Obama’s Cheney Dilemma

Obama will close Gitmo . End Wiretaps of terrorists and appoint a very inexperienced Leon Panetta to head CIA. Did he consult Osama BinLaden?

There's no proof that any of bush's policies have stopped a major terrorist attack, in fact history shows that years can pass by between attacks and especially on American soil. And what's with this liberal thing, every time the conservatives are in office spending and waste go though the roof, banking systems collapse ( S&L bailout and the crises now). I think what conservatives are really saying is we don't like liberals because they care and give something back to the people.
Why don't you look up the definitions and synonyms of liberal and conservative and you tell me honestly, who are the better people. Remember that every country or regime we have problems with or don't like, we label conservative.

Let's set the record straight. 9/11 took place during Bush's watch. For a whole month or more, he had ample warning that a terrorist attack, one using airplanes was imminent, but he did nothing. (Review Michael Moere's Fahrenheit 911) Was Bush in favor of an attack of some kind to justify a war with Iraq?
In addition, Cheney and Bush insisted in going to war with Iraq - even though al Qaeda was not present in Iraq in 2003.; They appeared after we invaded. Now we are fighting a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. And, contrary to what the neo-cons promised, the road map to peace in the Middle East did not begin in Baghdad. Apparently the Iraqis who we sought as allies seem to be backing the Palestinians. Do we feel any safer now?
while I agree, Obama should detain dangerous terrorists, But the Cheney-Bush approach involved arresting and torturing people who had nothing to do with terrorism. Their abrogation of FISA safeguards was also a waste of tax payers time and money. We were so busy chasing down false leads that real terrorists were free to do what they pleased. I do not favor coddling terrorists, BUT torture is a very ineffective way to get information and we are gaining nothing by arresting and detaining innocent people.

I won't feel good about 3,000 more deaths . . . I'll feel good knowing that the idiotic and self-destructive policies you seek to implement will be exposed as the suicidal wishes they are.

Cheers.

I hold no brief for using violence to resolve problems, but I wonder how many of us have wondered if Al Queda and all the others who have such hatred against us might truly believe they have a legitimate complaint against us? While that would not, in my mind, justify any of the damage that they have done in the name of any "Just Cause" they might claim, nevertheless, it might alter our perspective on how we could best respond to them. I understand why some people believe that just because someone punches me in the nose, it's OK to punch back, but when you consider all of the reasons why someone might decide it's OK to punch me in the nose, for a sizable number of those occasions it would not only not help to yield to the impulse to retaliate, but another response might ultimately benefit me far more. I wonder what it would cost us to really listen to those who would do us harm?

There are alot of "What If's" in this article. Too many. What if the Bush Administration wrote this article?

I know this is off topic, but I received this e-mail from several friends and figured I'd spread it as far as I coud as fast as I could. Criticize if you want, but in my and millions of other American's opinions, lives literally hang in the balance.

If you are apposed to abortion then there is bad news on the
horizon. For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act
(FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of
2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If made
a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result
in the following:

1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be
required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow
to close down all Catholic hospitals,?? more then 30% of all hospitals in
the United States .

2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no
limitations.

3)? All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.

4) Parental notification will no longer be required.

5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of
100,000 annually.

Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control
in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that
would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape,
down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children
women are allowed to have.

Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly
true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless
killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this
horrific act before it becomes a law.

The Plan :

To say a novena ( 9 days of prayer ) along with fasting
starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the
rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA. For non Catholics I encourage
you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for
nine consecutive days. The hope is that this will branch and blossom as
to bec ome a global effort with maximum impact. We have very little time
so we all must act fast. Just do three things:
1) Pass this letter to 5 or more people
2) Do it as soon as possible
3) Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine
consecutive days.

(please also fast for at least two days during the novena)

May God bless you all!!

The whole argument that we don't have to abide by treaties and conventions of war "becaues they don't" is just so wrong and backwards it almost makes me laugh. We signed treaties, which Congress retified as US law. Wether or not the enemy folows them is irrelevant. We, the US, are powerful and different because of the rule of law. Because we have honor. The trollish desire to see this country's honor and belief in the rule-of-law torn down to the ground because you're scared is so pathetic. The fact that people like this really believe we should abandon the law means they have no patriotism or honor. People like this need to live in caves, like Bin Laden because they share his mindless desire to destroy what we hold dear, our freedom.

I think Cheney needs to be tortured so he can scream his battery operated heart out,then maybe just maybe he would know
what a torture feels like it.

We can't be rid of Cheney's influence fast enough, but his taint is permanent. I've never heard of a President relinquishing executive powers, so hopefully Obama doesn't abuse his recently-expanded powers.

It's interesting to see how so many liberals who post on this board feign outrage at Bush administration policies. As the article points out, Obama, who is now receiving intelligence briefings, has suddenly received a baptism-by-fire of sorts and (hopefully) realizes that lofty rhetoric about protecting the constitutional rights of murderers is not in his, or his country???s, best interest. The naiveté of his ???educated??? supporters, who are seemingly so interested in assisting Jihadists slit the throat of as many innocents as possible, is astounding . . . one can only hope Obama understands this.

I have a feeling I???ll eventually get a chance to say ???See, I told you so??? when more than 3,000 people are murdered in the next attack that comes as a result of well-intentioned, but horribly misguided policies. When that happens, I???ll almost feel good about being right all along.

Good article, by the way.

If you can answer yes to the question; Would i torture a person to save your childs life?, then you shouldn't criticize torturing someone to save another's life. I do agree that it invites more torture, but in dire circumstances, i would use it.

This article is so full of crap, I can't believe the editors allowed it to go to print! To argue that we have been kept 'safe' since 9/11, ignores more than 4,000 American lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. This article also seems to conclude that the reality of torture and its effectiveness is unclear, but that has been disproved by numerous neutral studies of the subject, it is not the rantings of leftest that torture does not work, it just doesn't work. To call warterboarding anything but torture is the ignore past legal precedent in our country when we have prosecuted Japanese officers for war crimes when they tortured American P.O.W.s by WATERBOARDING them. Quit being apologists for the Bush Administration and Cheney, and report the facts! Leave your commentary to the opinion pages, not contained in what is supposed to be a news article.