Category Archives: War on Terror

Iraq War Developments

War on Terror

Friday, Rasmussen released a poll with alarming numbers for President Bush’s policies.

Most Americans (55%) favor a firm timetable for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq within a year. That figure includes 37% who favor an immediate withdrawal and 18% who want a timetable that will complete the withdrawal in a year. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that just 33% believe U.S. combat troops should remain in Iraq “until our mission is accomplished.”

These results come at a time when just 33% believe the President’s call for a temporary troop “surge” will succeed. Just 37% of Americans believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Only 28% give the President good or excellent marks for handling the situation in Iraq.

While favoring a troop withdrawal now, most Americans don’t expect that to happen. However, 59% believe it is likely U.S. troops will leave Iraq during the first year of the new President’s term in office.

President Bush can take small comfort in these numbers, they’re about the same percentage of Americans that supported the Revolution in the beginning. However, if Bush wanted to raise those numbers, maybe he should define the mission in Iraq and tell us the definition of victory in Iraq. Americans will not send the military over in a faraway shithole in an undefined mission without a clear definition of victory to fight and die in a needless war.

The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq came out also on Friday that further repudiates President Bush

Friday’s newly declassified portions of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq concluded that Iraq’s security situation is likely to get worse over the next 18 months unless the slide toward sectarian polarization and a weakening government is halted. Security forces — particularly the police — will be “hard-pressed” to handle their new responsibilities because of divisions that are tearing apart Iraqi society, the assessment said.

Any further negative event such as the assassination of a religious leader could hasten deterioration, it said. “The challenges facing Iraqis are daunting.”

Furthermore, it illustrates the dangers of a rapid pullout of US forces from Iraq:

The spy agencies saved some of their most dire warnings for the consequences of a sudden U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Lawmakers are considering resolutions opposing Bush’s plan to send 21,500 additional troops to the region.

If there is a quick withdrawal, analysts said, Iraqi security forces will not be able to survive and neighboring countries may become increasingly involved in the conflict. Al-Qaida in Iraq would also attempt to use the Sunni-dominated Anbar province of western Iraq as a base for attacks inside and outside the country, the report said. And spiraling violence, especially in the northern Kurdish areas, could prompt Turkey to act militarily.

The purpose of the US mission in Iraq needs to be training and building the Iraqi security forces to secure their country. US troops should not be getting involved in Iraq’s little petty tribal war.

The role of Iran and Syria:

The intelligence estimate highlighted Iran’s role in providing weapons and Syria’s inadequate border security measures. But analysts concluded that these actions aren’t likely to be a major driver of Iraq’s violence, which will sustain itself even without outside influence.

In other words, not much of a role.

Finally, how could the violence be stopped:

The situation isn’t without hope, the estimate found. The analysts concluded that some positive developments could — analysts stressed “could” — help reverse current trends. They include broader acceptance of the Sunni minority in the central government and concessions on the part of Shiites and Kurds to make more room for Sunni participation.

Creating an oil trust would help. Also, reconcilation won’t happen unless the current Iraqi government is threatened with a pulling of US support if it does not meet certain benchmarks in political reconciliation and building security forces. However, the answer is not calling for an immediate withdrawal or trying to redeploy or retreat; neither is a “surge” of US forces the answer because this will only increase Iraqi dependence on the US.

Kevin Boyd
I’m one of the original co-founders of The Liberty Papers all the way back in 2005. Since then, I wound up doing this blogging thing professionally. Now I’m running the site now. You can find my other work at The Hayride.com and Rare. You can also find me over at the R Street Institute.
https://thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/22/a-bit-about-kevin/

An Incredible Overreaction

War on Terror

There’s been much discussion over yesterday’s security scare in Boston that turned out to be a marketing campaign:

A guerrilla marketing campaign for a cartoon show about a box of french fries and his milkshake pal set off a scare that nearly shut down Boston’s commercial district yesterday, as bomb squads closed highways and two bridges in search of what turned out to be magnetic-light versions of the cartoon characters.

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of the Cartoon Network, said the small electronic circuit boards, which hang from girders and bridges, are part of a 10-city marketing campaign for the animated late-night television show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” Such guerrilla ad campaigns seek to place products in unexpected corners and count on those who spot the characters to “get” the gag.

But much of Boston was not in on this joke. The packages were discovered near the New England Medical Center, two bridges and a tunnel. Attorney General Martha Coakley said Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, Mass., and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, Mass., had each been arrested on a felony charge of placing a hoax device and a charge of disorderly conduct.

We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger,” said an e-mail message released by Turner spokeswoman Shirley Powell. “They have been in place for two or three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia.”

The light boxes portrayed “mooninites,” essentially juvenile delinquents from another galaxy making an obscene gesture.

