The massacre that killed 147 people and wounded scores of others at a Kenyan university lasted for hours Thursday before the terror was over.
"It is a very sad day for Kenya," Interior Ministry Joseph Nkaissery said of the carnage at Garissa University College.
The death toll is the highest in a terror attack on Kenyan soil since the U.S. Embassy was bombed in 1998. More than 200 people died in the Nairobi blast.
A total of 147 people were killed Thursday, according to the official Twitter account of Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre and Kenyan media reports. The agency also said 79 people were injured and 587 people were evacuated.
Four gunmen were killed, officials said.
The Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for the assault.
Awaking to terror: 'I am lucky to be alive'
Islamist gunmen burst into the university before dawn Thursday, shooting students and taking hostages during early morning prayer services.
At one point, the attackers cornered a building in which 360 students live, but some of the students escaped, Nkaissery said.
Kenyan forces cleared three of four dormitories and had cornered the militants in the last one, the Interior Ministry explained.
The President is correct. Islam is not America's enemy. Terrorism and extremism are the enemies of America and Islam. ISIS, Boko Haram and other similar terrorist groups pimp religion to justify their barbarism and brutality. They exploit and hijack Islam in order to achieve calculated political objectives.
Their primary targets are other Muslims. ISIS is killing Muslims in Iraq and Syria. Boko Haram is killing Muslims in Nigeria. Both groups kidnap, enslave, rape and massacre innocent civilians. That is not Islam and they are not real Muslims. That is evil and they are devils. They do not belong in the modern world.
Islam represents enlightenment and guidance, not darkness and ignorance. We cannot allow anyone to commit such sick and demented atrocities in the name of God and Islam. They must be challenged, condemned and ultimately destroyed.
On earlier this month, terrorists killed 12 people at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly satirical magazine, in Paris, France. In response to that heinous crime, the world has united to condemn those criminals and terrorism, as do I. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets of Paris, including dignitaries from all over the world.
In spirit, I marched with them. As a blogger and a civil rights attorney, I support the right to free speech. All people should be able to write and speak freely without having to fear being arrested or killed.
However, I must part company with the demonstrators when they proclaim that they are Charlie Hebdo. I am NOT Charlie Hebdo. Charlie Hebdo is a racist, bigoted, Islamophobic, and hateful magazine. Charlie Hebdo regularly mocks and ridicules Islam, Muslims, Christians, Jews and black people.
The magazine depicted the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in a sexual threesome. Illustrations such as this have been cited as evidence of Charlie Hebdo’s willingness to offend everyone. But in recent years the magazine has gone specifically for racist and Islamophobic provocations, and its numerous anti-Islam images have been inventively perverse, featuring hook-nosed Arabs, bullet-ridden Korans, variations on the theme of sodomy, and mockery of the victims of a massacre...
Blacks have hardly had it easier in Charlie Hebdo: one of the magazine’s cartoons depicts the Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira, who is of Guianese origin, as a monkey (naturally, the defense is that a violently racist image was being used to satirize racism); another portrays Obama with the black-Sambo imagery familiar from Jim Crow-era illustrations.
Again, I am not Charlie Hebdo. To hell with Charlie Hebdo. Instead of being celebrated and exalted, that despicable publication belongs next to Nazi, Confederate and minstrel memorabilia in a museum somewhere.
Also, to hell with the terrorists for brutality and inhumanity. To hell with terrorists for making that racist publication even more popular. As stated on CNN Money, Charlie Hebdo normally sells 60,000 copies at week. Following the terrorists attack, the magazine sold millions of copies. That recent issue defiantly mocks the Prophet. To hell with the terrorists for doing more to defame Islam and Muslim, through their senseless violence, than Charlie Hebdo ever could. To hell with the terrorists for giving France and other countries an excuse to tramp on our civil liberties.
