http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17424-2003Jul19.html?nav=hptop_tb
Yet another ‘ooops!’
So if Iraq could mobilize its WMD’s in 45 minutes…why is it so hard to find them?
God this administration has to go - how many more deaths over the weekend? And for what…a lying bunch of fat cow politicos who are carrying out their own agendas of Middle East “peace”
Another story shows that in October the intelligence community thought that there would be more of a chance that Hussein’s WMD’s would go to al Qaeda if we went to war:
The more I read, the more I realize that war with Iraq was inevitable. Even if Saddam threw open his doors and welcomed in ten thousand American inspectors, Bush still would have found a reason to invade.
This administation is scaring the hell out of me. They’re bending fiction into fact and proposing freedom limiting legislation at a record pace, all the while screaming about how if you don’t suppor their actions, you’re unAmerican.
They’re wielding “Terrorist” in the same way that McCarthy used “Communist”. If you don’t turn in your neighbors, you’re supporting terrorists. Don’t pay your taxes and you’re supporting terrorists. Question Bush’s actions and you’re supporting terrorists.
They’re wielding “Terrorist” in the same way that McCarthy used “Communist”.
A good analogy – McCarthy started going after communists after they toppled the Empire State Building.
Actually, they didn’t topple the Empire State Building (I know history books can be confusing on that point) but they did topple Eastern Europe and China, killed millions of people in Russia and thousands of Americans in Korea. Nevertheless, McCarthy was a lying demagogue, and what he did was wrong.
However, I agree that McCarthyism is a bad analogy for the real damage that the Ashcroft Justice Department is doing.
[quote=“antlers”]
Actually, they didn’t topple the Empire State Building (I know history books can be confusing on that point) but they did topple Eastern Europe and China, killed millions of people in Russia and thousands of Americans in Korea. Nevertheless, McCarthy was a lying demagogue, and what he did was wrong.[/quote]
Not anymore, Antlers! Don’t you watch Fox News? Don’t you listen to Ann Coulter? McArthy was a misunderstood hero! He was a strong American Patriot, brought low by skulking pinko commies. We must follow in his noble footsteps and take up the torch once more!
Sigh. We really never do learn a god damn thing, do we?
Perhaps McCarthy was a little too specific… lets call it government and paranoid citizens in general.
And Dan, I do hope you’re not implying that Ashcroft’s limiting of Constitutional rights is justified because of the toppling of the WTC towers.
If you can’t see the parallels between the crusade against terrorism and the crusade against communism, well, you need to read more. Even in my apartment complex, the Justice department required our landlord to put posters up encouraging us to snoop on our neighbors and turn them in if they did something that we thought was suspicious.
And, with Ashcroft’s rules in place, I could turn in my Indian neighbors and the government could hold them for months without any reason other than my turning them in. They wouldn’t even be allowed to contact a lawyer.
After they’re brought to trial, they wouldn’t be allowed to contact people that might be able to vouch for them. Why? Because those other people might also be terrorists and we don’t want any secret terrorist information exchanged between them. The press wouldn’t be allowed to talk to them, because they may give some secret terrorism code in their interview. No cameras allowed incase secret terrorism hand signals are used.
It’s out of hand, and it’s just going to get worse. Ashcroft wants MORE power to do these things. He wants to be able to hold people even longer without allowing them to contact a lawyer. He wants to be able to tap anyone’s phone without a warrant… anyones.
But yeah, since there was a terrorist attack, thank god we have Ashcroft here to protect us from this bugaboo.
I am with Jim on this one. When your government starts making shit up to justify selling a war to their people. When a government is putting in place laws that take away rights people in this country have enjoyed for 230 years and anyone who complains is accused of being “UnAmerican” well I DO see parallels to what happened here in the 50’s and I know that history will be no kinder to W and his cronies then it has been to McCarthy.
If only I saw more evidence of American thought like this than the sheep like voxpox responses that I see on the news when it crops up - although currently it’s been more concerned with the UK Government bashing the BBC over a trival piece of reporting on the infamous dossier which ignores the total fiction that is the dossier altogether.
Forget lawyers, shoot the PR men I say.
Say what? I suggest you call the ACLU; I really do not think the Justice department has the authority.
The horror. Can you imagine if men like Bush had to speak for themselves, without writers or spin doctors or press handlers? The world would explode.
I say we do it.
Say what? I suggest you call the ACLU; I really do not think the Justice department has the authority.[/quote]
I swear I’m not putting this out of thin air. Tonight when I get home, I’ll see if I can find one of the posters still up. They only show up when we hit Yellow+ alert. It’s apparently mandatory for the appartment complex to display the posters when they can be seen by all occupants.
Here is some background on why they are required to post these posters up:
Because an apartment is considered a public residence, the apartment manager is required to communicate to the residents how to protect themselves from terrorist activity. This communication is mandatory when the Terrorist Threat Level reaches Yellow or highter.
These “protection” procedures include: Watch for suspicious activity from your neighbors. Watch for suspicious packages being delivered to yourself or a neighbor. If you detect any suspicious activity from your neighbors, they include numbers for the local FBI office.
The posters themselves also have some notations about how we need to be vigilent, that anyone can be a terrorist, etc…
I’m googling right now trying to find one of the posters to link to. It’s government issued, so I’m sure someone has a scan somewhere.
Under the poster, my apartment manager has a little note saying something like “We don’t know of any terrorist activity in this complex. We are required to post these posters in each of our complexes by the <blah blah> act”.
Ah, ok. I thought it was just a “snitch on your neighbors!” poster.
Uh, from that description, that’s pretty much what it is.
Well yeah, but when phrased as a throwaway in a “how apartment complexes should deal with terror poster” its probably legal.
- Wherever you are, be aware of your surroundings. The very nature of terrorism suggests there may be little or no warning.
This sounds pretty practical. I am already adopting a frightened and uncomfortable facial expression so that people will know that I have read, understood and adopted this rule.