al Qaeda


OK, So What Will Define the End?

Regarding the Hamdan trial verdict Warren Richey writes in the Christian Science Monitor:

Even if he’d been acquitted of all charges, Hamdan was unlikely to be released from his Guantánamo cell anytime soon. In addition to the military commission charges, Hamdan is being held in open-ended detention as an unlawful enemy combatant.
Under the law of war, he can be held for the duration of the war on terror.

As the title says: “OK, so what will define the end.”


Sock Puppets and Partners

Jaerome Doolittle argues that w is osama’s sock puppet:

Giving Osama bin Laden an instrument like George W.Bush to play is like handing Jascha Heifetz a Stradivarius.
Bin Laden has got from Bush virtually everything he wanted: U.S. troops are out of Saudi Arabia, his enemy Saddam is dead, the Al Qaeda franchise has gone international, his hideout in Pakistan is safer than ever, the Taliban is resurgent, the Great Satan is globally hated and isolated, and Bush has done, praise be to Allah, effectively nothing to end the conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbors. Sweet!

Perhaps.
The way things have played out bush has gotten from osama virtually everything that he wanted: a huge popularity hit in his first term, a mission accomplished photo op, a 2nd term in office, billions in oil profit windfalls for his cronies around the world, the war on terror, the shredding of the bill of rights and so on ad infinitum.
It is not at all clear who is pulling the strings.

Perhaps they are each others sock puppet and, if so, perhaps they are partners.


Protecting Us…

…from mass destruction math instruction:

New York October 19
A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carryingweapons of math instruction.
“Al-gebra is a problem for us,” Gonzalez said. “They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns,’ but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘There are 3 sides to every triangle.’
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have better Weapons of Math Instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.” White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President during his entire administration.

Blatently stolen from a mailing list.


In The Early Hours

Yesterday g w bush said:

So their answer is to deny people this choice by raging against the forces of freedom and moderation. This struggle has been called a clash of civilizations. In truth, it is a struggle for civilization. We are fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations. And we’re fighting for the possibility that good and decent people across the Middle East can raise up societies based on freedom and tolerance and personal dignity.

We are now in the early hours of this struggle between tyranny and freedom.

He is so right and so wrong.

Yes, we are in the early hours of the fight for freedom and liberty, the early hours of the struggle for civilization.

It is not, though, a fight between the United States and al Quaeda or the United States and some phantom called Islamofascism or the United States and the concept of terrorism.

It is a fight between people throughout the world and those individuals or groups who would use force to achieve their ends. These latter, be they street corner thugs or state actors are our enemy.

  • This war will not be over until suicide bombers are a distant memory.
  • It will not be over until large standing armies are a distant memory.
  • It will not be over until people throughout the world can voluntarily exchange goods and services without interference.
  • It will not be over until people throughout the world can voluntarily choose their relationships.
  • It will not be over until, well, this list can be much longer but that will be for a manifesto.

May it be over soon.