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Remember how FDR executed American Nazi sympathizers? (Original Post) MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 OP
We didn't, Sekhmets Daughter Feb 2013 #1
I updated to make my point clearer. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #3
But FDR DID Drop Bombs on them... OneAngryDemocrat Feb 2013 #234
This is most definitely about "Americans in America"! xtraxritical Feb 2013 #239
Post removed Post removed Feb 2013 #2
Yes! Perhaps if he had, we'd have won the war. Nt MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #5
And the Bush family would be extinct. LiberalFighter Feb 2013 #12
... leftstreet Feb 2013 #18
correct that vile branch of destruction would have been extinguished Vincardog Feb 2013 #27
DUzy! SunSeeker Feb 2013 #84
Yes, but to be fair, old Joe Kennedy shared their sympathies n/t markpkessinger Feb 2013 #211
Henry Ford too. n/t Cary Feb 2013 #227
Yeah, ain't it kind of funny malthaussen Feb 2013 #230
Hi Manny! tblue Feb 2013 #116
And hello to you too! MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #151
And you have 'liberal' in your username leftstreet Feb 2013 #8
Are you serious? You are against Habeus? grahamhgreen Feb 2013 #72
Yes! It would give Obama cover! MotherPetrie Feb 2013 #128
What about internment camps without trial? JaneyVee Feb 2013 #4
Ignore those. WWII was a good war. n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #7
At least it was a war, not an occupation leftstreet Feb 2013 #9
Bush invaded and occupied Iraq. Obama ended that. ProSense Feb 2013 #14
Wiki: List of Foreign Military Bases in the US leftstreet Feb 2013 #17
Yes the Germans have a base in the US, it is part of Holloman Air Force Base happyslug Feb 2013 #249
Mostly they allow for medical flights and coverage.... Historic NY Feb 2013 #40
the us is still in iraq. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #108
We still have American troops in Germany. tclambert Feb 2013 #61
and a defined theater and declared enemies. TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #144
My point is that war throughout history has always been oppressive and f**ked up. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #13
who are we at war with now? HiPointDem Feb 2013 #131
Al-Qaeda. Hopefully be over soon. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #162
fail. there is no such thing as 'war' with an organization. war is a conflict between states or HiPointDem Feb 2013 #167
That still does not rise to summary execution hootinholler Feb 2013 #59
People died in those camps. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #64
It's awful that people died in those camps MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #70
They were killed by Govt soldiers. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #81
no, actually, most of the people that died died from routine causes. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #140
But more innocent Americans were killed by Govt soldiers than innocent Americans by drone JaneyVee Feb 2013 #161
actually, three american citizens have been killed by drones. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #169
not of torture, typhus or starvation, however. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #79
No, they were killed by armed guards with guns. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #83
'several'. not enough to make the death rate higher than the death rate in the general population. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #135
That's 1 more than innocent Americans killed by drone. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #164
you don't know who was innocent, or even what those killed supposedly did. not to mention HiPointDem Feb 2013 #166
120,000 resident aliens and citizens of Japanese ancestry were interned. OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #236
you forgot the US territory of hawaii, with about 150,000 persons of japanese ancestry. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #240
The US territory of Hawaii OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #241
yes, if 1/3 of the population of hawaii had been interned, the economy would have been HiPointDem Feb 2013 #242
Yes, your point stands. OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #245
i don't disagree. as do the rationalizations of obama's assassination policy based on specious HiPointDem Feb 2013 #247
That's cool. OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #255
They were deprived of their freedom. backscatter712 Feb 2013 #193
about those Internment Camps: bvar22 Feb 2013 #238
The Japanese never had it easy. OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #243
The War against the Japanese was horribly racist in origin, promotion, propaganda, and execution. bvar22 Feb 2013 #256
it was. my stepfather participated in the rounding up of japanese for internmen. i was astonished HiPointDem Feb 2013 #266
The Japanese internment OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #268
interesting. so was the thesis in the past, or are you still writing it? what was the focus? HiPointDem Feb 2013 #269
Aside from a few revisions, it's finished. OnyxCollie Feb 2013 #274
sounds highly interesting. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #275
Answer: ProSense Feb 2013 #6
I'm not surprised you approve of internment camps. Yet they are not executions. rug Feb 2013 #34
I'm not surprised at that silly comment. n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #39
I'm not surprise at the attempted snark. rug Feb 2013 #41
The point was silly, but it's understandable you're sticking to it. n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #42
yours is silly. interning people is worse than executing them without trial? what? HiPointDem Feb 2013 #63
I think we're ProSense Feb 2013 #87
i think your defense of the president's supposed power to kill anyone, anywhere, secretly, HiPointDem Feb 2013 #127
Really? backscatter712 Feb 2013 #191
How can you defend the end of Habeus? Does not every person have the right to face their accuser? grahamhgreen Feb 2013 #74
Lalalalala Egalitarian Thug Feb 2013 #208
Attack of the Clones in 3....2...1 kenny blankenship Feb 2013 #10
You only missed it by 4 posts. bahrbearian Feb 2013 #15
How can you say conclusively that he didn't? great white snark Feb 2013 #11
Because we have George Bush as evidence. bahrbearian Feb 2013 #16
Great answer! Th1onein Feb 2013 #20
Here's how we did it XRubicon Feb 2013 #19
Um, yes? alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #21
They were active saboteurs, not just sympathizers nt MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #22
Oh, right...and you forgot...not American alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #26
It's always a problem when ProSense Feb 2013 #30
I wish FDR was more evil, then we wouldn't have to worry about the BFFE. bahrbearian Feb 2013 #46
IIRC, one was a US citizen MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #33
So you are OK with executing "active saboteurs" but not those working with Al Qaeda to attack us? stevenleser Feb 2013 #35
I'm not OK with executing Americans without judicial due process MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #38
I'm not OK with it either. And it DID happen under FDR cali Feb 2013 #43
I trust that FDR was working to do the right thing MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #45
Wait, ProSense Feb 2013 #55
Yes, I trust that FDR was doing his best to do the right thing MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #60
What about the lynchings? Also, ProSense Feb 2013 #159
First off, health care was a fraction of the cost it is today, MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #163
FDR, as representative of the state, interned wakasa. he didn't target him personally for HiPointDem Feb 2013 #195
I'll say whatever I please here, hi cali Feb 2013 #216
yet you keep telling others what to do. ps: i never said the internment didnt destroy lives -- HiPointDem Feb 2013 #246
