This Is Scary Beyond Belief

The “white paper” memo obtained by Michael Isikoff laying out the Obama administration’s targeted assassination policy, by which the POTUS has given the government permission to kill any American, on U.S. soil or not, without due process:

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the  September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.

Conor Friedersdorf has the entire 16-page memo at the bottom of a post in which he asks why Pres. Obama kept it a secret from the American people:

On reading the unredacted document, ask yourself, why wasn’t this released to the public by the Obama Administration? Which part of its legal reasoning could jeopardize national security in any way? Since it reveals no national-security secrets, what possible justification could there be for willfully keeping its contents from Americans, who have a compelling interest in understanding, scrutinizing and debating the legal framework that surrounds extrajudicial killing?

And what is that legal framework?

The paper states that the US government can kill its own citizens overseas if:

(1) An informed, high level-official of the U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States.

(2) Capture is infeasible, and the United States continues to monitor whether capture becomes feasible; and

(3) the operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles.

The reality is even worse than this “legal” framework makes it sound. It turns out the Obama administration defines key terms very loosely:

When the paper says “imminent threat of violent attack against the United States,” however, “imminent” means something other than what you might expect. All it means is that the executive branch of the US government must make a secret, unilateral determination that the person it wants to kill is a member of a terrorist organization: ”The condition that an operational leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons will take place in the immediate future,” the paper notes. Not since the torture memos themselves have we seen such a bald defiance of what words actually mean. In the white paper, the government explains its broad definition of “imminent threat” by arguing that delaying a targeted killing “until preparations for an attack are concluded, would not allow the United States sufficient time to defend itself.”

As for “feasibility of capture,” after the memo gets through with all the “but ifs,” the conditions under which capture would be feasible are essentially nonexistent:

Regarding the feasibility of capture, capture would not be feasible if it could not be physically effectuated during the relevant window of opportunity or if the relevant country were to decline to consent to a capture operation. Other factors such as undue risk to U.S. personnel conducting a potential capture operation also could be relevant. Feasibility would be a highly fact-specific and potentially time-sensitive inquiry.

 

This Is Too Important

Here is the Link.  Here is the full text

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

Posted on September 30, 2011 by NYCGA

THIS DOCUMENT WAS ACCEPTED BY THE NYC GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

Conscience and Integrity Still Have Their Price

P.J. Crowley has resigned his position as State Department spokesperson after his answer to a reporter’s question about Pfc. Bradley Manning’s treatment caused heads in the Pentagon and White House to explode:

Bastille Day

221 yeas ago, the French citizenry stormed the infamous French prison in Paris, the Bastille.

In the wake of the 11 July dismissal of Jacques Necker, the people of Paris, fearful that they and their representatives would be attacked by the royal military, and seeking to gain ammunition and gunpowder for the general populace, stormed the Bastille, a fortress-prison in Paris which had often held people jailed on the basis of lettres de cachet, arbitrary royal indictments that could not be appealed. Besides holding a large cache of ammunition and gunpowder, the Bastille had been known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government, and was thus a symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy. As it happened, at the time of the siege in July 1789 there were only seven inmates, none of great political significance.

[ snip ]

The storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than a practical act of defiance.

Piracy

(Update below)

When a ship is boarded in international waters, as happened here, it is called piracy.

And this might be called provocation.

These actions are not in any way in Israel’s best interest.  During the last half of the last century, Israel’s big-brother protector was the dominant world power.  Now, that former pre-eminent world power is one of several world powers, seeing as the U.S. squandered several trillions fighting useless wars in south central Asia.

Regardless of the number of nukes Israel has in her arsenal, there is no guarantee that the U.S./Israel/Europe will be on the winning side in World War 3.

Update: From GlennGreenwald’s 3rd update of today’s post:

One of the ships attacked by Israeli belonged to a Turkish aid organization, and it’s been reported that among the dead are at least two Turks.  Turkey today “warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy.” Among other things, Turkey is a NATO member with increasing tensions with Israel.  Amidst worldwide protests aimed at Israel and possible internal unrest if (as has been reported) Israeli Arab leaders were among the wounded or dead, it’s possible this incident could produce some serious unforeseen consequences for the Israelis.

Guilty – Part 2

The story on Yahoo News has this

The jury deliberated for just 37 minutes before finding Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder for putting a gun to the forehead of Dr. George Tiller on May 31 and pulling the trigger.

I have been on two juries, one criminal, the other civil.  Based on my experience: The 37 minutes must mean that the jury was unanimous and only needed to be polled once.  The first fifteen to twenty minutes in the jury room is taken up with administrative overhead and miscellaneous BS.  And once they reach a decision and send a note to the judge via the bailiff another 3 – 5 minutes have elapsed.

Just in case you were wondering.

Guilty Of Premeditated, First Degree Murder

I saw this first at The Moderate Voice, but their comment system would let me comment, so I will do so here.

As of today, as of the day Mr. Roeder committed the act for which he was convicted and for thirty plus years preceding that heinous act, a woman’s right to choose has been the law of the land.

If a person does not agree with the ‘law’ there are ways to make that opposition known in a peaceful, non-violent way.

There are things at the intersection of The Law and Politics with which I do not agree.  The ballot box is one way to express yourself.  Another would be to get enough like minded people to conduct a non-violent protest similar to what Dr. King advocated.

But violence and murder are never, I say NEVER, under consideration.

Mr. Roeder was wrong if he thought that he was somehow appointed by some higher power as the executioner of Dr. Tiller.

As an aside: My belief is that only people that can have a baby should be the only ones that have a ‘vote’ on this subject.

A Victory for Common Sense and Humanity

For over two decades, HIV-infected persons have been banned from coming into the United States for either travel or immigration purposes. Today, Pres. Obama announced the end of that ban:

Health Care

What I am hearing on MSNBC and what I am reading is

• The ‘public option’ will take effect in 2013
• If  your employer provides health insurance you will not be eligible for the public option
• Only about 10 – 30 million people in the country will be eligible for the public option

More on Afghanistan

I’ve posted about the U.S. presence in Afghanistan here and here.  And these may be the prime reasons we find ourselves in a quagmire over there.  Not bogged down yet but certainly not “winning the hearts and minds” of the Afghan peoples.

And lest we forget why the Taliban was able to take over most of Afghanistan during the mid-1990s, it was due to the licentiousness of the warlords.  And now I read this disturbing post about a return of that repulsive behavior under the eyes of U.S. troops.  The fact that we are not putting a halt to this abhorrent behavior is putting a huge dent in our ability to win over those “hearts and minds.”

All the Afghan wants is some order, stability and peace in their lives.  For whatever the Taliban did that was wrong, they did bring order to the areas they ruled.  If the U.S./NATO forces cannot bring some semblance of order and stability to the Afghan on the street, we are doomed to fail.