As France champions Charlie Hebdo's right to free speech, she tramples on others' right to free speech. As Glenn Greenwald reported on the Intercept:
Since that glorious “free speech” march, France has reportedly opened 54 criminal cases for “condoning terrorism.” AP reported this morning that “France ordered prosecutors around the country to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism.”
As pernicious as this arrest and related “crackdown” on some speech obviously is, it provides a critical value: namely, it underscores the utter scam that was this week’s celebration of free speech in the west. The day before the Charlie Hebdo attack, I coincidentally documented the multiple cases in the west – including in the U.S. – where Muslims have been prosecuted and even imprisoned for their political speech. Vanishingly few of this week’s bold free expression mavens have ever uttered a peep of protest about any of those cases – either before the Charlie Hebdo attack or since. That’s because “free speech,” in the hands of many westerners, actually means: it is vital that the ideas I like be protected, and the right to offend groups I dislike be cherished; anything else is fair game.
Kano, Nigeria (CNN)—The attackers sped into a Nigerian town with grenade launchers -- their gunfire and explosions shattering the early morning calm.
As terrified residents scattered into bushes in Baga town and surrounding villages, the gunmen unloaded motorcycles from their trucks and followed in hot pursuit.
Residents hid under scant brush. Bullets pierced them.
Some sought refuge in their homes. They were burned alive.
Many who tried to cross into neighboring Chad drowned while trying to swim through Lake Chad.
By the time the weapons went quiet, local officials reported death tolls ranging from hundreds to as many as 2,000 people...
Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking police, schools, churches and civilians, and bombing government buildings. The Islamist group has said its aim is to impose a stricter form of Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.
The group's brutal tactics have shocked and stunned the world.
It has kidnapped students, including more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted in April -- and remain missing.
On Saturday, explosives strapped to a girl detonated at a crowded marketplace in Nigeria, killing at least 20 people. Although no one has claimed responsibility, Boko Haram militants are the main suspects.
In France, fanatics kill 17 civilians. The world mourns. The media coverage is non-stop. Hundreds of thousands people march in solidarity against terrorism. Dignitaries from around the world participate.
On the other hand, in Nigeria, another group of fanatics destroy an entire town and kill up to 2,000 children, women and men. The world barely notices. The media coverage is scant and sporatic. Compared to the France story, Nigeria is a footnote, an afterthought. 200 Nigeria girls remain missing. Despite last year's popularity, the slogan #BringBackOurGirls has been tossed in the wind and forgotten. Sadly, we are reminded again that black lives don't matter.
A Boko Haram video emerged Monday purportedly showing some of the kidnapped Nigerian girls in Muslim headdresses and the terror group's leader declaring they have converted to Islam.
The video, released by French news agency Agence France-Presse, was shot in a nondescript bush area and showed about 100 girls.
In the 27-minute footage, the terror group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, says he is willing to exchange the schoolgirls for Boko Haram prisoners.
It shows girls dressed in black and gray hijabs, and reciting the Quran as they make Islamic declarations of faith. Shekau appears in a separate part of the video, but never with the girls.
"Praise be to Allah, the lord of the world," the girls in the video chant.
It's the first purported sighting of the girls abducted last month in the northern town of Chibok. A convoy of Islamist militants drove to a school, seized nearly 300 girls and fled into the night.
At least 276 girls remain missing since the terror group abducted them on April 14. Though some of the girls escaped shortly after their abduction, none of the others have been found.
Holy Qur'an 2:256 states that "there is no compulsion in religion." Clearly, those terrorists violated the Qur'an and basic international human rights by kidnapping over 200 innocent girls and forcing them to convert Islam. Obviously, faith must based on free will. No one should be forced at gunpoint to convert to any religion.
Instead of spreading the Islam, Boko Haram's cruelty and cowardice only fuel the blazing flames of hatred against Islam. Only cowards and chumps would kidnap defenseless girls and threaten to sell them like slaves. Boko Haram is evil incarnate.
The Holy Quran demands that believers stand up for justice. Holy Qur'an 4:135 states:
O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.
