The Daily Graphic: Not All Pakistanis Support Terrorists
All we ever hear about Pakistan is how out of control the FATA region is, the Taleban are taking over and Osama bin Laden is viewed as Robin Hood. The latest public opinion polling there by the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows most Pakistanis are not in the tank for terrorists.
From the abstract of the research:
… headline-making assaults have, however, been perpetrated in a country where public support for extremism has declined sharply in recent years. Surveys by the Global Attitudes Project have found progressively lower levels of acceptance of suicide bombing as well as waning confidence in Osama bin Laden. There is only modest support among Pakistanis for al Qaeda or the Taliban. And few agree with their widely noted tactic of preventing education for girls.
Nonetheless, while the trends are positive, sizeable minorities still embrace extremism — for instance, one-in-three continue to express confidence in bin Laden, who many intelligence analysts believe is hiding somewhere in western Pakistan. And while most Pakistanis are worried about religious extremism, polling by the International Republican Institute suggests they are not convinced the Pakistani army should be used to fight radical groups. Instead, most would prefer making a peace deal with extremists.
Taliban, Iraqi Sunnis – Apples, Oranges
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, National Security, Obama Administration, Terrorism
What I’m reading about President Barack Obama’s latest pronouncements on turning the tide in the war in Afghanistan makes me uneasy.
There is no doubt that U.S. and NATO fortunes have backslid in Afghanistan, through no fault of our troops on the ground – there just haven’t been enough to pursue any of a number of strategies effectively. We also know that in many respects the “surge” in Iraq worked to some effect in that war. The surge was not just about troops, it was also about effective counterinsurgency policy and tactics. One of those tactics was to co-opt Sunni tribal elders and their followers who had fallen in line with al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Now, as if Afghanistan is just like Iraq, we’re going to surge there as well. More troops makes sense if those troops are protecting civilians and not leaving them prey to the Taliban. More troops make sense if we are capturing or killing Taliban. Paying off Taliban in the way we worked with Sunni leaders in Iraq is a suckers bet, however.
Too many Americans view the Islamic world through a single lens ground from the images of 9/11 and the Bush war on terror. In this view all muslims are sixth century throwbacks who routinely take to the streets and chant death to America.
The truth is that most muslims want the same things most of us want – peace, prosperity, liberty. Another part of the truth is that there is a very vocal, in your face segment of Islam, who are grounded in a medieval view of the world. They are inherently evil. Their most apparent incarnation is in the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Transcript: Obama Interview with New York Times Aboard Air Force One – May Negotiate with Taliban
Filed under: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Recession, Terrorism, U.S. Economy, U.S. Financial Crisis
(Source: New York Times)
President Obama spoke in a 35-minute interview aboard Air Force One on Friday afternoon as he traveled from Columbus, Ohio to Andrews Air Force Base. This is an edited transcript, as recorded by The New York Times.
Q. You said it’s going to take a long time to get out of this economic crisis. Can you assure the American people that the economy will be growing by the summer, the fall or the end of the year?
A. I don’t think that anybody has that kind of crystal ball. We are going through a wrenching process of de-leveraging in the financial sectors – not just here in the United States, but all around the world – that have profound consequences for Main Street. What started off as problems with the banks, led to a contraction of lending, which led in turn to both declining demand on the part of consumers, but also declining demand on the part of business. So it is going to take some time to work itself through.
CIA Destroys Tapes – Like a bad movie
Evidence for the Bush/Cheney Truth Commission being shitcanned according to AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) – New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations.
The figure is far higher than the handful of recordings the agency has previously admitted destroying, and the revelation comes as a criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter.
Transcript: President Barack Obama, First Press Conference, February 9, 2009
Filed under: Afghanistan, Bailout Bill, Barack Obama, Economic Stimuls, Energy Policy, Joe Biden, National Security, Pakistan, Recession, Terrorism, U.S. Congress, U.S. Economy, U.S. Financial Crisis
(Source: CNN)
President Obama: Good evening, everybody. Please be seated.
Before I take your questions tonight, I’d like to speak briefly about the state of our economy and why I believe we need to put this recovery plan in motion as soon as possible.
Sen. Leahy Echoes Clips & Comment; Calls for Truth Commission on Bush Presidency
Filed under: Bush Foreign Policy, George W. Bush, National Security, Terrorism
Ever since I submitted two ideas to then President-elect Barack Obama’s “Citizens Briefing Book,” I’ve wondered whether or not anyone with any real pull read them.