FDR did target Yamamoto. Personally... - n/t. lapfog_1 Feb 2013 #228
The commander of the japanese military. during a declared war. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #244
And we should have declared war... but not on a country. lapfog_1 Feb 2013 #262
We are in agreement. And that is IMO what is happening. stevenleser Feb 2013 #58
The memo is clear that the targets do not need to be involved MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #65
I'm going to do a larger segment on this during my next show but to give a preview... stevenleser Feb 2013 #77
It should be sorted out in much less than decades jberryhill Feb 2013 #85
In a previous show, I called on the administration to come up with a post drone solution to the stevenleser Feb 2013 #112
Who were the two Americans who decided to be al Qaeda? MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #90
It's your OP. If you dont think anyone was killed we dont have much to talk about. nt stevenleser Feb 2013 #91
That's not what I said. Nt. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #93
I know, you want to play games instead of address the difficult questions. Its understandable. nt stevenleser Feb 2013 #98
No, you're putting words in my mouth nt MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #120
Case in point. nt stevenleser Feb 2013 #125
Anwar al-Aulaqi's son was 16 when killed by drone... druidity33 Feb 2013 #110
Yup, Griswolds safe. Muslims who speak out against US foreign policy? They might not feel so safe. Bonobo Feb 2013 #133
They are not only targeting people involved in active plots. limpyhobbler Feb 2013 #277
You have the wrong metaphor. Al-Awlaki was a Tokyo Rose-type propagandist, not a combatant leveymg Feb 2013 #82
That is one contention, the other is that he was involved in operational planning. stevenleser Feb 2013 #89
Wouldn't that be better established in open court? leveymg Feb 2013 #101
Sure, and as I said above, if they were in the capital of Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Jordan or any stevenleser Feb 2013 #105
We knew exactly where he was, and there's nobody aside from maybe the Russian President who we truly leveymg Feb 2013 #117
How is one an unobtainable fugitive with no US charges filed? TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #186
Hear, hear! malthaussen Feb 2013 #233
If they're out sniffing bat shit in a cave, who cares? Scootaloo Feb 2013 #205
I've explained why that matters multiple times now, I doubt that argument is new to you. nt stevenleser Feb 2013 #224
+1 nt MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #122
...and from my readings on this: none were in combat they were KoKo Feb 2013 #235
The CIA has stepped over a threshhold by executing US Citizens abroad who aren't armed and leveymg Feb 2013 #237
Attack of the history lesson. n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #28
except they got some kind of due process. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #66
EXACTLY! grahamhgreen Feb 2013 #69
Military tribunals alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #71
as prisoners of a declared war on a specific country. so usual wartime protocol, i think. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #75
Usual wartime protocol? alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #86
unanimous vote, however. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #178
But not normal wartime protocol...FDR invented the tribunal for this specific case on July 2, 1942 alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #182
i'm not trying to win an argument. you think obama killing anyone he wants is ok. i don't. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #183
Excuse me, sir alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #185
i wasn't attacking you at all. i was stating what i understood your position to be. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #187
You understood wrong alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #188
i don't care. your tone was uncalled for. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #190
You basically called the person a supporter of murder. That justifies a lot of tone. nt stevenleser Feb 2013 #231
Spies. That's a whole nother thing altogether. tblue Feb 2013 #121
Lord Hee-Haw exboyfil Feb 2013 #23
Here is audio archives of his war propaganda mucifer Feb 2013 #36
Did he get a trial? kenny blankenship Feb 2013 #49
Well, yes, but that messes up the point MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #54
No. Rex Feb 2013 #24
Talk to George Takei about how awesome they were to Japanese Americans catbyte Feb 2013 #25
did they kill them without trial? HiPointDem Feb 2013 #68
Mortaliy rates in camps very high. That's death without trial, esp. hard hit were catbyte Feb 2013 #76
What were the rates? MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #94
actually not. rates of morbidity and mortality were comparable to rates in the general HiPointDem Feb 2013 #100
Very interesting. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #129
I met a Japanese-American couple who had been interned in a camp Art_from_Ark Feb 2013 #199
and i knew a japanese college professor who'd been interned -- who didn't. yes, those facts HiPointDem Feb 2013 #202
My point was that *even if* morbidity and mortality were roughly equal Art_from_Ark Feb 2013 #204
i'm well aware of that. the area near where i grew up was once covered with japanese truck HiPointDem Feb 2013 #207
Plantation labor Art_from_Ark Feb 2013 #265
i found this about another camp in the same area, 'jerome'. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #270
I actually visited the Jerome site, back in 1998 I think Art_from_Ark Feb 2013 #271
And his response was to hate the US forever? jberryhill Feb 2013 #88
If he did DonCoquixote Feb 2013 #29
To the Excuse Crew bringing up Japanese internment... Marr Feb 2013 #31
I thought the same thing quinnox Feb 2013 #37
uh, grab a clue: The OP used FDR to indict Obama. It's historically inaccuarate cali Feb 2013 #44
It's been brought up as a defense. Marr Feb 2013 #48
I think it goes like this alcibiades_mystery Feb 2013 #51
So FDR executed Americans without habeas corpus or trial MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #53
Yes, ProSense Feb 2013 #57
No, he didn't MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #62
That clears it up rather well, thank you. I think we're done, now. cheapdate Feb 2013 #115
How is it revisionist? MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #50
Of course they are. There is nothing inexcusable as any excuse will do. Egalitarian Thug Feb 2013 #210
I confess to thinking Prescott might have been a good example. WinkyDink Feb 2013 #32
Lame. MineralMan Feb 2013 #47
Executing Americans JEB Feb 2013 #52
Internment camps wrong does not equal drones are ok. Kalidurga Feb 2013 #56
+1 lunasun Feb 2013 #170
Washington did the same thing in 1776! grahamhgreen Feb 2013 #67
It seems you're talking about Obama here, so perhaps you should define 'sympathizer' RZM Feb 2013 #73
Was al-Alwaki proven to be an al Qaeda member? MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #78
Is it proven that MannyGoldstein and ThirdwayManny are the same person? stevenleser Feb 2013 #80
That's why we have courts and due process MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #92
The Japanese soldier got due process? What if it had been an American of Japanese descent and the stevenleser Feb 2013 #95
Awkward deflect there Leser. Al-Awlaki never held a gun, as far as we know. Again, wrong metaphor leveymg Feb 2013 #97
Is it? You want me to tell you the mindset and daily activities of someone 10000 miles away? stevenleser Feb 2013 #102
You don't know who al-Awlaki was because that's classified. But, it's clear what his role was, leveymg Feb 2013 #113
Wikipedia disagrees with you. Apparently you are not as well informed as you think stevenleser Feb 2013 #124
Is Wiki the extent of your research? Why start with events in 2006? leveymg Feb 2013 #139
Here's a NYT story about the FBI taking an interest in him going back to 1999 and his 9/11 hijackers leveymg Feb 2013 #156
