Judge Napolitano seems to understand the Constitution better than today’s Republicans and Democrats. It will be very interesting to hear his thoughts on CISPA especially the way it was passed and the timing of it.
Category Archives: Foreign Policy
The Young Turks and Others weigh in on CISPA Closed Door Vote and House Passage
Click below for some views and opinions on the Republican Mike Rogers bill that just passed a closed door vote.
The Young Turks……
Bloomberg: Obama Decision on Interrogating Suspect Draws Criticism from Civil Liberties Groups; Republicans argue still not tough enough
The Obama administration’s decision to interrogate the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing without first warning him of his rights has sparked criticism from both sides of the political spectrum about the best way to prosecute terrorism cases.
Justice Department officials have said their move to question bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, without reading him the Miranda warning of his right to remain silent is a necessary legal tool in cases of domestic terrorism.
Civil liberties groups said yesterday the tactic raises concerns about infringement of Tsarnaev’s constitutional rights, especially since he’s a naturalized American citizen. At the same time, four Republican lawmakers criticized the administration for not being tough enough, saying Tsarnaev should be designated an enemy combatant with no right to counsel……..
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Holder’s push has been criticized by civil liberties groups that say delaying Miranda warnings poses risks to the constitutional rights of suspects.
“Obama’s Justice Department unilaterally expanded the ‘public safety exception’ to Miranda in 2010 beyond anything the Supreme Court ever authorized,” Vincent Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal advocacy group that focuses on civil-liberties litigation, said in a statement yesterday. “Each time the administration uses this exception, it stretches wider and longer.”
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As we stated before, Republicans and Democrats (at least some of the key players in both parties) seem to think that the constitution only applies some of the time and to a subset of the citizenship. What do you think?
Click below for the full article.
Yahoo News: Boston bombing suspect’s arrest presents intelligence opportunity, legal challenges
BOSTON – Keeping bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev alive and able to answer questions would be a badly-needed intelligence coup for terror investigators, a former U.S. District Attorney told Yahoo News on Saturday.
“The fear of law enforcement has always been the small, insular cells that are kind of under the radar,” said Richard Roper, a federal prosecutor for 21 years. “Either the lone wolf or the small cells … they’re difficult to obtain intelligence on. I hope they get some good stuff out of him.”
On Saturday, Dzhokhar was reportedly clinging to life and under heavy guard at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He apparently suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and leg during separate gun battles with authorities on Friday.
Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, are believed to have planted the two backpack bombs near the finish line of Monday’s Boston Marathon. The twin explosions killed three people and injured 180 others……..
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“There’s a need to immediately question the guy whether you Mirandize him or not to save lives,” Roper said. “The question is how far do you go before it turns into a custodial interrogation?”
Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina went a step further, suggesting Dzhokhar be treated as an enemy combatant like a soldier captured in war. The move drew the ire of longtime McCain aide and speechwriter Mark Salter.
“My friend, Lindsey Graham, is wrong on this,” Salter posted on his Facebook page. “However unforgivable his crimes, he’s a US citizen, arrested on US soil, with, at this time, no known associations with foreign terrorist organizations at war with the U.S. To declare him an “enemy combatant,” and deny him his rights is un-American.”
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What do you all think, does the constitution only apply to some citizens or all?
Click below for the full article.
The Week: The insanity of blaming Islam
We are still speculating about virtually everything right now, but I feel as though I need to explain why I find the quick and easy conversation about Muslims being radicalized in America to be so illogical and laced with bigotry.
Of course, there is a global violent jihadist movement, loosely organized, that wants to recruit young men to influence policies at home and abroad and perhaps usher in the global caliphate. That ideology motivates some Muslims to kill innocent people.
But you’re allowed to be a radical Muslim in America. You’re allowed to believe that the Qu’ran proscribes the most elegant set of laws. You’re allowed to believe that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. And you can say, in America, pretty much anything you want. Not everything, and after 9/11, a little less, but you can still make very unpopular arguments.
So just for the sake of argument, let’s assume that the only factor that motivated these two brothers from Chechnya to set off bombs and kill police officers is their decision to accept some form of radical Islamic teachings as their foundational belief system. (I highly doubt this is the case, but let’s just throw it out there.)
We ask: “We have to look at the whole issue of radicalization. What prompts someone raised as an American to cause such carnage?”
