As some of you may know, one of the "masterminds" behind the September 11th attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, went to military tribunal yesterday. He may be charged with war crimes, for which his penalty would be the death sentence.
Now, I realize this man most likely had an involvement in an attack that resulted in the death of some three thousand plus Americans (if you're not counting the war in Iraq that somehow resulted from the attack). However, I think in this particular case we should consider staying the death penalty, and should do the same in any cases where a terrorist is convicted. Death is the last thing you want to give someone who believes they are fighting in the name of God, Allah, or whoever else may have a following of extremists. When you give a man like this death, his death will be celebrated as a victory by his brothers-in-arms, and he will welcome his death with open arms, as Mohammed has stated. To give these men the martyrdom they seek will not be a victory for America, but just another reason to give their comrades a reason not to fear any punishment they may meet an American hands. To give them a life sentence would be to make their efforts more in vain. If they can't even die for their god, what's the bother in trying? Maybe this would just cause an increase in suicide attacks. Maybe it would result in less attacks overall. How could we measure the effect of letting these men live a life that's wasted by rotting away in prison? Who knows. The point is, we can't just send these men to their deaths if that's what they're asking for, it's not a punishment for them.
Also, I have to bring up the fact that Mohammed made a comment about his nose being drawn too big by a courtroom artist. Are you fucking kidding me? Why are we reporting on that?! We're prosecuting a "terrorist mastermind" and you're reporting on a comment about a courtroom drawing?
You people are hacks.
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
6.6.08
4.6.08
Good Tuesday
Here we are, finally down to the end of the Primary elections. We have Clinton down by more than 100 delegates with only 48 left up for grabs, and about half of those are likely to go to Obama. We're nearing the end, my friends, of a long circus of an election. We knew who would be winning this election from the day that Obama won 11 straight primaries. We knew who would be winning this election when Obama over took Clinton in pledged delegates. We knew who would be winning this election when Clinton started losing super delegates to Obama. We've seen this coming for a long time now. Because of this, I just can't help but ask the question: Why didn't Clinton see this coming? Why is Clinton still fighting for this? The actions Clinton has been taking have hurt our chances of dodging another four to eight years of having a Republican president. McCain has been able to start on his general election campaign without the distractions of the Republican primary while we've got Clinton trying to grasp at straws claiming that the super delegates will tell the voters that she's the only real choice for the Democrat presidential candidate. We knew in April that she would lose the election, and her insistence on staying in the election has allowed McCain to run unopposed for the three months to define himself to the voters of the nation. It's only been very recently that Obama has started his general election campaign by shifting the focus from his campaign against Clinton to his campaign against McCain. How long ago could we have shifted this focus if we didn't have a fly buzzing in our ear? How long ago could we have begun the fight to drive the Republicans out of the White House and give ourselves a chance for some change in the way politics work?
At this point, Clinton's aides have let us know that she is not planning on ceding the election to Obama, that she is not going to withdraw from the race. She may have headed back to New York, Bill Clinton may have said that this was the last race he would campaign in, but she is still not giving up her fight to be back in the White House. Will we have to wait until the Democratic National Convention in August before we can start the campaign against McCain? Clinton needs to realize the damage that she's causing her party by staying in the race, and that McCain is going to use that to his advantage. Let's get this over with before we have troops going into Iran. Let's get this over with before we're bombing Syria. Let's end this primary election and move on to defeating the greatest threat currently posed against American freedom: Four more years of Republicans in the White House.
At this point, Clinton's aides have let us know that she is not planning on ceding the election to Obama, that she is not going to withdraw from the race. She may have headed back to New York, Bill Clinton may have said that this was the last race he would campaign in, but she is still not giving up her fight to be back in the White House. Will we have to wait until the Democratic National Convention in August before we can start the campaign against McCain? Clinton needs to realize the damage that she's causing her party by staying in the race, and that McCain is going to use that to his advantage. Let's get this over with before we have troops going into Iran. Let's get this over with before we're bombing Syria. Let's end this primary election and move on to defeating the greatest threat currently posed against American freedom: Four more years of Republicans in the White House.
30.5.08
Big Talk, Big Stick
"Speak softly and carry a big stick..."
These were the words of Theodore Roosevelt, and for a long time our country lived by them as our foreign policy. We exercised real diplomacy, speaking with the leaders of enemy nations to help prevent war. We recognized that as long as we had that big stick in our hands we didn't need to make threats to other nations to keep them from attacking us or our allies. What I want to know is when we lost that realization. Now we have a politician that is being attacked for his idea that we should be meeting with people we're at odds with and try a good, old-fashioned conversation to see if we can reconcile our differences, while having that big stick (read United States Air Force) sitting in the background. It seems our idea of good foreign policy has become waving our big stick around and then yelling "You better not mess with us, this is what we've got if you do!" We don't talk, we don't ask, we just say "We're the boss" and then point to our stick.