My answer: Perhaps Sen. Patrick Leahy did. According to the Associated Press today:
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a “truth commission” to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.
Leahy outlined his suggestion for a “truth and reconciliation” commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday.
“I’m doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out,” he said.
The panel he envisions would be modeled after one that investigated the apartheid regime in South Africa. It would have subpoena power but would not bring criminal charges, he said.
Among the matters Leahy wants investigated by such a commission are: the firings of U.S. attorneys, treatment and torture of terror suspect detainees, and the authorization of warrantless wiretapping.
“Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened” during the Bush administration, Leahy said.
Here’s what I wrote at change.gov and on this fine blog back on January 17:
… Here’s an idea – a truth commission. What if the concept was based around answering the questions regarding the Constitution, the efficacy of torture, who was ultimately responsible, etc. This could be done in such a way as to put off any public hearings or transparency until after a bipartisan panel of serious legal, policy experts and just plain citizens had a chance to pursue the issues with subpoena power under a media blackout. Their product would be public. …
FIRST!
Transcript: Barack Obama Interview on al-Aribiya (UAE TV)
Filed under: Barack Obama, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Terrorism
(Source: al-Aribiya)
The following is a full transcript of Hisham Melhem’s interview with President Obama on Al Arabiya TV:
Q: Mr. President, thank you for this opportunity, we really appreciate it.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much.
Q: Sir, you just met with your personal envoy to the Middle East, Senator Mitchell. Obviously, his first task is to consolidate the cease-fire. But beyond that you’ve been saying that you want to pursue actively and aggressively peacemaking between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Tell us a little bit about how do you see your personal role, because, you know, if the President of the United States is not involved, nothing happens – as the history of peace making shows. Will you be proposing ideas, pitching proposals, parameters, as one of your predecessors did? Or just urging the parties to come up with their own resolutions, as your immediate predecessor did?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think the most important thing is for the United States to get engaged right away. And George Mitchell is somebody of enormous stature. He is one of the few people who have international experience brokering peace deals.
And so what I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues –and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved. So let’s listen. He’s going to be speaking to all the major parties involved. And he will then report back to me. From there we will formulate a specific response.
AfPakanistan – What Has Barack Obama Inherited
Filed under: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Pakistan, Terrorism, U.S. Economy
U.S. Marine under fire in Afghanistan, Spring 2008, Reuters
U.S. Marine under fire in Afghanistan, Spring 2008, Reuters
U.S. Military Surge in Afghanistan Can It Work?
U.S. Ally Pakistan – Working Next Door at Cross Purpose
If you’re at all interested in the future of the “War on Terror” and the current version of the Great Game being played out Afghanistan and Pakistan you need to read two stories from the Sunday New York Times:
What a mess.
No question about it, we didn’t finish the job in Afghanistan. We pulled personnel and resources from the fight and sent it all to Iraq. Six or seven years later, the Taliban controls swaths of territory, they use the Afghan-Pak border like a revolving door and they still terrorize those who don’t bend to their Dark Ages world view.
I’ve read that President Barack Obama is sending anywhere from 7,000 to 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in order to deal with a resurgent Taliban, drug lords and assorted other characters from Earth’s version of Tatooine’s Cantina. He might listen to former Secy of State Colin Powell:
Think Iraq was hard? Afghanistan, former Secretary of State Colin Powell argues, will be “much, much harder.”
“Iraq had a middle class,” Mr. Powell pointed out on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” a couple of hours before Mr. Obama was sworn in last Tuesday. “It was a fairly advanced country before Saddam Hussein drove it in the ground.” Afghanistan, on the other hand, “is still basically a tribal society, a lot of corruption; drugs are going to destroy that country if something isn’t done about it.”
Remember the post-Soviet era in Afghanistan? Forget about all the great powers that have had their militaries ground down in the mountain redoubts of the country, just think back to when the Soviets left.
Change Begins – No More Torture Says Obama Executive Order
I actually started to get cynical before the inauguration, mainly due to the then President-elect’s picks for top economic posts in the Cabinet. Today as I look at the Briefing Room on the White House website, the cynicism is giving way to hope once again.
President Barack Obama today signed an Executive Order essentially rescinding Bush Administration policies proscribing torture. The order carries the title, Ensuring Lawful Interrogations.
