy legislation.

Tags: politics, energy, republicans

Al Qaeda stronger since 9/11; war makes it worse

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:24:01 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: War makes them heroes, Rand report says. United police action would make them criminals.
Used to be that anybody who said war wasn't the best answer was thought to be soft on terrorism. What we need to learn is that war doesn't work.

Clip Source: blog.beliefnet.com

The Bush administration's terrorism-fighting strategy has not significantly undermined al-Qaeda's capabilities, according to a major new study that argues the struggle against terrorism is better waged by law enforcement agencies than by armies.

The study by the nonpartisan Rand Corp. also contends that the administration committed a fundamental error in portraying the conflict with al-Qaeda as a "war on terrorism." The phrase falsely suggests that there can be a battlefield solution to terrorism, and symbolically conveys warrior status on terrorists, it said.

"Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors,"

the thousands upon thousands of lives lost in this conflict -- and not just those of U.S. forces and those killed by U.S. forces, but also those killed by continued terrorist attacks

Al-Qaeda is "strong and competent," and has succeeded in carrying out more violent attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, than in all of its previous history.

Tags: war on terror

Gitmo defense: What's the point?

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:11:29 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: If proven guilty, he's jailed at Gitmo. If acquitted, prosecutors admit, he's jailed at Gitmo.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Defense attorney Jon Jackson criticized the proceedings because Hamdan could still be jailed, no matter the trial’s outcome.

Jon Jackson: “Mr. Hamdan or any accused at Guantanamo, but for right now, Mr. Hamdan, if he is convicted, he will stay at Guantanamo Bay. If he is acquitted completely, he’ll stay at Guantanamo Bay. And if he’s convicted and he gets, let’s say, time served, he’s going to stay at Guantanamo Bay, because the government has stated, through their prosecutor, Mr. Murphy, that regardless of what outcome in this case, they’re allowed to detain Mr. Hamdan for the duration of the global war on terrorism.”

The military judge has already ruled prosecutors cannot rely on certain statements from Hamdan, because they were made under coercion from US interrogators in Afghanistan.

Tags: gitmo, war on terror

Four reasons nuclear power is a very bad idea

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:07:52 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: 1. no willing investors (it's all gov't money); 2. spreads nuclear weapons technology (eg, S Korea); 3. makes fat terrorism targets; 4. waste problem unsolved

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Don’t Drink the Nuclear Kool-Aid

there are no buyers. Wall Street is not putting a penny of private capital into the industry, despite 100-plus percent subsidies."

we can have as many nuclear plants as Congress can force the taxpayers to pay for. But you won't get any in a market economy."

Even if nuclear power were economically viable,

the first issue to come up for me would be the spread of nuclear weapons, which it greatly facilitates

The technology, materials, equipment, skills are applicable to both

The president

triggered a new Mideast arms race by trying to push nuclear power within the region."

there are terrorist threats to existing nuclear reactors

It is not necessary to fly a plane into a nuclear plant or storm a plant and take over a control room in order to cause that material to be largely released

the waste:

stays dangerous for

millions of years

So far, all the places we've looked turned out to be geologically unsuitable, including Yucca Mountain

Tags: environment, nuclear, energy, politics

Bush: those who disagree with him "slander America"

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:47:12 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: How very, very cheap - taking those who disagree with HIM and labeling them slanderers of AMERICA. He attempts to manipulate people who want to be patriotic into sitting down, shutting up, and asking no questions about his abuse of power, so he can do whatever he wants with their money.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

BOULTON: There are those who would say look, lets take Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib, and rendition and all those things and to them that is the complete opposite of freedom.

BUSH: Of course, if you want to slander America.

a short — but by no means exhaustive — list of those who have

slandered America:

– The United States Supreme Court: The Court ruled last week that “terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have a right to seek their release in federal court” saying that Bush’s policy compromised “the Constitution’s guarantee of liberty.”

– McClatchy Newspapers:

the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned “perhaps hundreds” of men “in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.”

