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It Takes Balls to Try the 9/11 Terrorists in Manhattan
The decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators in a public, civilian court within sight of Ground Zero is one of the strongest expressions of America's strength that I have heard in many years. There is no honor, no pride, no confidence in trying your enemies in secret. There is honor, pride and chutzpah for America to hold fast to our ideals, trust our democracy, and try our enemies in full public view.
The republicans are expressing an amazing amount of hysterical fear at the prospect of giving the terrorists a fair, public trial. I am proud as all hell that we FINALLY have the balls to do this. I have full confidence that our democratic system is strong enough to hold this trial and I thank the Obama administration for restoring our confidence in our own democracy. Bush dragged this out for 8 fucking years, making us all afraid, doubting America's strength. Obama is reminding us that we are strong, our democracy is strong and our court system is strong. The terrorists wanted to frighten us, to make us doubt America and its democracy. Bush fell right into their trap, spreading fear and doubt. Obama is sending a clear message to Americans, to the terrorists and to the world that America's democracy will NOT be frightened by terrorists anymore. We will put our faith in our own values and feel confident that we will prevail over the fears and doubts the terrorists and Republicans both seem to thrive on.
When the 1993 bombings of the WTC happened, we maintained our faith in our own American democracy and tried the perpetrators publicly in a civilian court. That showed balls. That is better than most countries in the world would do. We gave them a fair trial and they are serving their sentence.
I am proud to see those who planned the attack on our city are being brought right here to New York to stand trial. In many ways it makes me feel prouder than I have for a long time. It shows the world that YES America IS strong enough to trust in our core democratic values.
Rudy Giuliani's negligence is proportional to the devastation wrought on 9/11
Do you remember when Rudy Giuliani made the outrageous claim that it was unfair for anyone to criticize him and his administration because no one could have been prepared for jets flying into buildings? Or that it was not his fault he chose to put the mayoral emergency response bunker, a $61 million emergency-command center and obvious terrorist target inside 7 World Trade Center?
Well, the Memory Hole doesn't want you to forget the facts: read more »
There are suicide bombers in blue suits down in Pearl Street
“We had to step in, it was the right thing to do, even though it is infuriating,” Obama said, explaining why the government needed to bail out the troubled banks.
“The same is true with AIG,” he said. “It was the right thing to do to step in. Here’s the problem. It’s almost like they’ve got — they’ve got a bomb strapped to them and they’ve got their hand on the trigger. You don’t want them to blow up. But you’ve got to kind of talk them, ease that finger off the trigger.”
Why They Hate Us
Why do they hate us? That's the question that has been often asked, but never truly answered, for the past seven years.
Anyone who has read "Dangerous Nation" by Robert Kagan, "Blowback" (et. seq.) by Chalmers Johnson, and "American Armageddon" by Craig Unger knows the answer, and it's not what some claim.
They don't hate us because of our freedom; they couldn't care less.
They don't hate us because of religion; that's merely a tool used -- make that "abused" -- by their leaders.
They don't hate us because of our wealth -- exactly.
They don't hate us because of our power -- exactly.
Syngman Rhee
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ferdinand Marcos
Suharto
Reza Pahlavi
Saddam Hussein
Fulgencio Batista
Jean-Claude Duvalier
Manuel Noriega
Augusto Pinochet
What do these people have in common? Every one of them was a murderous and incompetent dictator whom we put and/or kept in power because he temporarily served some short-term, short-sighted policy objective. read more »