This brought a smile to my face:
All executive directives, orders, and regulations inconsistent with this order, including but not limited to those issued to or by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 11, 2001, to January 20, 2009, concerning detention or the interrogation of detained individuals, are revoked to the extent of their inconsistency with this order.
Then there’s this:
Effective immediately, an individual in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the United States Government, or detained within a facility owned, operated, or controlled by a department or agency of the United States, in any armed conflict, shall not be subjected to any interrogation technique or approach, or any treatment related to interrogation, that is not authorized by and listed in Army Field Manual 2 22.3 (Manual).
So, what’s so big about the Army Field Manual? It’s called setting and abiding by a standard that is in accordance with the U.S. Constitution, international treaty obligations and federal law. It means no more episodes of “24″ playing out in Guantanamo or black sites in Poland. You see, Jack Bauer is a TV character. To move the plot along his forays into torture often lead to good information. In the real world, harsh interrogation techniques often yield bullshit.
The order also calls for the closure of CIA operated detention facilities. To the credit of some in the CIA, they were never for getting into the jailer’s business in the first place. Obama established a task force to study and make recommendations on issues around agencies other than the Dept. of Defense employing Army Field Manual techniques and how to lawfully transfer detainees from one place to another, ostensibly the kinds of folks who have been picked up through the use of extraordinary rendition, some of who were innocent, one of whom was innocent and died in American custody in Afghanistan.
The Constitution and laws and the understanding of basic human rights are what separates us from the apes who live and think in the Middle Ages and seek to terrorize us. Today, we began to reclaim the moral high ground.
Video: During Bush Years, NSA Swept All Americans’ Communications | Russell Tice on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Tice Says U.S. Journalists, News Organizations Phone Calls, Electronic Communications “Collected”
And you thought the Bush Administration wasn’t scary …
President Obama: Day One News Roundup
- On First Day, Obama Quickly Sets Tone – New York Times
- Obama halts prosecutions at Guantanamo – New York Times
- Oath administered once again – New York Times
- Clinton approved, Holder delayed – New York Times
- Obama: New era of openness – Washington Post
- Lobbying rules tightened – Washington Post
- Guantanamo closure faces hurdles – Washington Post
- Inauguration head count: 1.8 million – Washington Post
- Obama asks Pentagon for responsible Iraq drawdown – Associated Press
My Ideas for the Obama ‘Citizens’ Briefing Book’
One Way to Deal With Torture Legacy:
If the country were not facing such an historic economic crisis, perhaps I would be one of those angered by signals that neither the incoming Congress, nor the Obama Administration, seem to have the will to investigate and potentially hold accountable those who broke the law in the areas of interrogation, detention and rendition during the past administration.
Here’s an idea – a truth commission. What if the concept was based around answering the questions regarding the Constitution, the efficacy of torture, who was ultimately responsible, etc. This could be done in such a way as to put off any public hearings or transparency until after a bipartisan panel of serious legal, policy experts and just plain citizens had a chance to pursue the issues with subpoena power under a media blackout. Their product would be public. In some manner, either through the office of the President or the Congress an acknowledgement would be made and a strong statement, law or EO would be enacted to guide the government through these issues in the future. An acknowledgement could be made that any mistakes in judgement or action were the result of trying, out of the ordinary times (although this shouldn’t be an excuse).
Click this link to vote for this idea at change.gov
Initial Focus on the Bridge to Our Energy Future:
Our economy and society and is intertwined with petroleum – a single resource – that there is no single alternative on the horizon. Many speak of a Manhattan or Apollo project for energy independence, but this economic is much to complex to be solved in a timeframe akin to either of those two great American achievements.
Think of the bridge with its major parts, the spans. We can begin our Apollo-style project of basic research, advanced research, work on prototypes, testing, the development of economic models, etc. But at the same time, we can also build the bridge, span by span. One span may be the Pickens Plan, an effort that will attract private as well as government resources. Another span could be an aggressive tax credit program for making existing American homes energy efficient.
This also has the benefit of being a communications or message construct which will help educate America as to the pervasiveness of petroleum and the strategic disadvantage we are in due to our dependence on this diminishing, primarily foreign supplied resource.
Click this link to vote for this idea at change.gov
Bin Laden Could Be Thinking – ‘Mission Accomplished’
The Bush Administration official in charge of reviewing practices at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has told the Washington Post that the U.S. tortured a Saudi national.
“We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case” for prosecution.
Crawford, a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured.