Muslims, Christians, Jews and other people of good will must demand that Boko Haram be brought to justice for their heinous crimes. I hope and pray that each one of those girls are safely returned to their families. Bring back our girls now!
LAGOS, Nigeria — The international effort to rescue the 276 schoolgirls being held captive by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria was boosted Friday when British security experts joined the Nigerian and American forces trying to rescue the missing students.
As the worldwide effort got underway the weakness of the Nigerian military was exposed in a report issued by Amnesty International.
Britain said its aim was not only to help with the current crisis but to defeat Boko Haram.
“The team will be considering not just the recent incidents but also longer-term counter-terrorism solutions to prevent such attacks in the future and defeat Boko Haram,” the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said in a statement Friday.
The American team was joined by six additional military officers and more are expected soon, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby. The U.S. officers will do a “gap analysis,” an assessment to identify what the Nigerian military needs that the U.S. could provide in the search for the girls, he said...
The weakness of the Nigerian armed forces was highlighted Friday in a report which said the military did not respond to warnings that Boko Haram rebels were about to attack Chibok, the town where the young women were abducted from their school.
Nigerian security forces had four hours of notice about the April 15 attack by the rebels but did not react because of their fear of engaging the extremists, said Amnesty International, in a report citing multiple interviews with credible sources.
“This abduction could have been prevented,” Amnesty spokeswoman Susanna Flood said of the Nigerian military’s inaction...
Boko Haram has staged many attacks in northeastern Nigeria over the years, a campaign of bombings and massacres that has intensified in recent times despite a strong military presence there. Since May 2013 there has been a state of emergency in three northeastern Nigerian states wracked by Boko Haram violence.
Boko Haram has killed more than 1,500 people this year. The militants, who want to impose Islamic Shariah law on Nigeria, abducted more than 300 girls from a boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok. Fifty-three escaped but 276 remain captive. In a video seen by The Associated Press, Boko Haram’s leader threatens to sell the girls into slavery.
Instead of living in the modern world, groups like Boko Haram glorify and romanticize the Middle Ages. They view intolerance, ignorance and misogyny as virtues. According to their distorted and twisted interpretation of religion, women are sex objects to be suppressed, oppressed, used, abused, raped and sold. Such views do not belong in the 21st century. A nation cannot rise or globally compete when half of the population is deprived education and opportunity.
For more information about that terrorist group, click this link.
Boko Haram is a scourge. They massacre, rape, pillage, steal and enslave in the name of Islam. By doing so, they blaspheme against their professed religion. No just, merciful, beneficent god would condone such barbarism and savagery. Instead of following the righteous path, they have been deceived and lead astray. They have done more to defame Islam than the non-believers ever could. Their way is not Islam. It cannot be Islam. As reported on the AP and the Huffington Post, Muslim leaders have rightfully condemned Boko Haram.
The Nigerian government's failure to act must be condemned as well. It is an absolute disgrace that the Nigerian government essentially allowed Boko Haram to kidnap 276 innocent girls from their school dormitory. Approximately 25 days later, the girls are still missing. Instead of Nigerians and Africans uniting to address the problem, they have turned to their former slave masters and colonial oppressors for assistance. Decades after the end of colonialism, Nigeria and many other African nations lack true self-determination and independence. Boko Haram is an African problem that must ultimately be solved by African people.
Boko Haram must be brought to justice for their heinous crimes. They are a cancer in Nigeria and the world. They must be uprooted and eradicated by the people of Nigeria and the Africans. I pray that each and ever girl is rescued from the clutches of those monsters. I support all efforts designed to achieve that limited goal.
I salute First Lady Michelle Obama for speaking out and supporting the #BringOurGirlsBack movement. Her address to the nation and the world was powerful and compelling. President Obama's efforts to assist the Nigerians is truly commendable.
