Saturday, October 01, 2011

[1739] AL-AWLAKI

As you know by now- yesterday morning we killed one of the top Al Qaeda guys in Yemen. We got him [and another top guy] with one of those drone strikes [unmanned plane].

Since we have already gone thru one news cycle on the thing- let’s talk.

President Obama seems to be lying lower with the ‘promotion’ aspect of this hit. In comparison to the Bin Laden hit- he is taking this one more slowly.

Why? A few reasons- after the Bin Laden kill some of our military guys [and some of the wives of the husbands on seal team 6!] Openly complained that they did not want their families to become targets. It’s rare to announce the actual group who carried out the hit.

Second- Awlaki [and the other guy] just happened to be American citizens. So what does that mean?

First- I’m of the view that citizen or not- when you align yourself with a group that advocates the killing of Americans- then you become a target.

But the problem is- all people do not hold to this view. There are some progressive types [liberal] who view the entire ‘war on terror’ as an abuse by Bush/Cheney on the ‘rights’ of those we are fighting against.

Yes- during the 2008 campaign- the whole mantra leading up to it- was the idea that the Bush view of ‘war on terror’ was actually wrong.

Some Democrats fought for the less militant view- one that said ‘yes- 9-11 was wrong- but our approach will be less of a ‘war’ against terror- and more along the lines of fighting against individual criminal acts’.

Okay- whatever side you’re on- no matter to me- the point I’m making is this was Obama’s view.

Along with this whole mindset came the talk ‘we can defend our nation- without violating our basic moral principles’ on and on went the talk- they were all saying that the Gitmo [Cuba] detainment facilities were a violation of prisoner’s rights.

Those military trials would be unfair- that we need to Mirandize these folk- and give them ‘their’ basic constitutional rights.

The Bush position was ‘we are at war- these guys are enemy combatants- taken from the field- you don’t get constitutional rights’.

Obama’s view was different- and it was purely ideological- not based on any real experience- just saying what he needed to say- to appease his base [that’s why he read the rights to the underwear bomber- remember?]

So Obama got elected- what was one of the first things he did as Pres?

He gave an executive order- as promised- to shut down the ‘prison’ in Cuba within a year.

For those who don’t follow this stuff- the U.S. base at Cuba [where my wife used to be stationed] houses the prisoners we captured in the field- and Bush also built a special court for military trials to be held there- so these guys could be held- off U.S. ground- and stay there until we tried them.

Now- why hold them there? Bush and his legal team knew- that if we hold [and try] them in the U.S.- then there will be lots of challenges to ‘giving them their rights’ some have advocated from the start that Bush was violating these guys rights- and that indeed- Bush and Cheney [and Rummy] were actually war criminals [I kid you not].

So after Obama got in- he swore- in a year Gitmo will close. Okay- what has happened?

Year 1 went by- and it didn’t close- year 2- the same thing. As we entered into year 3- Obama began making plans to shut the thing [he actually started moving on it in year 2].

He had to decide ‘where will we put these guys’? And ‘where will we try them’- remember- Obama’s ideology [for good or ill] was holding these guys as combatants- and not giving them constitutional protections [these guys are non citizens by the way] was a violation of ‘our basic morals’.

How were these prisoners being treated John? I’m glad you asked. Gitmo is around 90 miles south of Fla. You know- the same beaches of South Miami.

These guys were given brand new Korans on arrival- prayer rugs. 3 times a day they were free to worship- they were given special food- in keeping with their religious beliefs.

Yet one time- okay I’ll admit it- they were treated badly. They actually filed a complaint!

We were giving them ice cream 7 days a week with their evening meal- and for some reason [budget?] we cut it down to once a week- they got mad and filed a complaint [this is not a joke by the way].

So these were the guys that Obama [and many on his side] viewed as victims of the Bush/Cheney regime.

After 3 years- Obama tried to close the prison [and court] down- move the guys to various prisons throughout the U.S. [dumb move indeed] and try the guys in downtown Manhattan.

Bloomberg and Schumer took heat [N.Y. politicos] from their own Dem [and Independent] base- and they told Obama ‘how bout you don’t try the guys here’.

Then they grappled with a few other spots- what the security costs would be- the whole process of Mirandizing these guys [which they did do already] and treating them like American citizens- with full constitutional rights- not like enemy combatants.

So what happened? This year- after all the rhetoric on how Gitmo is the number one recruiting tool for terrorists [false] all the ice cream violations- yes- after this being one of the top priorities of Obama- he has decided to keep the guys at Gitmo- and try them there- under military trials.

He has decided that the Bush way- the way he had condemned and accused those who were part of it as ruining the country- yes- he has decided that’s the adult way to go.

Okay- said all that to say this. Obama fought very hard to give constitutional rights to the 5 guys we are holding that were involved with 9-11. This was a part of his belief- whether sincere or not- this became the way some liberals fought against conservatives.

Sy Hirsch- a liberal writer- wrote a piece in the New Yorker [before Obama became pres.] and he said seal team 6 [the guys who got Bin Laden] were Cheney’s personal hit squad- who were out violating the laws of the land. After they got Bin Laden- under Obama’s orders- they were called heroes by these same people who formerly called them Cheney’s hit team [and Obama was called decisive!]

This was the mindset- this was the view.

So- what happened yesterday? We killed 2 American citizens. These were not non citizens- who Obama deemed worthy of getting constitutional rights- these were actual citizens- who had them!

Now- if you hold the Bush view- enemy combatants- war on terror- the whole 9 yards- then doing this is legal- because during war- you can do stuff like this.

But if you were the guy who accused Bush [Cheney] of violating the rights of prisoners- who said these actual foreign fighters taken in the field- should be mirandized- if you held that view- then what you did yesterday was a big no no.

The 5th amendment to the constitution says no citizen can be deprived of life or liberty without due process [for instance- if we wanted to tap Al-Awlaki’s phone- we would have needed a court order- but to kill him- we did not]

Now- if you argue we are at war- for real- then the due process clause does not apply.

But if you argue- yes indeed- these guys [not just the ones who are actually Americans!] do get constitutional rights- then you can’t kill them with a drone- that’s just an ideological fact.

I’m glad we got them- I take the Bush view on this. But the liberals- progressives- many of the Dems- and even Obama- they fought for the other view- for 3 years- they accused Bush [and seal team 6] as being rogue war mongers- out violating the rights of people.

They hooped and hollered when the ice cream service was cut from 7 days to 1. Yes- these guys took that position- and a day after Obama killed 2 Americans [as bad as they were!] What are these progressive, liberal- give ‘rights to the enemy’ types- what are they saying ‘hooray- look at Obama- he’s not like Bush- he actually gets these Sob’s’.

I’m glad he got them too- but many of those who are celebrating today- would have called Bush a war criminal if he did it- and that’s a fact.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

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