Cheney says Democrats soft on national security: We say Republicans stupid on terrorism...

Okay, so it's name calling time. VP Dick (The Thug) Cheney has decided to call Democrats 'soft on terrorism'.

Lets fight 'em head on for once!

Bush and Cheney are just plain stupid on terrorism. They lead us into attacking Iraq, which had nothing to do with terrorism, based on false claims of WMDs and ties to Bin Laden. All we end up doing is getting bogged down in a quagmire, costing thousands of lives, and inciting tens of thousands in the middle east to join terrorist groups, like Al Queda in Iraq.

They kidnap and torture thousands of Muslims on suspicion of terrorism, creating thousands more pissed off people who now hate the U.S. worse than ever.

While doing all of this, they tread all over the constitution, and our reputation as a law abiding, due process respecting country, by engaging in violations of human rights, illegal wiretaps, and holding countless prisoners indefinitely in secret prisons without filing any charges (but with plenty of torture-like activity).

All in all, I accuse Republicans of the King George variety of being just plain dumb. (Ok, they are also lying wesels, but that can be the subject of a future column....)

Iraq War Fuels Terrorism Threat Says U.S. Report

Iraq

Morning Edition, September 25, 2006 · The U.S. war in Iraq has increased, not decreased, the threat of terrorism, according to a top-level, classified intelligence summary.

Findings of that National Intelligence Estimate on "Trends in Global Terrorism" were first reported over the weekend by The New York Times.

The intellegence report finds the war in Iraq has fueled a new generation of Islamic radicalism, which has spread around the globe.

U.S. imprisons 14,000 without charges

Yet another embarassing story about how we are losing moral authority around the world because of our tactics which deny due process of law to thousands.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke out this week about how we are losing our moral authority. "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism." Powell said in a letter to the Senate Committee that is writing new law on handling U.S. detainees, after the Supreme Court struck down King George's unilateral detainee policies.

To prove the point, look at this new article from the Associated Press:

September 17, 2006, By PATRICK QUINN:
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - In the few short years since the first shackled Afghan shuffled off to Guantanamo, the U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons, its islands of high security keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law.

Disclosures of torture and long-term arbitrary detentions have won rebuke from leading voices including the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. Supreme Court. But the bitterest words come from inside the system, the size of several major U.S. penitentiaries.

"It was hard to believe I'd get out," Baghdad shopkeeper Amjad Qassim al-Aliyawi told The Associated Press after his release - without charge - last month. "I lived with the Americans for one year and eight months as if I was living in hell."

Captured on battlefields, pulled from beds at midnight, grabbed off streets as suspected insurgents, tens of thousands now have passed through U.S. detention, the vast majority in Iraq....

As with others, Karim's confinement may simply have strengthened support for the anti-U.S. resistance. "I will hate Americans for the rest of my life," he said."

See THIS LINK for the full story.

ASK your Senate and Congressional candidates how they stand on this issue. This is truly our number one 'security issue'. If we come to be seen in the world as ruthless thugs who kidnap people and hold them without charges or trials, we will assuredly create more new terrorists than we can ever handle. We will never kidnap and terrify people into security. Our safety and security depends on protecting our constitutional rights and values, and respecting the rule of law.

Boycott ABC Television

Well, they aired it. After all the pre-airing complaints about the 'docudrama' on the 9/11 attacks, ABC/Disney aired the highly inacurate and partisan version of the attacks on a 2 night miniseries.

I waited to post this till after the program ran, so as not to give any more attention to this show, and not to allow it to benefit from the free PR buzz, albeit negative buzz, that occurred.

No party is blameless in the 9/11 attacks. However, by airing such a political hack job less than 60 days before the fall elections, the vicious right wing is pulling out all stops to hold onto power. Make no mistake: these people are scared. Why?

Maybe they worry about impeachment for King George. Maybe they worry about FISA arrests for felony wiretap violations. Maybe about international law violations for torture and illegal renditions and secret prisons, and violating the Geneva conventions. Maybe they just love the power.

Whatever the reason, we will see the nastiest campaign in our lifetime in the next two months. A scared Rethugllican will stop at nothing to get re-elected. The 9/11 lie-odrama is only the beginning. Hold on tight, here we go!