4. Has the war in Iraq helped or hurt in the fight against terrorism?

It broke the back of our counterterrorism program.

I don't think it gets more succinct than that, and Scheuer knows his business.

Six Questions for Michael Scheuer on National Security (Harpers.org)

What terrorism?

Despite all the ominous warnings of wily terrorists and imminent attacks, there has been neither a successful strike nor a close call in the United States since 9/11. The reasonable -- but rarely heard -- explanation is that there are no terrorists within the United States, and few have the means or the inclination to strike from abroad.

It is worth remembering that the total number of people killed since 9/11 by al Qaeda or al Qaeda­like operatives outside of Afghanistan and Iraq is not much higher than the number who drown in bathtubs in the United States in a single year.

Although it remains heretical to say so, the evidence so far suggests that fears of the omnipotent terrorist may have been overblown, the threat presented within the United States by al Qaeda greatly exaggerated. The massive and expensive homeland security apparatus erected since 9/11 may be persecuting some, spying on many, inconveniencing most, and taxing all to defend the United States against an enemy that scarcely exists.

Get over it.

Is There Still a Terrorist Threat? | Foreign Affairs

I waited in total silence for about 10 minutes as he kept searching and searching, until I finally asked him, "What are you looking for?"

"Contraband," he said without looking up at me.
"Such as?"
"Child pornography, hate propaganda."
"Child porn I can understand, that's illegal. But hate propaganda is protected speech."
Now he looked up. "What country do you think you're in?"
"Oh, it's illegal in Canada?"
"I honestly don't know. But that doesn't matter. I get to decide what goes in this country. Do you have a problem with that?"
I paused for a long time while I thought about what I should say to this. "Yes."
"Yes, you do have a problem?"
"Yes, I do. If it's illegal in Canada I'll understand, but saying 'I don't want it in my country' isn't good enough when you're a government official."

A) this is a guy who shouldn't be in law enforcement, and B) the story is hilarious.

WoW.com Forums - I played WoW, I became a terrorist (story!)

The men and three relatives had been in Pakistan for more than four years and tried to return to the United States on April 21 as a federal jury in Sacramento deliberated Hayat's fate. But they were pulled aside during a layover in Hong Kong and told there was a problem with their passports, said Julia Harumi Mass, their attorney.

The father and son were forced to pay for a flight back to Islamabad because they were on the government's "no-fly" list, Mass said. Muhammad Ismail's wife, teenage daughter and younger son, who were not on the list, continued on to the United States.

These guys should either be charged or allowed to come home. Hey! I know! Let's reopen the concentration camps we stuck the japs in in WWII! We've got a test version already operating down in Gitmo, we should have a pretty good idea of how to do it by now.

2 Lodi residents refused entry back into U.S.

At the meeting, Mr. Bensman, a coordinator with Heartwood, an environmental organization, suggested the corps simply destroy the dam. It was an idea the corps itself had considered. In fact, a photograph of an exploding dam was included in the corps’ PowerPoint presentation, explosive demolition being by far the most common method of dam removal.

Mr. Bensman said he had long criticized the system of locks and dams as environmentally damaging and an unfair government subsidy benefiting boat traffic over railroads. “I’ve been fighting these things for decades,” he said.

But news accounts of the hearing did not put it quite like that. One newspaper said simply that he “would like to see the dam blown up.”

On July 31, he said, he got a telephone call from someone who identified himself as Matt Federhofer, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There is such a person at the agency’s office in Fairview Heights, Ill., a St. Louis suburb, but he did not respond to a voice mail message yesterday.

So let me see if I have this right. Guy goes to a meeting where they are talking about building a fish channel vs removing the dam, think removing the dam is a better idea than building the channel, and now has the FBI sticking a microscope up his ass. Yep, that's the "War on Terror" at work.

A Man, a Plan, a Dam. Then, an F.B.I. Call. - New York Times

A senior congressional source said it's believed the plotters planned to mix a "British version of Gatorade" with a gel-like substance to make an explosive that they would possibly trigger with an MP3 player or cell phone.

What's the "gel-like substance?" C4?

CNN.com - Plane plot involved energy drink, MP3 player,�official says� - Aug 10, 2006

"If we choose to try them, that's great. If we don't choose to try them, we can continue to hold them," he said.

Yet neither the Bush administration nor the US military wants "to remain the world's jailers indefinitely," he said.

I think he's hoping a hurricane comes through and drowns them all.

Guantanamo detainees may remain indefinitely: Gonzalez - Yahoo! News

Marine Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, 28, died Saturday in the province of Al Anbar, the Department of Defense said Tuesday. He was assigned to 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

A spokesman for Baucus confirmed that the serviceman, who lived in the Helena area, was the Montana Democrat's nephew.

Oh crap. I hate the war there, but I feel horrible for him. I don't and can't know what his reaction will be. All I can say is I didn't want this to happen to him and I don't want this to happen to anyone else.

Senator's Nephew Dies In Iraq, Phillip Baucus, Nephew Of Montana Senator, Killed In Combat - CBS News

A two-thirds majority vote is needed to convict on any charge; a three-quarters majority is needed to order a sentence of more than 10 years. All members present must vote to impose the death penalty, and it must be approved by the president. But those enemy combatants and "persons who have engaged in unlawful belligerence" can be detained until "the cessation of hostilities," notwithstanding any jail sentence they receive from the commissions.

Reread that last sentence. It means they can be locked up until hell freezes over because the "War on Terror" will never end.

On Prosecuting Detainees

In a lengthy sworn statement, he said he had witnessed a deliberate plot by his fellow soldiers to kill the three handcuffed Iraqis and a cover-up in which one soldier cut another to bolster their story. The squad leader threatened to kill anyone who talked. Later, one guilt-stricken soldier complained of nightmares and “couldn’t stop talking” about what happened, Sergeant Lemus said.

This is called premeditated mass murder. Terror has won the "war on terror." Are there any more questions?

Sergeant Tells of Plot to Kill Iraqi Detainees - New York Times