Obama’s Moral War on Terror
[Guest post by DRJ]
As Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion predicted, more civil rights for terrorists means more dead terrorists:
“I predicted that once we lost the ability to effectively interrogate detainees, more terrorists would be killed because there was no logic to capturing terrorists you could not interrogate …
There was a corollary to the scenario in my post, which is that there also would be a lower incentive for friendly governments to capture terrorists and turn them over to us. That is how we obtained possession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and many others.
And now it has come to pass, Under Obama, more targeted killings than captures in counterterrorism efforts.”
Last May, President Barack Obama pledged to restore the “moral authority that is America’s strongest currency in the world” by closing Guantanamo. He also said that locking up terrorists in Guantanamo had “became a symbol that helped al Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause.”
I support killing terrorists but if locking up terrorists destroys America’s moral authority and helps recruit terrorists, how are assassinations around the world any better?
— DRJ
Perhaps it’s the old adage of Dead Men Tell No Tales. Just another hypocrical outcome of another naive and unrealistic moral stance – and I don’t see why any of our soldiers currently on the ground in Afghanistan don’t kill all enemy combatants on the spot, rather than take prisoners.
Dmac (799abd) — 2/14/2010 @ 5:59 pmActually it doesn’t really work that way, as Thiessen points out, because we lose the information
ian cormac (b07ff6) — 2/14/2010 @ 6:34 pmon who these terrorists trained, what orders were given
Even Peter Beinart, who is a leftist wimp if I ever saw one, acknowledges that the Pakistanis hate us because of the assassinations. Of course, we don’t give a shit about Pakistanis. they only have nukes.
Hope and Change !
Mike K (2cf494) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:19 pmI think we get intel lots of ways. Killing them is fine, in my book. Scares them a little, I’m sure, and serves as a deterrent to others.
I would ask Obama, is a prison in Joliet, say, that’s high security with no chance of parole any less a recruiting tool than Gitmo? He makes no sense.
Everything about us is a recruiting tool, so let’s stop apologizing and win this damn war.
Patricia (e1047e) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:20 pmIt is simple, really:
announce that we accept that this is a religious war brought on by radical Islam against all those they consider infidels
announce that all American bullets will be dipped in pig blood prior to use
announce that all terrorists killed will be buried in pig skins
bring in the Marine band and start playing El Degullo
retire05 (bab000) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:34 pmWhy do they hate us?
indw (718861) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:43 pmretireo5: why not go one step further, and announce that the next time an American interest or citizen is attacked anywhere in the world by islamic forces, we will nuke Mecca and Medina, making it impossible for muslims to complete the haj? then they can either choose to live with us in peace, or we will condemn them all to their hell.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:48 pm“why not go one step further, and announce that the next time an American interest or citizen is attacked anywhere in the world by islamic forces, we will nuke Mecca and Medina, making it impossible for muslims to complete the haj? then they can either choose to live with us in peace, or we will condemn them all to their hell.”
Valentine’s day is going well for you, huh?
imdw (842182) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:50 pmBecause they don’t understand why the healthcare bill can’t be passed using the reconcilliation process?
kaf (273ca8) — 2/14/2010 @ 7:52 pmindw…
Answer your own damn question please….
reff (176333) — 2/14/2010 @ 8:29 pmP.S…my apologies please, for misspelling your name…
reff (176333) — 2/14/2010 @ 8:34 pm“The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist”. To borrow from a great movie.
PatriotRider (103218) — 2/15/2010 @ 6:03 amI’m all for using Drones where ever possible and killing as many as possible. Capture when it is feasible and low risk. Interrogate quickly and hold a military trial as soon as the interrogators feel they have all the data they can get. We may, in fact, get less intel because of a shoot first policy, but the overall affect can lead to lower costs and quicker results.
Corwin (ea9428) — 2/15/2010 @ 7:00 amAny way you cut it, there’s an argument for aspects against that policy. We will never win the moral authority high road, so we might as well win at a lower cost of our lives and our dollars.
Do they?
Who gives a shit?
[note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 2/15/2010 @ 7:02 amDoes anyone really believe this nonsense about Gitmo is a recruiting tool? Have they found anyone who said, “You know, I was on the fence to kill as many of you evil, non-believers but when I was reading the New York Times about Gitmo, I had an epiphany that I should blow myself up.”
Alta Bob (e8af2b) — 2/15/2010 @ 7:35 am“why not go one step further, and announce that the next time an American interest or citizen is attacked anywhere in the world by islamic forces, we will nuke Mecca and Medina, making it impossible for muslims to complete the haj? then they can either choose to live with us in peace, or we will condemn them all to their hell.”
– redc1c4
That’s retarded, and I’m going to call you on it if no one else is.
[note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]
Leviticus (ba3dec) — 2/15/2010 @ 7:54 amThe only people that have been affected by GITMO are a bunch of
AD - RtR/OS! (89e14c) — 2/15/2010 @ 8:10 amassholeselites inhabiting the East & West Coast enclaves who get their knickers knotted if the ink on the pages of the NYT smudges their fingers.Seems to me the ability to grab these drone victims is pretty low.
Richard Aubrey (a9ba34) — 2/15/2010 @ 8:39 amIt’s not as if it were about even–predator his ass or pick him up, same-same, coin-flip–but pretty near impossible to pick him up without the snatch team getting in a firefight with the bad guys, the local constabulary, and any armed civilians who happen to resent the presence of Americans.
I suspect the first thing terrs do, when not activley on ops, is to arrange to be difficult to “arrest”. That being the case, we are left with drone strikes to kill him, or otherwise not bother him.
The hypocrisy of Obama’s Guantanamo policy can be seen in this story where we learn that a newly captured Taliban commander is being held by Pakistan.
We obtain all this moral standing by letting countries with lower standards than ours do the dirty work.
Its all a fraud.
SPQR (26be8b) — 2/15/2010 @ 7:44 pm