You didn't clarify what you mean by 'sympathizer' RZM Feb 2013 #104
Thank you! treestar Feb 2013 #217
I'm an FDR Dem, & possibly infused with Teddy Repub KakistocracyHater Feb 2013 #96
Both parties have become unhinged from the 99%, and unhinged from reality and evidence MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #136
And Third Party Manny finally makes an appearance...nt SidDithers Feb 2013 #179
yes the "leaders" have lost their minds KakistocracyHater Feb 2013 #212
We didn't try the ones that joined German Army and shot at us SpartanDem Feb 2013 #99
Remember when he firebombed the city of Dresden killing 25,000 people? Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #103
in a declared war on a specific country. as opposed to an undeclared war on 'enemies' anywhere HiPointDem Feb 2013 #106
Oh! Got ya'. Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #107
What's 25,000 people? ProSense Feb 2013 #111
That's the 'official' count. Some believe 600,000 died. Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #114
far from trying to 'explain away' anything, i'm explaining the difference between the firebombing HiPointDem Feb 2013 #123
You're right. There is a difference... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #126
Wouldn't it be wild if ProSense Feb 2013 #130
I guess DU would be fine with another war... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #137
We're no more in favor of more war than you're in favor of MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #141
Didn't the ProSense Feb 2013 #142
Not according to the courts that heard the case MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #145
So, if the Supreme Court rules drones are okay, you'll be okay with it too? Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #147
The drones are not the problem MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #153
If they rule Obama is perfectly within his rights... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #158
So you supported the Internment? n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #149
No. Constitutional does not equal right. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #152
So FDR was wrong? n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #155
He was certainly wrong sometimes. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #157
Was the Internment brutally wrong? n/t ProSense Feb 2013 #160
In my opinion, yes. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #165
"But apparently it wasn't unconstitutional." ProSense Feb 2013 #168
So, basically, do nothing? Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #146
No. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #150
We don't know exactly what the process has been... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #154
Do you trust the Presidency regardless of occupant with such power? TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #203
Meh... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #206
Bullshit, a logical construct based on present trust in Obama and a rhetorical trick TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #273
Why do I think that if Pres Obama was carpet bombing Iran, you would support it? nm rhett o rick Feb 2013 #189
i agree, more died at dresden than in obama's assassinations. however, that's really quite HiPointDem Feb 2013 #148
Not very secret apparently. Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #171
after the fact. nameless body counts. HiPointDem Feb 2013 #172
Isn't that how it generally works? Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #173
that's how it works in war. but this is not war; it's a president declaring he has the power to HiPointDem Feb 2013 #180
So, it comes back to you being okay with it if Obama declares war... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #181
massive fight with *who*? HiPointDem Feb 2013 #184
Whoever you're angry over us droning. Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #192
no, who would we be fighting a war with if we weren't doing covert war? who is this 'al qaeda'? HiPointDem Feb 2013 #197
Hopefully we don't fight 'em... Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #198
I have beachfront property in Waziristan, just waiting for you.... Democracyinkind Feb 2013 #213
I'm not uninformed. I support it. Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #214
If you'd bother to actually read about the subject, you'd know that most America-hating Democracyinkind Feb 2013 #215
I don't think you understand. Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #251
I do understand. Democracyinkind Feb 2013 #252
So, ignore 'em? Let 'em fester? Drunken Irishman Feb 2013 #253
Then maybe sulphurdunn Feb 2013 #260
Yes. And that was part of an effort to break Germany's will MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #118
"Awful stuff, awful. But perhaps less awful than the alternatives." ProSense Feb 2013 #119
Should the US have attacked Germany? Nt MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #132
Could you imagine if a drone could have taken out Hitler and his top officials? ProSense Feb 2013 #134
Droning Hitler would be fine. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #138
The policy was NOT to target Hitler. There was no help given assassination attempts. leveymg Feb 2013 #222
TARDIS bobduca Feb 2013 #226
K&R (n/t) a2liberal Feb 2013 #109
Empires behave in ways democracies really don't. nadinbrzezinski Feb 2013 #143
Remember when FDR put 125,000 Japanese Americans into Internment Camps?...nt SidDithers Feb 2013 #174
Remember when FDR developed atomic weapons?... nt SidDithers Feb 2013 #175
This message was self-deleted by its author SidDithers Feb 2013 #176
Remember when FDR refused to invite Jesse Owens to the White House, 'cause he was black?...nt SidDithers Feb 2013 #177
No I dont remember and I am old and I doubt you remember. Do you have a point Sid? nm rhett o rick Feb 2013 #194
Remember when he had a warship turn around to go pick up his dog? RZM Feb 2013 #218
Ok Manny, which of your multiple personalities is speaking here? rhett o rick Feb 2013 #196
Manny destroys the rationale of these wannabe autocrats so easily LittleBlue Feb 2013 #200
well said!!!! robinlynne Feb 2013 #201
A sympathizer is not the same as someone actively plotting and participating.... Duppers Feb 2013 #209
Remember how FDR killed 23 American POWs in Hirosima? JoePhilly Feb 2013 #219
That' a very misleading title. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #221
FDR provided the means. JoePhilly Feb 2013 #225
I believe that the question is narrower than MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #248
That's not very accurate. JoePhilly Feb 2013 #250
FDR signed an EO to imprison law-abiding citizens obamanut2012 Feb 2013 #220
No, but I do remember how Nazis executed FDR sympathizers Zorra Feb 2013 #223
I start out with my strong opinion about the memo. Cary Feb 2013 #229
There are some rather odd things about al-awlaki's bio. this video is interesting for a little HiPointDem Feb 2013 #267
Maybe, but you're suggesting something above my pay grade Cary Feb 2013 #272
Your experience with espionage and intrigue doesn't include the knowledge that intelligence HiPointDem Feb 2013 #278
We should demand to see the immigration paperwork of the 10k nazis they allowed to become Americans Sunlei Feb 2013 #232
Yep. We won that war by complaining about our enemies over the internet. Buzz Clik Feb 2013 #254
Another question: Kelvin Mace Feb 2013 #257
The Age Of 9/11: A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. With double-plus bipartisanship. blkmusclmachine Feb 2013 #258
Better start running the government by the ideals that you taught me. WHEN CRABS ROAR Feb 2013 #259
No internment camps sulphurdunn Feb 2013 #261
Remember how McCarthy era executed commie sympathizers tama Feb 2013 #263
I love a fucking mystery! lonestarnot Feb 2013 #264
I consider FDR the #2 president of all time, however, What about the Japanese? graham4anything Feb 2013 #276