Earlier this week, an Obama transition official leaked that President-elect Barack Obama may issue an executive order to close the Guantanamo detention center. A day later, the Pentagon, oblivious to the signal sent by the Obama team trotted out numbers alleging as many as 61 former inmates at Guantanamo had “returned” to their terrorist ways.
President George W. Bush and V.P. DICK Cheney have spent the last three weeks on a farewell tour of sorts doing interviews on their eight years in office. Over the past five years, evidence has mounted that Bush Administration at the highest levels essentially sanctioned torture by CIA and military interrogators. In the face of that evidence, neither the president or vice-president have admitted mistakes in their prosecution of the war on terror. Today, a very credible member of their administration did so for them.
The Bushies are leaving office and trying their hardest to build a case for a positive legacy. What many around the world will remember is torture, black sites and renditions. In the wake of one of America’s most trying times – 9/11 – our leaders succumbed to their baser human instincts and turned their backs on the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution. They created a climate of fear rather than one of strength of purpose. They tore at the unique American fabric in ways we may not even yet realize. In some respects, Osama bin Laden must be thinking, “Mission Accomplished.”
Pentagon Roughs Up Obama
Here go the Washington games.
Yesterday, it became known that our President-elect may intend to issue an Executive Order during his first week in office which would order the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Military Prison. According to Reuters, this information comes from an Obama transition adviser. It’s a leak, pure and simple, but who knows if it was intentional.
What’s interesting is that the leak came on the same day after President George W. Bush was asked pointed questions about the degradation of America’s “moral standing” in the world during his administration.
Day Two
Today, another illuminating story from Reuters shines the light of political hardball played Washington-insider style. This dispatch details comments made by Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell regarding the numbers of former Guantanamo inmates who returned to their alleged terrorist ways:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Tuesday that 61 former detainees from its military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appear to have returned to terrorism since their release from custody.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said 18 former detainees are confirmed and 43 suspected of “returning to the fight.”
He said the figures, updated at the end of December, showed a higher rate of recidivism than seen in a previous report showing 37 former detainees as active militants.
He provided no details about the detainees or their countries of origin.
“The overall known terrorist re-engagement rate has increased to 11 percent” from about 7 percent, Morrell said.
I guess you could call this the first Republican salvo in the war over who will become king of homeland security mountain. If Obama were President today, the Pentagon wouldn’t be releasing such information. It’s meant to have an effect.
The problem is, can we believe anything these guys say? They trot out the number “61,” yet there are only 18 they say are confirmed to have returned to the fight. What does the number of 43 suspected to have returned to terrorism mean? If we could prove they were terrorists in the first place, would they have been let go? There are other detainees at Guantanamo who are ready to repatriated but the U.S. cannot find a country willing to accept them. These 43 were obviously accepted somewhere.
These numbers mean nothing in the absence of information regarding specific detainees. This was raw politics. One might consider it somewhat un-patriotic. We have the guy who is almost president talking about a potential policy move. A mere hours later you have the Pentagon casting doubt on the policy with numbers seemingly pulled from the air.
Welcome to Washington Barack Obama. First order of business, fire Geoff Morrell. Second order of business, call Secretary Gates for a dress-down on whose in charge.
Hey Senator Feinstein – Get Over Yourself!
Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA, Simulates Fellatio in Recent Senate Hearing on Aggressive Interrogaton Techniques.
The more I think about it, the more inspired I think President-elect Barack Obama’s pick of Leon Panetta for CIA Director is.
Senator Diane Feinstein apparently doesn’t. Why? Because she wasn’t consulted. CALL THE WAHMBULANCE!
Dame Feinstein is apparently having a hissy. Here’s what she’s sending around to the media this afternoon:
“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” said Senator Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111th Congress.
“My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”
Guess what, Lady? The O is in charge of presidential appointments. You’re just making yourself look like an ass by complaining. I should also note that as of 5 p.m. EST, your crybaby statement wasn’t posted on your Senatorial website for all of the constituents to see what a political hag you are.
Just looking at what’s on the president-elect’s plate – Gaza, depression economics, Wild Man Putin, China building aircraft carriers, Gitmo, his girls starting at a new school, Bill Richardson – do you think you could give the man a break, Diane?
Seeing as how Leon Panetta is supposedly a friend of yours, could you have handled this tirade with a call to Rahmbo? This the kind of shit that guy lives for – Rahm would’ve made it right.
Instead, you act like a bitter, old hag and look like a tool. Get over yourself!
