Thursday, June 14, 2012

Going after Obama's Kill List leakers makes case for WikiLeaks

Finally, Jon Stewart has something to say about the emperor's President's Kill List

Now, before you click play and laugh away, here is more for you about those darned drones; let us see if you will laugh now!

Senator Rand Paul is introducing a bill to protect us--yes, you and me living in America--from those darned drones:
Like other tools used to collect information in law enforcement, in order to use drones a warrant needs to be issued. Americans going about their everyday lives should not be treated like criminals or terrorists and have their rights infringed upon by military tactics
WTF, right?  We have reached a situation where the Constitution and the Bill of Rights apparently aren't enough, and we need additional legislation to protect us and our rights from our own government. 

Meanwhile, Obama's don't-take-prisoners-to-Guantanamo-but-kill-them approach via drones is, as one can easily predict, triggering (yes, awful pun!) the growth of anti-American sentiments in those countries where drones are extensively used:
The New York Times has an extraordinary Op-Ed this morning by Ibrahim Mothana, a 23-year-old democracy activist and Al Qaeda opponent in Yemen. The headline is “How Drones Help Al Qaeda,” and it explains in compelling detail how the principal U.S. tactic ostensibly devoted to fighting Al Qaeda in his country — repeated drone attacks — is having exactly the opposite effect.
At the end of his post, Greenwald also refers to the Jon Stewart clip on the Kill List.  But, wait, there is more for you.  As Stewart point out, those pompous Congressional folks are upset--not at the fact that the President has his finger on a Kill List, but about the fact this was leaked.  How dare they leak it!

You see why the likes of Julian Assange are important for democracy?  If in a supposedly democratic US there can be so much of a secrecy about government programs, and when there is bipartisanship against leaks, one can imagine how incredibly opaque things might be in many other countries around the world. 

Speaking of Assange, he lost his legal battle against extradition. 

Ok, here is the Daily Show segment; watch and weep!

No comments: