President Barack Obama has broken a presidential campaign promise with his decision to revive military tribunals for some Guantanamo Bay detainees, which were so unpopular during George W. Bush’s reign in office.
Throughout the presidential race the president had pledged to end the controversial trials of “unlawful enemy combatants,” drawing the ire of many non-governmental organizations.
“By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, added, “It’s disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment. There is no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn’t be tried in the regular federal courts system. This is perpetuating the Bush administration’s misguided detention policy.”
President Obama’s about-face is his biggest promise of his campaign thus far, although as a political cynic I’m sure it won’t be the last. He’s part of the Establishment now.
It appears as if the Obama administration, embroiled in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, has decided to defy the almighty energy industry and once powerful auto industry by proposing the construction of a “world-class rail network” in the United States.
“To make this happen, we’ve already dedicated $8 billion of Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to this initiative, and I’ve requested another $5 billion over the next five years. The Department of Transportation expects to begin awarding funds to ready projects before the end of this summer, well ahead of schedule. And like all funding decisions under the Recovery Act, money will be distributed based on merit — not on politics, not as favors, not for any other consideration; purely on merit,” said the president.
Not only would this proposal lead to greater energy independence which in turn would lead to strengthened national security and improved emissions output, but it might actually put the world’s richest country in the same league, when it comes to transportation and infrastructure, as Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, France and even the United Kingdom. Hell, it might also create a couple of jobs here and there as well.
Hopefully, this idea won’t be scuttled by the usual unholy alliance of K Street assholes and their Congressional retainers in the Capitol, but you never know in this country. It already amazes me that it has taken this long, politically speaking, to consider the construction of a bullet train on the American continent, a proposal which has been long overdue in my opinion.
It finally appears that the American government cannot continue to heavily subsidize the military industrial complex and that for once in the post-WWII period; a presidential administration is actually attempting to cut wasteful weapons programs, instead of financing them. Surprisingly enough, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is the one leading the charge.
‘Major overhaul plans laid out by the Obama administration’s Pentagon chief would slash several giant weapons programs — and thousands of civilian jobs that go with them. With recession unemployment rising, Congress may balk at many of the cuts in Gates’ proposed $534 billion budget for the coming year.’
Unlike retaining vital employees in the financial sector to prevent a complete meltdown of the global economy, or even funding the creation of a ‘green’ domestic auto industry, keeping the jobs of employees at companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman contribute nothing positive to the future development of the American economy.
Why not employ these individuals to build much-needed infrastructure in their home states rather than give their employers excessive contracts to build weapons of mass destruction that will almost never be used by this country, but perhaps by one of its’ more odious client states? Donald Rumsfeld’s vision of high-tech warfare has failed to produce victories for the United States in any theater of war to date, and has only expanded the deficit to be paid off by future generations.
While I hope that Congress doesn’t take the predictable course of preventing any overdue change by defending ‘their constituents’ jobs’ in this industry, in reality, they are the recipients of the military industrial complex’s largesse in the form of campaign donations and they will put up a fight to protect their golden goose from the Obama Administration no matter how necessary it may be.
Right-wing nut Rush Limbaugh want to see President Barack Obama fail. Ironically, he feels the President most fail in the face of a global recession for America to be saved – ugh that’s hard to understand.
Here’s a side note, the average age of Limbaugh’s listener are 67 years old – it’s time to lay up grandpa.