Hopefully, Western involvement in Nigeria is truly about rescuing the girls and not about controlling Nigeria's oil. In light of the West's long history of exploiting African people and their natural resources, one must view U.S. and European military intervention in Africa with great skepticism. Rarely do the United States and Europe act altruistically. As noted on Wikipedia, "Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves." Suspicions are further raised by the fact that the United States prepared for the possibility of such a crisis. As reported on allAfrica.com,
In May 2008, the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, hosted "Unified Quest 2008," the army's annual war games to test the American military's ability to deal with the kind of crises that it might face in the near future. "Unified Quest 2008" was especially noteworthy because it was the first time the war games included African scenarios as part of the Pentagon's plan to create a new military command for the continent: the Africa Command or Africom. No representatives of Africom were at the war games, but Africom officers were in close communication throughout the event.
One of the four scenarios that were war-gamed was a test of how Africom could respond to a crisis in Somalia — set in 2025 — caused by escalating insurgency and piracy. Unfortunately, no information on the details of the scenario is available.
Far more information is available on the other scenario — set in 2013 — which was a test of how Africom could respond to a crisis in Nigeria in which the Nigerian government is near collapse, and rival factions and rebels are fighting for control of the oil fields of the Niger Delta and vying for power in the country which is the sixth largest supplier of America's oil imports...
Among scenarios examined during the game were the possibility of direct American military intervention involving some 20,000 U.S. troops in order to "secure the oil," and the question of how to handle possible splits between factions within the Nigerian government. The game ended without military intervention because one of the rival factions executed a successful coup and formed a new government that sought stability.
Today, a white supremacist allegedly committed despicable and cowardly attacks of terrorism against the Jewish community in Kansas. The Washington Post reports that:
The 73-year-old man accused of going on a deadly shooting spree Sunday at Jewish facilities in Kansas has been identified as a former ‘grand dragon’ of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The shootings took the lives of three people before he was arrested.
Two of those shot were at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. The other was at the Village Shalom Retirement Center. Both are located in Overland Park, Kan., south of Kansas City.
The shootings occurred about 1 p.m. central time a day before Passover, the eight-day holiday in which Jews celebrate their freedom from slavery in Egypt.
The Kansas City Star said that the gunman fired at five people Sunday afternoon, but he missed two of his targets, who were not injured. Police said the man had not only a shotgun but also a handgun and possibly an assault weapon.
According to the Star:
Matt Davis, who lives near Valley Park Elementary where police arrested Miller, was shopping with his son for a suit for his upcoming bar mitzvah when he heard about the shooting. Davis was outside the school when Miller was hauled off.
The man was smiling.
‘I was wondering, Why is the guy smiling when he’s being arrested,’ said Davis, whose daughter was inside the Jewish Community Center when the shooting occurred in the parking lot. She and the hundreds of other people inside the center were not injured.
Rabbi Herbert Mandl, chaplain for the Overland Park Police Department, told CNN that the shooter was shouting neo-Nazi slogans as he was taken away. Mandl also said he was asking people whether they were Jewish before he fired. And KCTV reported he was yelling “Heil Hitler” during the arrest.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a respected activist organization that tracks hate crimes and racist activities, said the man arrested and identified by police as Frazier Glenn Cross is actually Frazier Glenn Miller. Miller, the SPLC said, founded and ran the Carolina Klan before he was sued by the SPLC “for operating an illegal paramilitary organization and using intimidation tactics against African Americans.”
"Hate begets hate; violence begets violence." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Good morning family. I condemn all forms of terrorism. I condemn the Boston bombers for killing and maiming innocent civilians. There is no justification for such senseless violence. I also condemn America's drone policy. Many innocent civilians are killed during U.S. drone strikes. We must end all forms of terrorism.
Please take five minutes to listen to Farea Al-Muslimi testify before the U.S. Senate regarding the real world impact of this nation's drone policy. Mr. Al-Muslimi explains how U.S. drones terrorize villages in Yemen.
On Democracy Now, Jeremy Scahill described the true nature of America's drone and war policies.
