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| Home Front: WoT |
| The War Is Over |
| 2009-03-11 |
| By Andrew C. McCarthy The war is over. Our peerless armed forces took Tora Bora and, when we finally let them, Fallujah. But al-Qaeda won in Washington, and that has made all the difference. The War on Terror has radically altered the compact between the American people and their government by dramatically changing the nature of the U.S. courts. Until this new, unaccountable monster is caged, it will continue to devour our political community's capacity to wage war and to defend itself. And that caging had better happen soon, because the word "war" in this context refers only to our nation's forcible military response after the 9/11 attacks finally made the atrocities of radical Islam impossible to ignore any longer. Our response did not start the war. That war, radical Islam's jihad against the United States and the West, continues -- and ever more perilously. As we hollow ourselves out by the day, we become a much softer target. Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dealt a crushing blow to national defense. The three-judge panel's ruling in al Odah v. United States has gotten scarce media attention. Perhaps that's understandable: It's a mind-numbing technical dispute over "discovery" in litigation, vying for attention against the socializing of our economy and the consequent collapse of the stock market. But the discovery in question is the most vital kind, namely, that of classified national-defense information. What is in dispute is how much sensitive intelligence we must share with enemies bent on annihilating Americans -- enemies against whom the people's representatives have authorized, by overwhelming margins, the use of force. That is, these "petitioners" are the militants who -- along with al-Qaeda's hierarchy and affiliates -- use the intelligence we give them against the soldiers we have dispatched to fight the battles Congress has authorized, under the direction of a president whose first duty is the prosecution of the war. |
| Posted by:Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 |
| #1 I could believe the 9th Circus would come up with something like this, but I thought the 4th was relatively sane. Guess not. Repeat after me - "non-national warriors, most often dressed in civilian clothes, conducting a war of terrorism and extortion for partisan political or religious goals, HAVE NO RIGHTS UNDER THE US CONSTITUTION." They are not covered by the Geneva Conventions, they are not US citizens (our Bill of Rights ONLY applies to US citizens and non-citizen legal residents), and they deserve any sh$$ we give them. Judges are appointed and allowed to serve "under good behavior" until they retire. This is definitely NOT good behavior. It is the extension of US rights to those that don't have any respect for them, and aren't entitled to them. The judges that made this absolutely idiotic decision need to be fired - immediately. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-03-11 15:26 |