OneAngryDemocrat

(2,060 posts)
234. But FDR DID Drop Bombs on them...
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:00 PM
Feb 2013

This isn't about Americans in America, but Americans outside of the nation. Americans joined the ranks of Hitler's Waffen SS and when they did, they were bombed.

Remember, a modern-day drone can't ask someone if they want to surrender any more than a WW II era 500 lbs. bomb could.

This isn't about citizen approaching a US soldier and surrendering only to be shot, but about an aerial bombardment on a military target outside of the US.

 

xtraxritical

(3,576 posts)
239. This is most definitely about "Americans in America"!
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:10 PM
Feb 2013

Obama and Holder and Geithner et. al. make me want to cry.

Response to MannyGoldstein (Original post)

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)
230. Yeah, ain't it kind of funny
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:33 PM
Feb 2013

... that the patriarchs of two of our most notable political dynasties were fascist rat-bastards, despite being of opposite parties? There's a moral there somewhere.

-- Mal

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
14. Bush invaded and occupied Iraq. Obama ended that.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:26 PM
Feb 2013

Which country are we occupying?

The U.S. is still in Germany.

 

happyslug

(14,779 posts)
249. Yes the Germans have a base in the US, it is part of Holloman Air Force Base
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 03:06 PM
Feb 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holloman_Air_Force_Base

With additional elements at Ft Bless Texas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bliss

Both have to do with that fact Germany has many days where the Skies are NOT clear, unlike the American South West which being desert almost always has clear Skies.