What do you think about America's drone policy, the kill list and U.S. military intervention?
I pray for the people of Boston. May God bless and comfort the families and the victims of this horrible tragedy. I pray that law enforcement captures the cowards who committed this heinous and cowardly act of terrorism. Such senseless violence will not accomplish anything. It will only breed more violence and hatred.
We cannot let this tragedy consume us with hatred. If we do, the terrorists win. Unfortunately, some people have surrendered to hate. In response to the Boston bombing, Fox News Contributor Erik Rush tweeted that all Muslims should be killed. Here are his disgusting tweets.
We are constantly bombarded with news reports equating Muslims with terrorism. We see images of menacing Muslims wearing ski masks, shooting guns and blowing up innocent people. We see images of men, women and children killed in New York, Arlington, London, Iraq, Israel and other places by Muslim terrorists. Rarely do we see positive images of Muslims on the news. When we hear the word "terrorism", we immediately think of Muslims. A prime example of this problem is CNN's false report of a "dark skinned male" being arrested for the Boston bombing.
When one has the power to define, one possesses the ability to shape reality. When we think about terrorism, we do not immediately think about Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynsky, Eric Robert Rudolph or other white men. When white people commit crimes, they are punished as individuals. They are not stereotyped, profiled and punished as a collective like Muslims, Arabs, African Americans and Latinos are. In America, that is one of privileges of being white.
In addition to contradictory standards for racial profiling, we also use a contradictory definition terrorism. We have been taught to accept and tolerate some forms of violence based on the source of the violence. The U.S. uses drones to kill innocent civilians around the world. Israeli airplanes launch missiles into residential areas and bulldoze houses in the occupied territories. Those violent acts are not called terrorism. They are called collateral damage. The word "terrorism" is reserved Muslims and Arabs.
That negative propaganda causes the American people to consciously and subconsciously hate and fear all Muslims. That hatred explains why most Americans do not care about U.S. drones killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. That hatred explains why most people do not care about Muslims being held indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay without being charged or tried. Whenever there is a terrorist attack, we automatically assume that Muslims are responsible. Sadly, we begin to view and treat all Muslims as terrorists.
For example, no one knows who committed the Boston terror attack. Yet, people assume that Muslim terrorists are responsible. In response to the attack, people harassed and beat a man in the Bronx. The New York Post reports that:
A Bangladeshi man out for dinner at a Bronx restaurant was viciously beaten hours after the Boston Marathon bombing by thugs who called him “a f--king Arab” before pummeling him to the ground, sources said.
Abdullah Faruque, 30 — a native of the South Asian country who grew up in The Bronx — was at Applebee’s on Exterior Avenue in Melrose at about 11:30 p.m. Monday when he went outside for a smoke.
Three or four Hispanic males he’d noticed drinking at the bar followed him and angrily got in his face, he recalled yesterday.
“One of the guys asked if I was Arab. I just shook my head, said like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ I didn’t even know that [the] Boston [bombing] happened because I had a busy day,” Faruque said.
He turned to head back inside as one of the men snarled, “Yeah, he’s a f--king Arab,” and the gang pounced, punching him on the head and body, dislocating his left shoulder and leaving him semiconscious.
“Before I could grab the door, they started swinging at me,” the network engineer said of the 90-second beatdown. “I’ve been jumped before. If you can’t win, you back up, you try to protect yourself.”
The victim said he went home and turned on the TV, and only then learned about the bombing and put two and two together.
Erik Rush's hateful tweets encourages that type of violence against innocent, law abiding Muslims. Unfortunately, Mr. Rush is not alone. Anti-Muslim hatred is acceptable in mainstream America. Politicians like Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and others regularly make anti-Muslim statements without facing any real opposition.
