Category: 9/11 and Aftermath

Gitmo Releases in Offing

Of all the questionable post-9/11 acts perpetrated by the Bush Administration [which I generally support but can specifically criticize], the curious detention of folks at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was the one that always had me feeling uneasy. The detainees were treated as, essentially, stateless persons, given little in the way of civil rights. I have no doubt that they were treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention in general, but I was frustrated that they weren’t just classified as POW’s and treated as such.

The good news is that 100 or so detainees will soon be released.

CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk called the news of the upcoming releases “a clear indication that the White House is under pressure from allies as well as from the Supreme Court to set standards for the holding of suspects in the war on terror.” Rightly so.

More Than Just Vaguely Disturbing

Okay, I’d like to know whose bright idea detaining Jose Padilla [sorry, I ain’t usin’ his Islamic name … I wanna irritate him] indefinitely without charging him. Something about “writ of habeas corpus” just keeps jumping to mind.

Yes, this is a bit different, but this guy is an American citizen nabbed in an American airport. Give the creep his civil rights and nail his balls to the wall.

Just Exhibit #986281 as to why John Ashcroft needs to be removed from office yesterday.

Harumph.

Well, I realized that I woke up this morning much as I did six months ago … awake early with a headache, then back to sleep for a bit, waking up around 7:30 and hauling off to the shower around 7:45.

I couldn’t bring myself to turn the TV off. I feared another disaster should I have done so. I’m not very superstitious, but about some things …

But there are happier things to talk about. Lunch, for example: with Amy and Jeff, Rick and Jess, and Kat and Sean. Happy lunch over Schlotzsky’s. Funny discussions. Sean causing trouble. You know, life. I looked around the room, all of us entrenched in our own little ruts: Amy with her dad; Jeff with his work; Sean with his possible job change; Kat with classes; Rick and I with graduation, and Rick with moving; Jess with planning for a wedding a year hence. All of us with our own worries and frustrations, mostly setting them aside for a brief respite over lunch.

Try and convince me that introversion is a good thing. I dare you.

Parallels

Well, Rummy sez our boys are in there now. Hell, we have to be sure that we’ve had liaisons on the ground for some time.

Nam started out the same way: liaisons, bombing. Though Powell has his Doctrine, I’m not sure what it is here. To solve the problem of terrorists using Afghanistan as a home for training, a secular government that respects all groups in the country must be installed. We have to ask ourselves: are we in the business of nation-building? To be honest, I think we have to be.

If you wish to discuss this, head over to Perp.net. [I’ll be honest: I meant to post this there, and I messed up and put it here. 🙂 But I decided that, rather than closing it, I could leave it as cross-promotion.]

A Matter of Life (and Death)

I was reading Aaron’s latest journal entry, and I felt led to respond…

I was discussing this with a friend the other day. Life and Death are always in opposition. Starting last Tuesday, Death started to be the dominant force in the world: Death reigned in NYC and DC, and the calls for more Death rang throughout the world.

I guess that it’s right in some ways that Death should be met with Death, but ultimately, Death won’t kill Death. Death kills Life. Life can conquer Death, and Life is what we should celebrate. We can celebrate Life in our churches, in our weddings, in our births, and even in our funerals. To well and truly combat Death, we must fight on the side of Life.

Go outside. Go to a mountain. Take a guitar [if you play]. Listen. Look. Play. Breathe.

Live.

Life will conquer Death. It always does–there is more Life on this planet than ever before, and unless we let Death win, Life will continue to increase.

John 4:1-26 seems appropriate.