Big Lie

How Can the U.S. be at War with Al-Qaeda and Support It?

"How can the U.S. be at war with al-Qaeda and be providing material support to it in overthrowing governments in Libya and Syria? It cannot. How can the U.S. be at war with al-Qaeda and maintain Saudi Arabia as a close ally, when that country is a major source of al-Qaeda people and teaching? The idea put forward by two administrations that the U.S. is at war with al-Qaeda is a 'Big Lie' that is designed to provide cover for other motives for their military actions. It is a very simple and convenient cover story that sells to the public as a rationale for all sorts of U.S. military activities in many countries, all of which have other explanations." Continue reading →

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LA Times: Only An Incipient “Terrorist” Denounces State Murder

"Citing the most recent missive from the self-appointed Stasi at the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Los Angeles Times claims that there are 1,360 proto-terrorist groups -- sneeringly denounced as 'patriots,' 'constitutionalists,' and 'sovereign citizens' -- scattered throughout the Soyuz. 'These groups should be closely monitored, with resources adequate to the task, even if it means shifting some homeland security money from the hunt for foreign terrorists,' concludes the paper." Continue reading →

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How Americans were swindled by the hidden cost of the Iraq war

"When the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration estimated that it would cost $50-60bn to overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish a functioning government. This estimate was catastrophically wrong: the war in Iraq has cost $823.2bn between 2003 and 2011. Some estimates suggesting that it may eventually cost as much as $3.7tn when factoring in the long-term costs of caring for the wounded and the families of those killed. The most striking fact about the cost of the war in Iraq has been the extent to which it has been kept 'off the books' of the government’s ledgers and hidden from the American people. This was done by design." Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Approves Search Warrants Issued by Dogs

"Today the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that 'a court can presume' an alert by a drug-sniffing dog provides probable cause for a search 'if a bona fide organization has certified a dog after testing his reliability in a controlled setting' or 'if the dog has recently and successfully completed a training program that evaluated his proficiency in locating drugs.' The justices overturned a 2011 decision in which the Florida Supreme Court said police must do more than assert that a dog has been properly trained." Continue reading →

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Is Detroit a Self-Defense Haven?

"Detroit has been getting a lot of attention for its recent shootings. Not the usual criminal stuff, but the step-up in self-defense shootings as people have come to realize that the police only exist to mark the outlines of bodies with chalk. Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79% in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200% above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And they’re offering no apologies." Continue reading →

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Officer Safety Uber Alles: Christopher Dorner and the “Rickoverian Paradox”

"A citizen or privately employed security guard wouldn’t be able to ram an unidentified truck and open fire on its driver, or spray gunfire in a residential neighborhood, without facing criminal charges. In the official reaction to Dorner’s rampage, we see an unusually candid manifestation of the 'Officer Safety Uber Alles' mentality that defines police work. From their perspective, the population exists to protect and serve the police, rather than the reverse. This brings to mind the concept of Rickover’s Paradox, which I encountered in a science fiction novel decades ago." Continue reading →

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Honesty is Not a Job Requirement for Police Officers

"If you lie to a police officer, you can be charged with a crime. When – not if—a police officer lies to you, he’s carrying out a legitimate function of his job. That’s what former prosecutor Val Van Brocklin explained in an essay. Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper estimates that the typical police officer will lie several times during his daily duty shift. In a 2009 ruling, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld a decision by an arbitrator reversing the termination of Kitsap County Sherriff’s deputy who had been fired for lying and other misconduct. The court agreed that honesty was not an essential function of a law enforcement officer’s job." Continue reading →

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Bin Laden son-in-law court appearance reignites debate over handling of terrorism cases

"With the surprise appearance in a New York courtroom of Osama bin Laden’s son in law on Friday, the US justice system’s handling of terrorism cases itself went back on trial. Until now, alleged Al-Qaeda figures have been more likely to be blown apart by a missile from a US drone or to disappear into the netherworld of secret CIA or secretive military prisons, before resurfacing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But on this occasion, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, accused of conspiring to kill US nationals, was arraigned in a wood-paneled Manhattan federal courtroom, accompanied by three lawyers and witnessed by the media." Continue reading →

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Is the U.S. at War with Al-Qaeda?

"Imagine Ma Barker's gang or a gang of John Dillingers who unilaterally declare 'war' against the U.S. Would the U.S. in turn declare war against them? Metaphorically it might, in order to show a steely determination to capture and stop them. But does their declaration by itself entitle the U.S. to kill them without an attempt to capture them and place them on trial? Certainly not. Lynching is summary execution. No government can be trusted with the power of summarily killing someone, even if that person has 'declared war' on that government. Such a power is too easy to extend and expand and inflict upon the innocent." Continue reading →

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