So when someone like Erik Rush says kill all Muslims, there is very little public outrage in the media. That is frightening and dangerous. If Mr. Rush said kill all whites, kill Jews, kill all black people, kill all gays, kill all women or kill all disabled people, Congress would hold hearings. Politicians would have universally condemned his statement. His story would have been on every single TV news channel and in every newspaper. Fox News would have fired him immediately. People for the American Way is one of the few organizations demanding that Fox News fire Mr. Rush.
As an African American, Erik Rush should be ashamed. Throughout our history, we have been persecuted and oppressed. Today, we are still racially profiled, stopped and frisked just because of the pigment of our skin. In light of our history and current day realities as a people, no African American should embrace anti-Muslim hatred. By the way, many of Mr. Rush's fellow African Americans, including myself, are Muslim.
If we accept this kind of hatred, American society may degenerate into a state resembling Nazi Germany. Stand up to hate. Sign the People for the American Way's petition.
Good morning family. I pray for the people of Boston. May God bless, keep and comfort them all during this horrific tragedy. I pray that the criminals be brought to justice.
The Washington Post reports that:
This city woke Tuesday morning to grief and unanswered questions, as investigators searched for the people who detonated two bombs near the finish line of the venerated Boston Marathon, lifting runners off their feet, killing at least three people and injuring approximately 140 others.
An eight-year-old boy fatally injured in the blasts was identified by the Boston Globe early Tuesday as Martin Richard, of Dorchester. The newspaper said Martin’s father, a community activist, ran in the marathon, and his family was waiting for him at the finish line. Martin’s mother, Denise Richard, and one of his sisters were hospitalized with “grievous injuries,” the Globe reported.
Many patients had lost limbs, and many remain in critical condition, a hospital official in Boston said. A number of children are among the badly injured.
The devastating impact of the explosions, which came 16 seconds apart at 2:50 p.m. on one of Boston’s most important days of civic celebration, spread almost instantly across the city and country, driving Boston and the nation once more into the grim work of responding to terror.
I hope that the American people unite during this difficult time. I hope that the politicians exercise reasonable restraint. I hope that they do not use this tragedy to further erode our civil liberties.
"The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within. It's not you who changes the system. It's the system that will eventually change you." Immortal Technique
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.
The secrecy surrounding such strikes is fast emerging as a central issue in this week’s hearing of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, a key architect of the drone campaign, to be CIA director. Brennan was the first administration official to publicly acknowledge drone strikes in a speech last year, calling them “consistent with the inherent right of self-defense.” In a separate talk at the Northwestern University Law School in March, Attorney General Eric Holder specifically endorsed the constitutionality of targeted killings of Americans, saying they could be justified if government officials determine the target poses “an imminent threat of violent attack.”
But the confidential Justice Department “white paper” introduces a more expansive definition of self-defense or imminent attack than described by Brennan or Holder in their public speeches. It refers, for example, to what it calls a “broader concept of imminence” than actual intelligence about any ongoing plot against the U.S. homeland.
Michael Isikoff, national investigative correspondent for NBC News, talks with Rachel Maddow about a newly obtained, confidential Department of Justice white paper that hints at the details of a secret White House memo that explains the legal justifications for targeted drone strikes that kill Americans without trial in the name of national security.
“The condition that an operational leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future,” the memo states.
The United States claims to be a model democracy, a beacon of light for the world to follow. The rule of law is a fundamental concept in a democratic society. All citizens are supposed to be entitled to due process and equal protection under the law. The accused are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.
In the post 9/11 world, America has declared war not only against terrorism. She has declared war against her own cherished values. Under the Bush Administration, the United States lost it standing in the world for several reasons. The U.S. launched an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq based upon the false claim that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. waged war in Afghanistan. Since the beginning of the Afghan war, U.S. has imprisoned many so-called enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay and held them indefinitely without charges or trials. Additionally, America used torture against allegedly terrorists. Finally, the Bush Administration deployed drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan to assassinate alleged terrorists. Frequently, those drone attacks killed innocent women and children. In sum, all of those problems tarnished America's image before the world.
