] The Economist magazine, hardly an anti-American
] newsweekly, called Rumsfeld's remarks "unworthy of a
] nation which has cherished the rule of law from its very
] birth."

The Christian Science Monitor rounds up several articles on the military tribunal's in Cuba. In short, the precedent of giving the president this type of open ended power is bad. This administration doesn't seem to like any kind of civilian review or consent process for anything..

News round up on Cuba detainees

In a forceful preview of the Bush administration's expansionist military policies in this election year, Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday painted a grim picture of what he said was the growing threat of a catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States and warned that the battle, like the Cold War, could last generations.

If a newspaper could have a soundtrack, you might expect to hear a bear growling on a windy, stormy night, with a wolf or two howling from the hills in the distance. Every few minutes, the rumble of an incoming mortar attack. And in between, the uncomortable silence of the things you can't hear.

Cheney's grim vision: decades of war

] What is clear is that al Qaeda is at a crossroads and --
] like the United States in the spring of 2002 -- it does
] not have really good choices, and therefore, must choose
] the best of a bad lot. Al Qaeda's original war plan is
] obsolete. The straight line it drew from Sept. 11 to the
] Caliphate has hit a wall. Bin Laden knows it. He doesn't
] have a good Plan B, but he will have to cook one up
] anyway. The war is not over, but for the moment, it is al
] Qaeda's turn to sweat out a solution to a difficult
] strategic problem. If they can't do that, then the war
] could very well be over, at least for this generation.

If anyone ever wants to do anything blindly nice for me, get me a Stratfor Premium subscription. However, this might take MemeStreams development to a crawl.. No.. Don't do that.

Al Q might be cooked...

] Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Wednesday protested the
] U.S. treatment of a Canadian citizen who was detained in
] New York and deported to Syria last year on suspicion of
] having links to terrorists.

I've only tuned into one or two of the articles about what happened to this guy.. Its pretty over the top. This isn't right. I want the full story here.

Chretien Protests Deportation of Canadian (washingtonpost.com)

] His research shows that not only are suicide terrorists
] significantly more educated than their peers, they are
] also significantly better off. According to Krueger,
] although one-third of Palestinians live in poverty, only
] 13 percent of Palestinian suicide bombers do; 57 percent
] of bombers have education beyond high school versus 15
] percent of the population of comparable age.
]
] The Defense Intelligence Agency also gave me profiles
] of all these people they were interrogating at Guantánamo
] Bay in Cuba. They divide them into Yemenis and Saudis.
] The Yemenis are sort of the foot soldiers. And they found
] that the Saudis, their leaders especially, are from
] high-status families. A surprising number have graduate
] degrees. And they are willing to give up everything. They
] give up well-paying jobs, they give up their families,
] whom they really adore, to sacrifice themselves because
] they really believe that it's the only way they're going
] to change the world.

These people are not stupid, nor poor, nor desperate. While there are reasons to focus on education and poverty in places like West Bank/Gaza, the idea that its going to prevent people from deciding to become suicide terrorists is apparently wrongheaded.

An interested oped on Religion in this article too...

Everything you know about terrorists is wrong.

] A software engineer from Oregon pleaded guilty Wednesday
] to aiding the Taleban and now faces the likelihood of
] seven to 10 years in jail.
]
] The Justice Department says Maher Hawash, a naturalized
] American citizen of Palestinian descent, pleaded guilty
] to a charge of conspiring to supply services to the
] Taleban following the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York
] and Washington.

Hawash was guilty

] Yet what was unthinkable 18 months ago has happened. The
] US has alienated those in the Islamic community who were
] its best hope. The challenge now is to limit the damage.

] Yet what was unthinkable 18 months ago has happened. The
] US has alienated those in the Islamic community who were
] its best hope. The challenge now is to limit the damage.

Osama must be laughing - theage.com.au

] While flipping through the channels last Saturday night
] trying to pick up news on the war, I came across a show
] that was teaching kids about the conflict. It looks like
] the show (or segment) is called Kodomo Nyusu (Kid's
] News). They were using toy props and cartoons to show a
] trio of very glum-looking kids what was happening in
] Iraq. It was too bizzare to pass up, so I grabbed my
] camera and started snapping photos.

Teaching Japanese Children about the Iraq War

] Support our Troops--but only those who Frag their
] commanding officer.

What the FUCK?!

Ok.. Being against the war is _NOT_, I repeat _NOT_ anti-American. Protesting the war, also, is _NOT_ anti-American. This on the otherhand, is over the line.. I cannot accept any argument that advocating fragging is supporting "peace".

Independent Media Center - Peace movement?

] Exchange spokesman Ray Pellechia denied the station's war
] coverage was the cause. Citing "security reasons," he
] said the exchange had chosen to limit the number of
] broadcasters working at the lower Manhattan exchange
] since the war began, giving access only to networks that
] focus "on responsible business coverage."

Backlash against Al-J for showing you what war is like.

Whats the message here?? Don't filter your news the way America wants, and America's economy will not be so open to you? I don't like this.. They should be allowed to cover the NYSE..

Yahoo! News - NYSE Revokes Credentials for Al-Jazeera