202-224-3121. ‘The Congress We’ve Got…’

From Carolyn Eisenberg of United for Peace and Justice:

If everything goes according to plan the House and Senate will vote today or tomorrow to give President Bush the funding that he has requested for Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill contains no time-tables for withdrawal and no binding conditions. Though obscured by empty rhetoric over “bench-marks,” the Democratic leadership is caving into the White House. However, across this country antiwar advocates are raising their voices and telling their Representatives and Senators this is unacceptable and the only principled vote is a “NO” vote.

This invaluable web-site is filled with tragic news every morning. Before imbibing today’s potion of sorrow, hopefully all readers will call the Congressional switchboard 202-224-3121 and express their outrage over the contents of the 2007 Supplemental. And then call five friends and ask them to do the same.

There are only two ways, this war will end. The President will change his mind or the Congress will use its “power of the purse” to compel the withdrawal of troops. If Congress fails to act, there is little reason to hope that a Democratic President will exhibit any greater boldness in 2009. And of course many more Americans and Iraqis will have died in the interim.

To resurrect the wisdom of our former Secretary of Defense: we must end the war with “the Congress we’ve got.” But these officials will never act if the millions of Americans who deplore this catastrophic war don’t send a strong message. This morning. 202-224-3121.

Carolyn Eisenberg is a professor of U.S. foreign policy at Hofstra University and Co-Chair, Legislative Working Group, United for Peace and Justice.

Fmr. Chief of CIA Osama Unit: Why They Attack Us

The following is a letter from Michael F. Scheuer, former Chief of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden Unit, to the editor of Antiwar.com, regarding Congressman Ron Paul’s exchange with Rudy Giuliani about why the al Qaeda network has targeted the United States.

Sir,

In the dozen-plus years I have been active in matters relating to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, I have watched them go from a small Islamist organization to a worldwide insurgent movement, while bin Laden has established himself as the primary source of inspiration and leadership for tens of millions of Muslim Islamists. This process has been made possible by two things: (a) the skill, courage, patience, and ruthlessness of bin Laden and his ilk, and (b) the refusal of the U.S. government to understand the motivation of bin Laden and his allies.

Last week, Representative Paul did all Americans an immense service by simply pointing out the obvious: Our Islamist enemies do not give a damn about the way we vote, think, or live. Though any country they ruled would surely not look like ours, they are motivated by the belief that U.S. foreign policy is an attack on Islam, its lands, and its believers. This, of course, is not to say that America is to blame for the war it is now engaged in, but it is to say that it is foolish – and perhaps fatal – for Americans to believe that are we are being attacked for such ephemera as primary elections, R-rated movies, and gender equality. If our Islamist enemies were motivated by such things their numbers would be minuscule and they would be a sporadic lethal nuisance, not, as they are, the most serious national security threat we face today.

Of the eighteen presidential candidates now in the field from both parties, only Dr. Paul has had the courage to square with the average American voter. We are indeed hated and being warred against because we are “over there,” and not for what we are and how we live. Our failure to recognize the truth spoken by Dr. Paul – and spelled out for us in hundreds of pages of statements by Osama bin Laden since 1996 – is leading America toward military and economic disaster.

At day’s end, Dr. Paul has at least temporarily shaken the pillars of the bipartisan consensus on U.S. foreign policy. Neither party, and none of the candidates, want to discuss the Islamists’ motivation because they would have to deal with energy policy, support for Israel, and the 50-year record of U.S. support and protection for Arab tyrannies. These holy cows of U.S. politics have long been off limits to debate, but Dr. Paul has now accurately identified them as the source of motivation for our Islamist enemies, and implicitly has said that the obsessive interventionism of both parties has inspired al-Qaeda and its allies to kill 7,000-plus U.S. civilians and military personnel since 11 September 2001. The war we are engaged in with the Islamists is a long way from over, but it need end in America’s defeat only if Dr. Paul’s frank statements are ignored.

And no matter how you view Dr. Paul’s words, you can safely take one thing to the bank. The person most shaken by Dr. Paul’s frankness was Osama bin Laden, who knows that the current status quo in U.S. foreign policy toward the Islamic world is al-Qaeda’s one indispensable ally, and the only glue that provides cohesion between and among the diverse and often fractious Islamist groups that follow its banner.

Respectfully,
Michael F. Scheuer
Falls Church, VA

Scott Horton

Presidency Unbound, The Unitary Executive in Practice

International human rights attorney and author of the blog No Comment at Harpers.org, The Other Scott Horton (no relation), discusses the revolution within the form of American government that has occurred in the last six years in the name of the all powerful “Unitary Executive”: Kidnapping, torture, massive domestic wiretapping, the replacement of U.S. attorneys who don’t do a good enough job prosecuting Democrats, and why Goerge Washington’s system was better.

MP3 here. (40:31)

Scott Horton is a contributor to Harper’s magazine and writes the blog No Comment.

A New York attorney known for his work in emerging markets and international law, especially human rights law and the law of armed conflict, Horton lectures at Columbia Law School. A life-long human rights advocate, Scott served as counsel to Andrei Sakharov and Elena Bonner, among other activists in the former Soviet Union. He is a co-founder of the American University in Central Asia, and has been involved in some of the most significant foreign investment projects in the Central Eurasian region. Scott recently led a number of studies of abuse issues associated with the conduct of the war on terror for the New York City Bar Association, where he has chaired several committees, including, most recently, the Committee on International Law. He is also a member of the board of the National Institute of Military Justice, the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, the EurasiaGroup and the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Neocon Slams War on Drugs

In Iran.

Surely you didn’t think Michael Ledeen would rile up his yahoo readers by dissing America the virtuous, did you? Naw, Michael’s been wavin’ the Stars & Stripes, drinkin’ Gallo, and dancin’ to John Philip Sousa over there in Italy. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with the US of A, no-siree. Now let’s go liberate them long-sufferin’ Iranian dope fiends!