Our first African American President, Barack Obama, was elected based on the promises of hope and change. Unfortunately, Obama has continued and even expanded some of the Bush Administration's reprehensible policies, namely the use of drones. He has used drones far more frequently than Bush. Obama is using drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and other countries. As Commander-in-Chief, he is responsible for the deaths of many innocent civilians.
Sadly, most people do not care. The American people are shielded from the grotesque realities of war. Too often, we are presented with an abstract, sanitized, video game type image of war. We do not see the obliterated corpses of innocent women, children and men. If we did, maybe our attitude about the President's use of drones would change. As reported on CNN,
U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have killed far more people than the United States has acknowledged, have traumatized innocent residents and largely been ineffective, according to a new study released Tuesday.
The study by Stanford Law School and New York University's School of Law calls for a re-evaluation of the practice, saying the number of "high-level" targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low -- about 2%.
In contrast to more conservative U.S. statements, the Stanford/NYU report -- titled "Living Under Drones" -- offers starker figures published by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent organization based at City University in London.
"TBIJ reports that from June 2004 through mid-September 2012, available data indicate that drone strikes killed 2,562 - 3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom 474 - 881 were civilians, including 176 children. TBIJ reports that these strikes also injured an additional 1,228 - 1,362 individuals," according to the Stanford/NYU study.
Based on interviews with witnesses, victims and experts, the report accuses the CIA of "double-striking" a target, moments after the initial hit, thereby killing first responders.
Instead of ending terrorism, such actions will only breed more future terrorists.
To make matters worst, the Department of Justice's memo basically gives Obama a license to kill Americans without any evidence, trial or proof of an imminent attack. According to news reports, that license is not necessarily limited to use against Americans abroad. It is possible that the federal government may be able to use such power against Americans here at home. Such power is contrary to America's values. In the words of Kanye West, "no one man should have all that power."
To some people, Obama is like Jesus. They have complete unconditional faith in his judgment. Not me. All men are fallible. We all make mistakes. No one person should be judge, jury and executioner. What about Obama's successors? If we do not act now, it will create a dangerous precedent for future presidents. Imagine if someone like Mitt Romney or some other right wing Republican had that power. How many more innocent people must die before we end this madness? Where is the peace movement?
When George W. Bush was President, large numbers of progressives marched and protested against war. Many progressives oppose senseless wars and the death penalty. Yet, with cult like devotion, many of those so-called "progressives" blindly defend the President's right to kill Americans. That is deeply disturbing and disappointing. Now, only a few people are protesting against the Obama Administration's wars. Hopefully, the release of that Department of Justice memo will wake up the peace movement.
Instead of simply marching and blogging, we should join U.S. Representative Barbara Lee's call. We must urge Congress to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force law. It is time to end this perpetual war. No President, even if he is a Democrat, should be given a blank check to launch undeclared wars around the world.
We will never forget the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks.
May God bless them and their families. May God bless all the policemen and firemen who entered the burning towers and the Pentagon to save lives. May God bless and protect the soldiers who go into harm's way pursuing the terrorists responsible for this tragedy. May God bring all of the terrorists to justice.
May God protect innocent civilians in all nations from terrorism. Let love prevail over hate. Let tolerance prevail over intolerance. Let understanding prevail over ignorance. Amen.
"As Reiswig and her co-workers snapped photos of the police robot examining the backpack at the northeast corner of Washington Street and Main Avenue, posting some of them to their Facebook pages, the Spokane bomb squad was coming to a frightening realization. The backpack was equipped with a powerful bomb, positioned to inflict maximum blast damage toward the intended route of Spokane’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march through downtown.
“Then we saw the officer in a bomb suit. At that point, we decided that maybe we should back away from the windows,” she said.
The FBI confirmed Tuesday that the Swiss Army-brand backpack contained a bomb that could have caused “multiple casualties” and credited Spokane city employees who noticed the suspicious bag and alerted authorities in time to re-route the parade. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible." Read More
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