© STAFF/AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Obama has repeatedly said the U.S. is targeting Al Qaeda and “associated forces.” But the government won’t say who those forces are.
Wrong. Amazingly, Carl Levin (D-Michigan) asked the Pentagon to define who exactly the "Al-Qaeda affiliates" we are at war with are. While Mr. Levin received and answer, guess what he told the public? Yep, you guessed it. It's classified.
From ProPublica:
In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with "Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces."So who exactly are those associated forces? It's a secret.
At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.
The Pentagon responded - but Levin's office told ProPublica they aren't allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the department's "answer included the information requested."
A Pentagon spokesman told ProPublica that revealing such a list could cause "serious damage to national security."
There's that "national security" line again.
"Because elements that might be considered 'associated forces' can build credibility by being listed as such by the United States, we have classified the list," said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jim Gregory. "We cannot afford to inflate these organizations that rely on violent extremist ideology to strengthen their ranks."Let me fill in the blanks for you: Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, the ACLU, Oath Keepers, We are Change, P.A.N.D.A., the EFF, short sellers, gold buyers and critical thinkers.
During the May hearing, Michael Sheehan, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, said he was "not sure there is a list per se." Describing terrorist groups as "murky" and "shifting," he said, "it would be difficult for the Congress to get involved in trying to track the designation of which are the affiliate forces" of Al Qaeda.
Thanks for playing America.
Full article here.
In Liberty,
Mike
For the bazillion and forty-third time, I will explain this, my friends.
Public Law 107-40 declared war against enemies to be named later. This law put NO time limit on naming enemies. This law is still in effect, despite the efforts of the only true anti-war hero in Congress, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-sanity).
The moron Bush named al-Qaeda and the Taliban as our enemies, and Obama named 'al-Qaeda associates'. Nowadays, Obama names our new enemies individually, perhaps while having tea and scones on his veranda.
This law has given the US Executioner-in-Chief egregious and dangerous power in order to forever prevent future terrorism against the USA (by military means - forget about diplomacy, peace-making, wussy stuff).
Everyone of us has the potential for future violence, so everyone of us is a potential future terrorist and therefore suspect in the eyes of the US National Security State.
Whom are we at war with? This question is wrong. The question is, Whom is the National Security State at war with?
The answer, obviously, is everybody everywhere, and forever and ever, amen.