Historic NY

(37,453 posts)
40. Mostly they allow for medical flights and coverage....
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:58 PM
Feb 2013

they closed several in the past decade including hospital we took after WWII, my niece was working in one, they treated retired and active forces for 65000 sq miles. Ramstein has taken over for that territory now.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
167. fail. there is no such thing as 'war' with an organization. war is a conflict between states or
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:57 PM
Feb 2013

conflicting factions within a state, each of whom wants to seize power.

who is 'al qaeda'? we don't even know. it can be anyone the government says it is.

which is the problem with the dictatorial power obama is wielding right now, the power you're acting as apologist for.

hootinholler

(26,449 posts)
59. That still does not rise to summary execution
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:45 PM
Feb 2013

I think the last time that happened was during the civil war?

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
70. It's awful that people died in those camps
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:54 PM
Feb 2013

It's awful that 1,000 Americans die each week because we refuse them access to health care. Do you think those 1,000 Americans are being executed?

 

JaneyVee

(19,877 posts)
81. They were killed by Govt soldiers.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:07 PM
Feb 2013

My point is that ALL WAR is fucked up & bullshit. We're living in a fairy tale if we think we can fight a war without oppressing people or killing innocent humans. As long as war is, those will ever be. Personally, I believe as the Afghan War ends in 2014, so should that resolution. The sooner the better.

 

JaneyVee

(19,877 posts)
161. But more innocent Americans were killed by Govt soldiers than innocent Americans by drone
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:42 PM
Feb 2013

Both are reprehensible. I'm not FOR either. I'm against war.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
79. not of torture, typhus or starvation, however.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:02 PM
Feb 2013

"morbidity and mortality rates in American internment camps were not significantly different from those in the general population"

http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/I/n/Internment.htm

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
135. 'several'. not enough to make the death rate higher than the death rate in the general population.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:14 PM
Feb 2013

this is not apologetics; just the facts.

Wakasa was one of two shot by guards at Topaz, which held 9000 at its peak.

http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=USWarRelocationAuthorityUtah56.xml;brand=defaul



Dave Tatsuno smuggled a video camera into the Japanese internment camp while he was staying in Topaz, Utah, from 1942 to 1945. This video contains segments of the full 48-minute film, courtesy of the special collections section of the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah.



At Topaz, Mr. Tatsuno was put in charge of the camp's co-operative store. His supervisor there, Walter Honderick, was also a home-movie buff. When he learned of Mr. Tatsuno's forsaken camera, he said, quietly, "Have your friend send it to me."

Breaking the law, Mr. Honderick slipped Mr. Tatsuno the camera, cautioning him not to use it near the fence, where guards were stationed. In the barracks, Mr. Tatsuno kept it hidden in a shoebox. In later years, he always credited Mr. Honderick, who remained a close friend after the war, with making "Topaz" possible.

Mr. Tatsuno was allowed to leave the camp on buying trips for the co-operative, traveling to Chicago and other cities. There, he discreetly bought film, which he later smuggled out for developing. Sometime later, when his wife had her sewing machine sent from California, the sender tucked an 8-millimeter projector into the package.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/national/13tatsuno.html?_r=0
 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
166. you don't know who was innocent, or even what those killed supposedly did. not to mention
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:53 PM
Feb 2013

the non-american 'innocents' killed.

i'm not apologist for the internment of american citizens during the war. however, there's plenty of documentation that it was not the auschwitz-type situation you're trying to paint it as.


you understand that more japanese americans were *not* interned than were interned, right?

 

OnyxCollie

(9,958 posts)
236. 120,000 resident aliens and citizens of Japanese ancestry were interned.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:09 PM
Feb 2013

The 1940 census found 126,947 Japanese in the United States. 79,642 (62.7%) were native-born citizens.

Daniels, R., Taylor, S. C., & Kitano, H. H. L. (Eds.). (1991). Japanese Americans from relocation to redress (p. xv). London and Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

You understand you don't know what you're talking about, right?

 

OnyxCollie

(9,958 posts)
241. The US territory of Hawaii
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:38 PM
Feb 2013

was not a prescribed military zone; the entire west coast of the US was.

If the Japanese in Hawaii had been interned, their economy would have been destroyed.

In the mainland US, farm corporations used government-subsidized dummy corporations to harvest crops to sell back to the parent companies for cheap, allowing for large profits and no risk.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
242. yes, if 1/3 of the population of hawaii had been interned, the economy would have been
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:48 PM
Feb 2013

destroyed. which rather shows what a farce the internment was.

yet the point stands.

in the us territory of hawaii, despite its being a military target and a stepping stone to the mainland, most people of japanese ancestry were not interned.

