OF THE
TIMES
"I went to Guantanamo Bay as a lawyer and came out as a broken father. I never thought in my lifetime that I would go to such an evil place, and see such evil being done." - Dennis EdneyDennis Edney, was Omar Khadar's Lawyer for eight years, talks about the "War on Terror", his visits to Guantanamo to see Omar where witnessed the continued building of that illegal prison, and his frustration with the Canadian public's apathy to allow this to happen
American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions . . . . There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council . . . . Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate. . . . The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to discuss anything about the process. . . .
Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, was asked by reporters about the killing. The process involves "going through the National Security Council, then it eventually goes to the president" . . . .Other officials said the role of the president in the process was murkier than what Ruppersberger described. They said targeting recommendations are drawn up by a committee of mid-level National Security Council and agency officials. Their recommendations are then sent to the panel of NSC "principals," meaning Cabinet secretaries and intelligence unit chiefs, for approval . . . But one official said Obama would be notified of the principals' decision. If he objected, the decision would be nullified, the official said.
"Greetings:Throughout much of its history, America had a Bill of Rights that protected the fundamental freedoms of its citizens, as well as a "check-and-balance" system that ensured no government institution, branch or individual would ever obtain unbridled power.
If you are reading this, the President of the United States has declared you to be a terrorist or enemy combatant. As a result, you will be detained without charge or trial, tortured, and/or extrajudicially executed. You are not entitled to any legal due process, you have no civil rights, and there is absolutely no need for the United States government to prove any of the allegations it has made against you, even if you are a citizen of the United States.
Sincerely, Barack Obama"
Comment: This is eerily similar to the propaganda behind the attempt to privatize Social Security in the U.S. First, you take one of the bedrock functions of the federal government, carefully seed propaganda designed to convince people that the program, "won't be around for you," use accounting tricks to raid money from the solvent program, then let the corporations take over the function. Both Social Security and the Postal Service depend for their legitimacy on the idea that they are completely dependable. There is even a poem inscribed at the headquarters about this that everyone knows: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Do we really want to rely on Fedex and UPS for basic mail delivery?