It was 5 years ago this week that we went into Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime. While they are no longer officially in power, the Taliban is apparently gaining strength in many localities. Essentially, the Karzai led government only has control over big cities. The rest is left up to the Taliban and other local war lords.
Who would have thought Afghanistan would be in this situation 5 yrs after the most powerful nation in the world resolved to oust the mastermind behind 9/11 and the regime that gave him protection.
And who would have thought our leaders would purposely continue to restrict our freedoms and curtail our Constitutional Rights in the name of a war on terror. If you read my maddened and dazed state the other day, you know I'm in complete disbelief about where this nation is headed. Not only are we stuck in Iraq in a misguided attempt to...um...actually I don't know why we're there.
But anyways, while we're stuck there, we're seemingly losing the war on terror left, right, and center. How's that? There hasn't been another attack on US Soil since 9/11 so how could we be losing. Well, keep in mind that terrorism isn't necessarily killing innocent civilians. It can striking fear in the hearts and minds of innocents. And to be honest, I'm scared of where we're headed as a free nation.
The latest Detainee bill that passed through Congress (before the ridiculous Foley shit) should really make us stand up and shout "No!" "Fuck No!" "Not in the name of America!" Instead we have calmly argued cases for why it should be possible to hold a US Citizen in Guatanamo as an enemy combatant. We're told that as citizens we could still contest our detentions from jail. We're told that the system will ensure that innocent Americans will still have due process. Just lke Jose Padilla, a US citizen who has been in prision since 2002 and STILL HASN'T BEEN CHARGED with a crime. Now, Padilla may well be out to kill, but what's the reasoning behind not charging him with a crime. For 4 years!
And now, we have people like John Yoo telling us that a valid reason for not allowing detainees to contest their arrests is the expense to the country if every detainee were to file in court. Read up on this nonsense. And if you have the time, you should really listen to the interview (link right under the title of the article). Steve Inskeep has this sort of incredulous thing going on in his voice like he's ready to blurt out "Are you fucking kidding me?!". I can't imagine that a valid reason for limiting Habeus Corpus is that it costs too much money and time to deal with each of these guys.
Give me a fucking break.
At least tell us that these people, if let out, could proceed with planning the next attack and kill us all. Oh that's right, so many of the people detained are eventually let go without ever being charged. Keep track here.
So instead of our government taking reasoned responses to terror, we get bullshit about the expense of Habeua Corpus and continued conflation of 9/11 terrorism with Iraq.
So these are the Rules of War.
Confuse.
Scare.
Lie.
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