 

OnyxCollie

(9,958 posts)
245. Yes, your point stands.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:52 PM
Feb 2013

However, it is the bigger picture that must be seen, in that these unconstitutional actions are to serve corporate interests, not to protect citizens.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
247. i don't disagree. as do the rationalizations of obama's assassination policy based on specious
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:55 PM
Feb 2013

comparisons with fdr, like 'the internment camps had a very high death rate'

backscatter712

(26,355 posts)
193. They were deprived of their freedom.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:16 AM
Feb 2013

Last edited Wed Feb 6, 2013, 05:43 AM - Edit history (1)

Those camps were prisons, and the Japanese Americans didn't commit any crimes, didn't get trials, didn't do anything wrong. But they got thrown into prison.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
238. about those Internment Camps:
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:45 PM
Feb 2013
"In 1980, President Jimmy Carter conducted an investigation to determine whether putting Japanese Americans into internment camps was justified well enough by the government. He appointed the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate the camps. The commission's report, named “Personal Justice Denied,” found little evidence of Japanese disloyalty at the time and recommended the government pay reparations to the survivors. They formed a payment of $20,000 to each individual internment camp survivor. These were the reparations passed by President Ronald Reagan.

In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation said that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership".[13] The U.S. government eventually disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned and their heirs.[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment


One of the good things about our country is that we grow and learn from our mistakes, or at least we used to.
Now, it appears we are headed back to another Gilded Age,
except that in Gilded Age 2.0 we will have an imperial monarch who has the authority to order the execution of anyone he/she deems as a Threat to the State without any Due Process or Judicial Review or Oversight.




Anyone who wants to assign the blame for the Japanese Interment to FDR alone,
needs to go study the social history of the West Coast pre-1941,
and the hysteria that swept the nation following Pearl Harbor.

The Spielberg film 1941 was understatement.
 

OnyxCollie

(9,958 posts)
243. The Japanese never had it easy.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:49 PM
Feb 2013

In 1913 the California state legislature passed the Alien Land Act, which prohibited
ownership of land to aliens “ineligible to citizenship” (Daniels, Taylor, & Kitano, 1986, p. xv).
The author of the Alien Land Act, California Attorney General Ulysses S. Webb, had this to say:

The fundamental basis of all legislation upon this subject, State and Federal, has been and
is, race undesirability. It is unimportant and foreign to the question under discussion
whether a particular race is inferior. The simple and single question is, is the race
desirable... It (the law) seeks to limit their presence by curtailing their privileges which
they may enjoy here; for they will not come in large numbers and long abide with us if
they may not acquire land. And it seeks to limit the numbers who will come by limiting
the opportunities for their activity here when they arrive (War Relocation Authority,
1947, p. 37 as quoted in Okihiro & Drummond, 1986, p. 168).

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
256. The War against the Japanese was horribly racist in origin, promotion, propaganda, and execution.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 06:15 PM
Feb 2013

A valid case CAN be made that the Internment SAVED Japanese/American lives given the hysterical zenophobic/racist environment and FEAR of imminent Japanese Invasion on the West Coast immediately after Pearl harbor.
There is documentation of vigilante squads rounding up "suspicious" Japanese.
There is documentation of beatings, and even deaths.
Much of the racist hysteria on the West Coast is buried,
and doesn't get talked about very much.
It wasn't America's proudest moment.

The only reason I know about it is that my parents were on the coast in Southern California, and told me about the hysteria, civilian vigilante patrols guarding the beaches and rounding up anyone who even looked like they could have been Japanese.

The Internment was an AMERICAN tragedy.
There was very little opposition, and given the:
*hysteria,

*xenophobia,

*no reliable radar,

*the sinking of the American Pacific fleet,

*no rapid communication,

*no reliable "intelligence",

*rampant wide spread rumors of Japanese sympathizers and saboteurs, accepted as Common Knowledge

*rampant rumors of Japanese Hawaiians HELPING the attackers with arrows pointing to the battleships cut into sugar cane fields, rumors that are accepted as Common Knowledge TODAY.

*a brand new declared WAR on two continents

.....if I were the Commander-in-Chief,
I probably would have decided to Take them Off the Table, but don't hurt them,
because I have too much shit to deal with, and we can't take the chance right now.


Anybody who says they would have acted differently given the same set of conditions is blowing smoke. The Internment was supported by a huge majority if Americans at the time.



 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
266. it was. my stepfather participated in the rounding up of japanese for internmen. i was astonished
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 03:14 AM
Feb 2013

when he told me, because he easily accepted his children's japanese and mexican spouses.

i asked him why he'd done it, and he said, 'if you weren't there, you can't understand.' but basically, it boiled down to: they believed the people they rounded up were a threat. i didn't understand except intellectually.

but after 911, i understood through my personal experience as a member of an antiwar group that very publicly protested the sanctions against iraq and the run-up to the iraq war. though i live across the country from nyc, in a small town, most of the public feedback was very negative, and i had repercussions at my job. in one case while we were standing in the street with our signs a truck veered toward us as though to run us over. i'm quite sure that if there had been any official encouragement for rounding up dissidents at that point, at least some of my coworkers and neighbors would have been happy to turn me in. at that point it was easy to see how things like that happen.

my stepfather was born in 1916. a few years before he died we were talking and he told me he'd used to believe black people were mentally inferior, basically because 'experts' said they were, because media presented them that way, because social relations were such that often blacks presented themselves subserviently, etc. his thinking began to change circa ww2 -- because social conditions changed.

his evolution is one of the reasons i stopped thinking of racism as being exclusively lodged in individuals.

 

OnyxCollie

(9,958 posts)
268. The Japanese internment
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 04:08 AM
Feb 2013

is the subject of my thesis. I've enjoyed reading your posts. Have you written about this before?

