I’m going to echo Eric’s thoughts on the Christmas Day testicle roast that now has America again looking at airport security, with Republicans already using the issue to attack our country’s president.
Back in the day before such calm leadership graced the White House this would be an opportunity to exploit the fears of the American people….Mouth breathing Obama bashing Palin sycophants only understand monosyllabic grunts that talk about Muslims, terr-rists, and war. They don’t even recognize competent leadership when they see it.
I’m actually quite happy that Republicans came out the gate bashing Obama, even interrupting their Christmas Day to do so. Because average Americans – read “swing voters” – have known all along that if there was a lock on the cockpit doors on 9/11, the world would be a different place today.
I’ve done a lot of international travel, much of it through Schipol in Amsterdam, where the testicle roaster changed planes. And it has been obvious to me since well before 9/11 that the way to defeat security is precisely the way this fellow did it. Get on a plane in someplace (say…Nigeria) where it is easy to defeat security, perhaps bribe your way on, then change planes within the security envelope in, say, Amsterdam.
Hell, I’ve done it myself. I once had to bribe my way through passport control in Almaty, Kazakhstan – long story, but I was without the proper visa, in the middle of the night, the visa office was conveniently closed, which is a situation post-soviet passport control people love to have you in, the better to meet your good friend Ben Franklin by.
Once en route to your connecting city, no second security check – you’re already inside the castle walls. Just hit the McDonald’s in the airport, and wait for the plane to board. En route to the US, whenever I change planes in Amsterdam, or Frankfurt, or London, my guard is up a little higher, a bit more alert, knowing that whoever got to this flight from an originating city would be waltzing through carrying whatever they managed to get by security in their original flight from…say…Lagos.
Leadership matters. Republican leadership after 9/11 took our country and the world down a rabbit hole into hell, when it was plainly obvious from Minute One that the 19 hijackers merely walked through doors left open by our system’s gaping loop holes in security. We have spent years working on that security, seemingly chasing our own tails, and it looks like we need to do more work. But the solution is not some war, either in Yemen, or Nigeria, or anywhere else.
Just as the solution to 9/11 was not to invade Iraq. It was to destroy Al Qaeda, wherever they were, and PUT A FUCKING LOCK ON THE COCKPIT DOOR FOR GOD’S SAKE. It is an outrage that incoming flights to the US from Amsterdam Schipol still do not subject connecting passengers to another thorough security check. Whether or not that would have stopped testicle roaster dude, who knows. But that’s where the hole is.
Thank God we have mature leadership in the White House that can bring resources to bear on the problem, instead of using the opportunity to deploy resources in service to some absurd ideology.
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Juan Cole tells us Bush has a great deal to do with Russia even thinking it could pull this off without retribution:
The run-up to the current chaos in the Caucasus should look quite familiar: Russia acted unilaterally rather than going through the U.N. Security Council. It used massive force against a small, weak adversary. It called for regime change in a country that had defied Moscow. It championed a separatist movement as a way of asserting dominance in a region it coveted.
Indeed, despite George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s howls of outrage at Russian aggression in Georgia and the disputed province of South Ossetia, the Bush administration set a deep precedent for Moscow’s actions — with its own systematic assault on international law over the past seven years. Now, the administration’s condemnations of Russia ring hollow.
Gee. Now where have I heard this before?
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PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama has expanded his lead over John McCain in the Tuesday through Thursday Gallup Poll Daily tracking rolling average, and now has a 47% to 41% advantage over his Republican challenger.
I’m admittedly not a big poll watcher at this stage in elections. I find them utterly useless, actually. I do like to watch for bumps and try to relate that to narratives or events of a given week, though. Obviously Obama’s overseas trip comes to mind here. Hard to say this is a bump from that – we’ll have to wait until next week to really see – but it is interesting still that McCain’s lack of a clear message and failure to grasp the media’s attention has at least put Gallup back where it was in June when Obama had a 7 point advantage.
