dagblog - Comments for "Why isn't Julian Assange in Guantanamo? Where are the drones? "

Watch this

David Seaton — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:01:06 +0000

In reply to Why isn't Julian Assange in Guantanamo? Where are the drones?

Watch this

Oh, you say, we aren't at

moat — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:11:05 +0000

In reply to I get the feeling that many

Oh, you say, we aren't at war. Then of course the question would be, why are we killing so many people and imprisoning others as prisoners of war without trial?

Since I said that we weren't at war, I feel I should try to make a less cryptic comment than my statement upstream. The question you ask about why so many people are being killed and imprisoned without trial is the right one to ask. I didn't mean to make light of that fact or the reality of putting our military in harm's way. The "extra legal" nature of the operations is not merely the result of combat happening. It was a decision to exclude the development of laws and actions that abridge certain groups' rights based upon a violation of "our" rights. A state of emergency was declared that any such efforts would be an existential threat to the nation.

The virtual adoption of the Guantanamo detainees comes from separating them from any other process. The "fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here" modality has brought "them" inside our polity. Not because of a declaration of war but because of the absence of one. Assange should not be considered a similar sort of combatant because he hasn't been separated from all other process of laws.

So I agree with your assertion that the leaks should not be taken lightly since they undermine what real people are trying to do in real time. But I don't agree that the many laws concerning those sorts of acts should be thrown out the window.

Dave says: "Taking these two

we are stardust — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:57:57 +0000

In reply to I get the feeling that many

Dave says: "Taking these two assumptions as true: that one, America's government has the democratic legitimacy to define and defend the interests of the American people, and two, Julian Assange is aiding the enemies of the United State in time of war, then the following question arises."

We're at war with a conceptual enemy, a convenient, far-encompassing Chimera of an 'enemy'. What were we going to do to sustain such a huge MICC after even the diplomats and the CIA couldn't pretend the Soviets were still a threat to our national security?

Maybe if the government weren't so cynically hiding things from us we might consider it really was defending our interests. That ship has pretty much sailed, Dave, and the voyage may have started post-World War II from those who keep track of history.

But you want to drone-kill Assange? But speak of the US imprisoning people without trial? Incoherent, Dave, IMO.

p.s. On this part: "I'm coming to the conclusion that America is suffering from dementia praecox, senility... national Alzheimer's." -- I can agree that we are suffering collective cognitive and spiritual disorders, but I don't think you're helping unwind them, Dave. And I confess I feel a little badly about it, even though snarking is sorta fun.

If readers have missed the

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:47:24 +0000

In reply to I get the feeling that many

If readers have missed the point of your post, I humbly suggest that it means you've failed to communicate it.

Perhaps they missed it because of all the lurid explosions popping off in the rest of the article.

I get the feeling that many

David Seaton — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:36:41 +0000

In reply to Why isn't Julian Assange in Guantanamo? Where are the drones?

I get the feeling that many readers and commentators haven't understood what I am saying. For me a key phrase in my post is this one:

It is hard not to come to the conclusion that the United States of America has finally gathered to itself, under one flag, all the venal, violent defects of a militaristic empire and combined them with all the potential feebleness of a democracy and the results of this mixture are being splashed all over the world's newspapers.

What I mean is that if we, a democracy were really at war, someone like the private first class that leaked the information would simply be court marshaled and then put up against a wall and shot and his superior's careers would be ruined and no matter if Julian Assange "had not broken any laws", he would never be able to sleep two nights in a row in the same bed for the rest of his very short life.

Oh, you say, we aren't at war. Then of course the question would be, why are we killing so many people and imprisoning others as prisoners of war without trial?

All of this reminds me of when after, 9-11 Bush said that Americans should fight terrorism by going shopping... surreal, sinister.

I'm coming to the conclusion that America is suffering from dementia praecox, senility... national Alzheimer's.

Got it now, dudes and

we are stardust — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:28:31 +0000

In reply to Why isn't Julian Assange in Guantanamo? Where are the drones?

Got it now, dudes and dudettes:

Now I hafta say I like that

we are stardust — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:13:15 +0000

In reply to Not to mention people who use

Now I hafta say I like that little old U in 'colour'; but then I like the A in 'acadaemia', too; not to mention 'grey', not 'gray'. Go figger...

Eurth.

quinn esq — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:51:59 +0000

In reply to Not to mention people who use

Eurth.

Not to mention people who use

Atheist — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:41:35 +0000

In reply to Ya fergot Parsnips. And we

Not to mention people who use the letter "u" when spelling color. That's a clear sign of other-ness that should be wiped from the face of the Earth.

Ya fergot Parsnips. And we

we are stardust — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:27:13 +0000

In reply to And at war

Ya fergot Parsnips. And we should be at war with people who say "Eye-rack".