This is not a foreign relations policy, this is a terrorist recruitment tool. This is a way for nations opposing us to find young, easily influenced people and say "America is our enemy, America is a threat." If we weren't going around the world pointing to our big stick, this wouldn't be as much of an issue as it is. I have to wonder if it has occurred to our current leaders Roosevelt's ideas of diplomacy could improve our nation's image in the eyes of the world. I have to wonder if they realize that real diplomacy, really working towards a peaceful solution, is going to give our enemies less of a reason to hate us and to get others to hate us. Maybe instead of attacking the idea of being diplomatic, the Republicans should pull their heads out of their asses and start a conversation that encourages peaceful solutions to international problems.
Who am I kidding. This isn't going to happen until we get some real change in this country, until our entire political environment changes. But this isn't going to happen. America isn't going to open its eyes, it's going to take someone forcing them open.
These were the words of Theodore Roosevelt, and for a long time our country lived by them as our foreign policy. We exercised real diplomacy, speaking with the leaders of enemy nations to help prevent war. We recognized that as long as we had that big stick in our hands we didn't need to make threats to other nations to keep them from attacking us or our allies. What I want to know is when we lost that realization. Now we have a politician that is being attacked for his idea that we should be meeting with people we're at odds with and try a good, old-fashioned conversation to see if we can reconcile our differences, while having that big stick (read United States Air Force) sitting in the background. It seems our idea of good foreign policy has become waving our big stick around and then yelling "You better not mess with us, this is what we've got if you do!" We don't talk, we don't ask, we just say "We're the boss" and then point to our stick.
This is not a foreign relations policy, this is a terrorist recruitment tool. This is a way for nations opposing us to find young, easily influenced people and say "America is our enemy, America is a threat." If we weren't going around the world pointing to our big stick, this wouldn't be as much of an issue as it is. I have to wonder if it has occurred to our current leaders Roosevelt's ideas of diplomacy could improve our nation's image in the eyes of the world. I have to wonder if they realize that real diplomacy, really working towards a peaceful solution, is going to give our enemies less of a reason to hate us and to get others to hate us. Maybe instead of attacking the idea of being diplomatic, the Republicans should pull their heads out of their asses and start a conversation that encourages peaceful solutions to international problems.
Who am I kidding. This isn't going to happen until we get some real change in this country, until our entire political environment changes. But this isn't going to happen. America isn't going to open its eyes, it's going to take someone forcing them open.
26.5.08
Johnny Boy
Oh Johnny Boy, you rascal you.
You have put so much emphasis on your military record, your time as a P.O.W., but you won't support a bill to help the young people of this country who have decided it is their duty to follow your lead? Oh no, you say you want to give them benefits, but the problem with the current bill is that the soldiers aren't getting in the way of bullets enough times. No, they should have to re-enlist two or three times before they get those health benefits, that help with college. They should risk there lives more than once in the defense of the nation they're so proud to serve before we will help provide mental health care, after coming home from seeing all those people die at their own hands. We need them to see more friends die, get hit with more shrapnel, get shot in more limbs before can help provide the care they need.
I understand that Obama hasn't served, that he doesn't know what it's like to go to war, but then again, neither did Bush and you seemed fine with him sending thousands of kids oversees. The truth is you are a hypocrite. If you're going to be so dead set on a person's need to serve the nation in combat, you better be offering them some great benefits when they come home with a broken mind and a missing leg.
You have put so much emphasis on your military record, your time as a P.O.W., but you won't support a bill to help the young people of this country who have decided it is their duty to follow your lead? Oh no, you say you want to give them benefits, but the problem with the current bill is that the soldiers aren't getting in the way of bullets enough times. No, they should have to re-enlist two or three times before they get those health benefits, that help with college. They should risk there lives more than once in the defense of the nation they're so proud to serve before we will help provide mental health care, after coming home from seeing all those people die at their own hands. We need them to see more friends die, get hit with more shrapnel, get shot in more limbs before can help provide the care they need.
I understand that Obama hasn't served, that he doesn't know what it's like to go to war, but then again, neither did Bush and you seemed fine with him sending thousands of kids oversees. The truth is you are a hypocrite. If you're going to be so dead set on a person's need to serve the nation in combat, you better be offering them some great benefits when they come home with a broken mind and a missing leg.
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