I do find this interesting, though, and it’s precisely where I think we’re headed (and where the real value of this trip can be found):
It’s even possible that Obama’s trip, while not having an immediate effect on tracking numbers, could lay the mental groundwork in the minds of voters to the point where they are more open to an Obama presidency at some point in the future (such as the Democratic convention). In particular, this might occur if his trip removes doubts voters might have about his ability to handle international affairs.
That’s exactly it. People will begin to ask themselves about international affairs at some point when they are convinced he is the best choice domestically (and they will…it is, afterall, the economy stupid). They ask themselves if he is capable of handling international affairs and they look back (or be reminded) that he indeed can. That’s the real value in this trip is taking out the unknown so that the GOP can’t use it against him. He’s a known entity in the world and has now demonstrated to us here at home that he can get things done globally as well as nationally.
It will be fun to watch the coalescence.
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What a fucking laughingstock. How McCain garners any foreign policy cred is well beyond me:
KABUL, Afghanistan – Militants killed more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in June than in Iraq for the second straight month, a grim milestone capping a run of headline-grabbing insurgent attacks that analysts say underscore the Taliban’s growing strength.
Nice work fellas. Keep up the good work. Maybe send Browny over!
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It took 700 pages? Really??
File this under Duh!
DENVER (AP) — A nearly 700-page study released Sunday by the Army found that “in the euphoria of early 2003,” U.S.-based commanders prematurely believed their goals in Iraq had been reached and did not send enough troops to handle the occupation.
President George W. Bush’s statement on May 1, 2003, that major combat operations were over reinforced that view, the study said.
If you fancy the full 700 pages, go for it: http://tinyurl.com/56dyob
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…and thus begins the slow walk back to sanity. Apparently cowboy diplomacy doesn’t work afterall. The shoot ‘em up style of the Bush administration (along with many wingnut bloggers who hail such jingoistic antagonism as policy) took a blow today:
Tonight, The Washington Note confirmed that the Bush administration will “ask Congress” to de-list North Korea from America’s “terrorist watch list.” This request will be made on Thursday — if there are no last minute, unexpected interventions.
Chalk one up for reason. Did we say Axis of Evil? Psych!
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Watching the McCain speech in the Atlanta airport. It got interrupted 4 times with war protestors. This guy is gonna get so hounded and tied to Bush it will be tough for him to get his message out otherwise.
Great work. Hilarious.
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The Guardian’s Michael Tomasky on Bush’s Knesset speech and the outcome leaving Obama up 1-0 in foreign policy clashes with John McCain:
Republicans used to beat Democrats on foreign policy every time. But now Obama is changing the nature of the fight
Changing the nature of the fight by doing what? FIGHTING! It used to be the GOP would smear a Dem. and they’d go all apoplectic about how awful it was and get on their heels. I’ve heard the Obama team refer to Kerry many times and how they won’t make those same mistakes. The kind of mistakes that involved taking too long to respond and then only using defensive measures.
Barack uses offense along with defense because it takes both. It’s not enough to cry about an unfair hit. It requires you hit back and, if possible, hit in a way that weakens the perceived strength your opponent is attempting to bolster. Obama highlighting the handling of the war in Iraq is a perfect way to do this. Bush and McCain don’t have a leg to stand on here. The Iraq War has been an abject failure in foreign policy. Bush is learning the real meaning of “bring it on”. McCain should re-think this whole Bush as proxy foreign policy strategy. It’s a loser.
Game. Set. Match.
Next…
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So says UN investigator, the BBC reports:
Professor Falk said he drew the comparison between the treatment of Palestinians with the Nazi record of collective atrocity, because of what he described as the massive Israeli punishment directed at the entire population of Gaza.
He said he understood that it was a provocative thing to say, but at the time, last summer, he had wanted to shake the American public from its torpor.
“If this kind of situation had existed for instance in the manner in which China was dealing with Tibet or the Sudanese government was dealing with Darfur, I think there would be no reluctance to make that comparison,†he said.
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