Here's something from my lit review that is apropos to your post:

An abstract concept of particular significance to this analysis is national identity. National
identity as an abstract symbolic attachment has been shown to be a strong predictor of policy
preferences (Edelman 1964/1985, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002), makes the complex seem simple
and provides remedies for disorder (Elder & Cobb, 1983, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002), and
forms the needs and desires for citizens in regards to public policy (Selznick, 1951). Schildkraut
(2001, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002) has demonstrated that national identity as defined by white
Americans revolves around observing ancestral traditions and maintaining cultural
distinctiveness, eclipsing citizenship for what it means to be “American.”

Being American is to be a member of a status group. As there is an awareness of one’s
membership in a status group, there is also an awareness of who is not a member of the group
(Schildkraut, 2002) and to discriminate against that person accordingly (Tajfel & Turner, 1986,
as cited in Schildkraut, 2002). Discrimination based on racial and ethnic physical characteristics
is done because it is easy to do so.

Schildkraut (2002) identifies two types of national identity- incorporationism and
ethnoculturalism. Incorporationism celebrates cultural diversity and establishes a middle ground
absent of extreme cultural divisions or homogeneity. Incorporation focuses on America’s
immigration heritage and stresses the experience as a shared history. Ethnoculturalism, on the
other hand, defines national identity in America as white, European, and Protestant (Smith, 1993,
1997, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002). The national identity is an arbitrary concept, invoked in
response to political events by cultural elites who tailor the meaning to fit the situation (Altheide, 2006;
Anderson, 1991, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002; Brubaker, 1996, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002; Gellner, 1983, as cited
in Schildkraut, 2002; Hobsbawm, 1990, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002; Hutchinson & Smith,
1994, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002; Snyder & Ballentine, 1996, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002).
According to Parenti (1993), “Much of politics is the rational manipulation of irrational
symbols.”

A distinguishing feature of the mass public is the limited comprehension of democracy,
along with its attendant logical inconsistencies, and the ease to which one may be susceptible to
its manipulation by elites (Selznick, 1951). “The readiness for manipulation by symbols,
especially those permitting sado-masochistic releases, is characteristic of the mass as a crowd (p.
324). In its defense of democracy, the mass public may take action against its enemies which are
a contrary to the democratic principles they are defending. The mass public will dismiss proper
social conduct and established channels of action and resort to the most immediate forms of
response (including force) to gain immediate relief from intolerable situations.

Without direct knowledge of why unfortunate events occur, the mass public may attribute
intent to actors through speculation relying on antecedent beliefs, which may be pleasurable to
hold or unpleasant to reject (Sunstein & Vermeule, 2008). When the nation faces threats to its
security, racial and ethnic stereotypes become more powerful (Volkan, 1994, as cited in
Schildkraut, 2002). Selznick (1951) suggests that fascist elites may prime the mass public “to
break down feelings of deference for the law making body and prepare for extralegal means of
intimidation” (p. 329). According to Mendelberg (2001, as cited in Schildkraut, 2002), when
inegalitarian norms dominate society, the political elites and mass public are free to base their
attitudes and behaviors on those norms without repercussion, resulting in a convergence of
opinion. When egalitarian norms dictate behaviors, however, political elites are constrained in
their rhetoric for fear of threatening their chances for reelection. This is echoed by Hans Gerth
(1992) who stated that (i)n order to avoid unexpected and unwanted results, social and political
administrations require a deep and extensive understanding of the total equilibrium of the given
social structure’ (p. 342, as quoted in Altheide, 2006, p. 989).

As Gerth (1992) pointed out, “Since the territory dominated by the nation is typically
larger than that dominated by, say, the blood or religion, modern nationalism has had to rely
more on mass education and propaganda” (p. 338, as quoted in Altheide, 2006, p. 989). To
effectively disseminate these idea elements to the mass public, the cooperation of the media
apparatus is required. Gans (1979, as cited in McQuail, 1985) argued that media elites tend to
reinforce the established social order, though not because of self-interest or subservience to
political or corporate elites. Rather the media elites are motivated by a sense of professionalism
to report the news as they see it, or that they have views convergent with the beneficiaries of the
system. Drier (1982, as cited in McQuail, 1985) found that “the main US elite newspapers were
both the most integrated into the capitalist power structure and most inclined to adopt a
corporate-liberal perspective- an attitude of ‘responsible capitalism’” (p. 98).

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
269. interesting. so was the thesis in the past, or are you still writing it? what was the focus?
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 04:42 AM
Feb 2013

no, i never wrote about the internment, just a lot of family stories from the period and personal experience in a 'mixed marriage'.

 

OnyxCollie

(9,958 posts)
274. Aside from a few revisions, it's finished.
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 12:54 PM
Feb 2013

It's titled, "Class, Race, and Conspiracy: A Radical Analysis of the Japanese Internment During World War Two."

I use four hypotheses- racial antipathy, revenge, military necessity, and economics- to determine why the Japanese were interned. Underlying this is an examination of conspiracy theories and how government can be the purveyor of false narratives to create acceptance from the mass public for unconstitutional actions that serve corporate interests.

Basically, in a game between government, corporations, and the mass public, the government and corporations are able to collude secretly, using the ability to rationalize what the mass public believes to provide a pretext for an action that goes against agreed rules, in order for corporations (upon which the government relies) to achieve an objective monetary incentive.