– The Federal Bureau of Investigation:

according to its agents, “[m]ilitary officials at Guantanamo Bay used some aggressive techniques before they were approved, possibly in violation of Defense Department policy and U.S. law.”

Tags: bush, gitmo, war on terror

Yoo refuses to rule out "crushing a child's testicles"

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:28:02 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Or raping an infant to exert pressure on a terror suspect. Addington also evades.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

In several public fora heretofore, Yoo has insisted that no law -- neither domestic nor international -- prevents the president from authorizing the crushing of a child's testicles or the raping of an infant as a way of exerting pressure upon a terrorist suspect.

On December 1, 2005, Yoo notoriously contended in a public debate that the legality of crushing a child's testicles "depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that." Yesterday John Conyers tried to ask Yoo point-blank about that claim in that 2005 debate, namely whether Yoo still believes "that the President can order that a suspect's child be tortured in gruesome fashion."

Yoo's hemming and hawing around the question -- and his inability or refusal to say simply no, no, no -- spoke volumes. Addington evaded the question by telling committee members to consult their own in-house lawyers about such "legal opinions" and then refused to talk further about torture because "al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN."

Tags: terrorism, torture

Juan Cole: MANY TORTURED DETAINEES INNOCENT!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:07:38 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Why habeas corpus is Morality 101: "prisoners were routinely abused even after it became clear that they had no intelligence value" We have no right to imprison and torture innocent people. Apparently, some previously innocent prisoners were so radicalized by US torture that they took up arms after being released.

Clip Source: www.juancole.com

Tom Lasseter of McClatchy reports that the news service has done extensive interviewing with 66 prisoners released from Guantanamo and found that most were either innocent or were lower level Taliban foot soldiers with no ties to international terrorism. McClatchy argues that the prisoners were routinely abused even after it became clear that they had no intelligence value. Some were radicalized by being tortured by the US, so that when they were released as innocent, they turned to attacking US interests.

Tags: gitmo, torture

Iraq cost: Loss of power, prestige, influence

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:43:49 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Why Iraq policy has made America less powerful; major changes recommended by bi-partisan panels; greater emphasis on soft power and patience, less "hectoring"

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

"America's strategic position in the world has worsened," said Josef Joffe

"From a coldly realist perspective, Iraq was the wrong war against the wrong foe at the wrong time."

"Since 9/11, the United States has been exporting fear and anger rather than the more traditional values of hope and optimism. Suspicions of American power have run deep," Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state under Bush

The removal of Saddam Hussein strengthened Iran and "by entangling itself in an interminable civil war, the U.S. has lost power to spare,"

U.S. credibility also has been undermined, at home and abroad, by the administration's false claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaida prior to the Iraq war.

Several recent blue-ribbon panels recommended that the next president make major changes in how the United States deals with the world.

war on terrorism has inflamed suspicions of U.S. motives

Tags: iraq, war on terror

FBI began "war crimes" file on Gitmo interrogators

Thu, 29 May 2008 22:31:20 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: But were forced to close it down. Complained to senior officials at Justice, DOD, NSA to no effect.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

as evidence of prisoner mistreatment at Guantánamo Bay began to mount, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at the base created a “war crimes file” to document accusations against American military personnel, but were eventually ordered to close down the file, a Justice Department report revealed Tuesday.

a female interrogator reportedly bent back an inmate’s thumbs and squeezed his genitals as he grimaced in pain.

The report says that the F.B.I. agents took their concerns to higher-ups, but that their concerns often fell on deaf ears: officials at senior levels at the F.B.I., the Justice Department, the Defense Department and the National Security Council were all made aware of the F.B.I. agents’ complaints, but little appears to have been done as a result.

quotes passionate objections from F.B.I. officials

about the reports of practices like intimidating inmates with snarling dogs, parading them in the nude before female soldiers, or “short-shackling” them to the floor

in extreme heat

Tags: gitmo, war crimes, terrorism