That’s what Peter King, the Republican chair of the Homeland Security committee, asked. So he goes right to the religion; somehow, he slides very quickly past the possibility that something about America is radicalizing people of all sorts.
He commits the sin of essentialism.
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Click below for the full article.
http://theweek.com/article/index/243051/the-insanity-of-blaming-islam
CNN: Uncle calls Boston Marathon bombers ‘losers,’ urges nephew to surrender
When asked what provoked the bombing suspects, the uncle stated: “Being losers, hatred to those who were able to settle themselves — these are the only reasons I can imagine.
“Anything else, anything else to do with religion, with Islam, is a fraud, is a fake,” Tsarni said.
“Somebody radicalized them, but it’s not my brother who just moved back to Russia, who spent his life bringing bread to their table, fixing cars. He didn’t have time or chance or anything, options. He’s been working,” Tsarni said.
Tsarni says he teaches his own children to love the United States because it gives a chance to everyone “to be treated as a human being.”
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Click below for the full article.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/19/us/marathon-suspects-uncle/index.html
Medals for Drones??? Say it ain’t So!!! Reuters: Pentagon scraps medal for drone pilots after uproar
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rolled back a decision by his predecessor, Leon Panetta, who two months ago unveiled a “Distinguished Warfare Medal” outranking the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, awarded to wounded troops.
Hagel, a Vietnam veteran with two Purple Hearts, said instead the Pentagon would create a “distinguishing device” that can be affixed to existing medals.
Opponents had decried Panetta’s high placement of the medal, which was meant to be a nod to the changing nature of warfare and represented the most substantial shakeup in the hierarchy of military medals since World War Two.
Brian Jopek, whose 20-year-old son, Ryan, earned a Bronze Star when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006, had branded Panetta’s decision a “slap in the face.
Click below for the full article.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/15/us-usa-pentagon-medal-idUSBRE93E12V20130415
Business Insider: Pentagon to take over CIA’s drone program?
Recently divulged plans to shift the drone program away from the CIA and solely into the hands of the Defense Department (DoD) highlights a huge issue about targeted killings by CIA drone pilots.
Daniel Klaidman of the Daily Beast reports (emphasis ours):
“CIA and DoD operators would begin to work more closely together to ensure a smooth hand-off. The CIA would remain involved in lethal targeting, at least on the intelligence side, but would not actually control the unmanned aerial vehicles.”
“Since the inception of the drone program, targeting decisions have been made inside the CIA with little or no input from other agencies, though the White House sometimes weighs in … [but Obama] does not … sign off on all CIA strikes.”
The disclosure may explain how U.S. drones kill people whose identities aren’t confirmed.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-taking-over-drone-strikes-2013-3#ixzz2Qs63gKh9
Click below for the full article.
http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-taking-over-drone-strikes-2013-3
AP: Al-Qaida’s No. 2 in Yemen slams US drone strikes
The deputy leader of al-Qaida in Yemen is calling on Saudis to revolt against the king, slamming the use of bases in Saudi Arabia to launch lethal U.S. drone strikes.
Saeed al-Shihri’s audio recording appeared to back up al-Qaida denials that he was killed in a drone attack. Al-Shihri calls the Saudi royal family “the greatest agent of America.”
The 14-minute audio recording was made public on Wednesday. It was not known when it was recorded.
Click below for the full article.
News Daily: Iran condemns Boston blast, criticizes US policy
Iran’s top leader on Wednesday condemned the twin bombing attacks in Boston, yet chided the U.S. for employing a double standard when it comes to drone attacks that kill innocent civilians.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, which follows the logic of Islam, is opposed to any bombings and killings of innocent people no matter if it is in Boston, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria and condemns it,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranian military leaders he was addressing in Tehran.
Khamenei criticized the U.S. for killing people with drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan and backing forces that kill others in Iraq and Syria.
“What kind of logic is this that if children and women are killed by Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan and by U.S.-backed terrorists in Iraq and Syria is not a problem, but if a bombing happens in the U.S. or another Western country, the whole world should pay the cost?” he asked in his comments, which were posted on his website.
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What do you think? Do you think that United States Foreign Policy conflicts with its goal of spreading peace, prosperty, liberty, freedom, and democracy?