And the grave threat that was terrorizing Boston ? Here it is: » Read more

Doug Mataconis
http://www.belowthebeltway.com

The End Of Warrantless Wiretaps

Individual Rights, The Bill Of Rights, War on Terror

There really is no other way to spin this story except to say that the Bush Administration has given in, there won’t be anymore warrantless wiretaps:

The Justice Department announced today that the National Security Agency’s controversial warrantless surveillance program has been placed under the authority of a secret surveillance court, marking an abrupt change in approach by the Bush administration after more than a year of heated debate.

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said that orders issued on Jan. 10 by an unidentified judge puts the NSA program under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret panel that oversees most intelligence surveillance in the United States.

Gonzales also wrote that the current NSA program will effectively be abandoned after its current authorization expires in favor of the new approach.

The change marks a dramatic turn of events for the Justice Department, which has strenuously argued for more than a year that the NSA spying program was legal and that the foreign intelligence court was poorly suited to oversee the program, as many lawmakers had advocated.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, President Bush authorized the NSA to monitor telephone calls and e-mail between the United States and overseas if one party to the communication was believed to be linked to al-Qaeda or related groups.

The program did not require any court oversight, prompting widespread objections from privacy advocates and many legal experts after the program was first revealed in news reports in December 2005. Bush and his aides strongly defended the legality and efficacy of the NSA spying initiative, which they dubbed the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

In his letter to lawmakers, Gonzales said a judge on the surveillance court issued orders “authorizing the government to target for collection international communications into or out of the United States where there is probable cause to believe” that one of the targets is a member of al-Qaeda or an associated group.

Hmm, so the Bush Administration has decided to follow the Fourth Amendment after all. Will wonders never cease.

Of course, as Kip points out, there isn’t any reason that this program couldn’t be continued in secret, but the difference now is that, if (and when) such a secret program were to become public, the spectacle of a n Administration evading the very oversight program it set up would be pretty embarrassing.

For the moment, I’ll chalk this one up as a victory for the Constitution.

Doug Mataconis
http://www.belowthebeltway.com

Bush Administration Official Rejects Right To Fair Trial

Constitution, Individual Rights, War on Terror

The deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, Charles “Cully” Stimson, made some troubling comments recently that threaten law firms who represent detainees at Guantanimo Bay.

Stimson on Thursday told Federal News Radio, a local commercial station that covers the government, that he found it “shocking” that lawyers at many of the nation’s top firms represent detainees.

Stimson listed the names of more than a dozen major firms he suggested should be boycotted.

“And I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms,” Stimson said.

Asked who might be paying the law firms to represent Guantanamo detainees, Stimson hinted at wrongdoing for which some explaining should be done.

“It’s not clear, is it? Some will maintain that they’re doing it out of the goodness of their heart — that they’re doing it pro bono, and I suspect they are,” he said. “Others are receiving monies from who knows where and I’d be curious to have them explain that.”

He has been forced to apologize for getting caught. If the Bush Administration was really did not believe in Stimson’s remarks, he would have been fired.

Kevin Boyd
I’m one of the original co-founders of The Liberty Papers all the way back in 2005. Since then, I wound up doing this blogging thing professionally. Now I’m running the site now. You can find my other work at The Hayride.com and Rare. You can also find me over at the R Street Institute.
https://thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/22/a-bit-about-kevin/

U.S. Military Spying On American Citizens

Individual Rights, Privacy, War on Terror

The New York Times reports today that the CIA and military intelligence have been spying on Americans and others living in the United States:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 — The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering.

The C.I.A. has also been issuing what are known as national security letters to gain access to financial records from American companies, though it has done so only rarely, intelligence officials say.

Banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions receiving the letters usually have turned over documents voluntarily, allowing investigators to examine the financial assets and transactions of American military personnel and civilians, officials say.

The F.B.I., the lead agency on domestic counterterrorism and espionage, has issued thousands of national security letters since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, provoking criticism and court challenges from civil liberties advocates who see them as unjustified intrusions into Americans’ private lives.

But it was not previously known, even to some senior counterterrorism officials, that the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have been using their own “noncompulsory” versions of the letters. Congress has rejected several attempts by the two agencies since 2001 for authority to issue mandatory letters, in part because of concerns about the dangers of expanding their role in domestic spying.

This is, as you might imagine, a major change from the way things are supposed to be:

“There’s a strong tradition of not using our military for domestic law enforcement,” said Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, a former general counsel at both the National Security Agency and the C.I.A. who is the dean at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. “They’re moving into territory where historically they have not been authorized or presumed to be operating.”

Similarly, John Radsan, an assistant general counsel at the C.I.A. from 2002 to 2004 and now a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, said, “The C.I.A. is not supposed to have any law enforcement powers, or internal security functions, so if they’ve been issuing their own national security letters, they better be able to explain how they don’t cross the line.”

Quite honestly, it’s hard to contemplate how they don’t cross the line.

Doug Mataconis
http://www.belowthebeltway.com
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