When examining the military necessity hypothesis, the government's story is riddled with omissions and deceptions. It's not unlike the run-up to the Iraq war after 9/11.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
6. Answer:
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:17 PM
Feb 2013

"How did we ever manage to win WWII without executing American Axis sympathizers without trials? "

Japanese American internment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment

Not really, but why? Do you know if any Americans were fighting with the Nazis?

Does anyone have a list of the Americans assassinated by President Obama?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002747641

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
127. i think your defense of the president's supposed power to kill anyone, anywhere, secretly,
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:01 PM
Feb 2013

without declaration of war -- while pointing at the japanese internment -- is quite disgusting.

backscatter712

(26,355 posts)
191. Really?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:12 AM
Feb 2013

The interment camps were a pretty fucked-up thing to do to Japanese Americans - just ask George Takei.

No, they weren't executed. They were thrown in what were for all intents and purposes prisons, for nothing more than their ethnicity and ancestry.

And it didn't help us win the war either.

Yes, Obama is wrong for using drone strikes the way he's been using them, and FDR was wrong to order Japanese Americans into internment camps.

kenny blankenship

(15,689 posts)
10. Attack of the Clones in 3....2...1
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:24 PM
Feb 2013

We won WWII as a Republic. Now that we are an Empire and we make our own rules of reality, we need different tools and methods.


How do you expect to maintain an Empire without robotic killing machines? Or at least battle Replicants?

XRubicon

(2,212 posts)
19. Here's how we did it
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:35 PM
Feb 2013

We fire bombed civilian population centers in Japan and nuked two of their cities. In Germany we leveled their major cities.

BTW I agree with the point you are trying to make.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
21. Um, yes?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:38 PM
Feb 2013

Burger and the rest of the Long Island team were picked up by June 22, and by June 27 the whole of the Florida team was arrested. To preserve wartime secrecy, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a special military tribunal consisting of seven generals to try the saboteurs. At the end of July, Dasch was sentenced to 30 years in prison, Burger was sentenced to hard labor for life, and the other six Germans were sentenced to die. The six condemned saboteurs were executed by electric chair in Washington, D.C., on August 8. In 1944, two other German spies were caught after a landing in Maine. No other instances of German sabotage within wartime America has come to light.

----SNIP----

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/german-saboteurs-executed-in-washington

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
26. Oh, right...and you forgot...not American
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:46 PM
Feb 2013

You're only for trials and habeas corpus for sympathizers, and not Japanese Americans. (And, really, when we think of FDR's outright cowardice on lynching legislation, not really for African Americans either, so long as they reside in a state that had some Dem senators!)

I really must learn to read your posts better!

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
30. It's always a problem when
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:51 PM
Feb 2013

trying to make a saint out of another President to portray President Obama as the evil one.

bahrbearian

(13,466 posts)
46. I wish FDR was more evil, then we wouldn't have to worry about the BFFE.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:17 PM
Feb 2013

Now, Evil is just more of the same.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
35. So you are OK with executing "active saboteurs" but not those working with Al Qaeda to attack us?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:54 PM
Feb 2013

I'm happy to hear how you differentiate the two.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
38. I'm not OK with executing Americans without judicial due process
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:57 PM
Feb 2013

Unless they are provably actively engaged in planning or executing an attack on the US, and can't be reasonably apprehended by law enforcement officials.

You?

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
43. I'm not OK with it either. And it DID happen under FDR
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:04 PM
Feb 2013

Many internees lost irreplaceable personal property due to the restrictions on what could be taken into the camps. These losses were compounded by theft and destruction of items placed in governmental storage. A number of persons died or suffered for lack of medical care, and several were killed by sentries; James Wakasa, for instance, was killed at Topaz War Relocation Center, near the perimeter wire. Nikkei were prohibited from leaving the Military Zones during the last few weeks before internment, and only able to leave the camps by permission of the camp administrators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment

Look, what FDR did was even more brutal than what is currently going on under Obama. Please either learn some actual history or stop rewriting it to bolster YOUR agenda. 'k?

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
45. I trust that FDR was working to do the right thing
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:15 PM
Feb 2013

He fought, truly fought, to help the 99% while being relentlessly attacked by the 1%. Hell, the 1% even attempted a coup! His cabinet included the far left, increasingly so as time went on.

So he earned my trust.

My personal belief is that in the areas where he was wrong, or may have fallen short, he was working to the best that could be done during a war. A real war. That covered virtually the entire planet. Serious, crazy stuff. Some dumb decisions and fuck ups occurred.

But, to my knowledge, no executions of Axis sympathizers merely because they were sympathizers.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
55. Wait,
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:39 PM
Feb 2013
I trust that FDR was working to do the right thing

He fought, truly fought, to help the 99% while being relentlessly attacked by the 1%. Hell, the 1% even attempted a coup! His cabinet included the far left, increasingly so as time went on.

So he earned my trust.

My personal belief is that in the areas where he was wrong, or may have fallen short, he was working to the best that could be done during a war. A real war. That covered virtually the entire planet. Serious, crazy stuff. Some dumb decisions and fuck ups occurred.

But, to my knowledge, no executions of Axis sympathizers merely because they were sympathizers.

...that is your response to this:

Many internees lost irreplaceable personal property due to the restrictions on what could be taken into the camps. These losses were compounded by theft and destruction of items placed in governmental storage. A number of persons died or suffered for lack of medical care, and several were killed by sentries; James Wakasa, for instance, was killed at Topaz War Relocation Center, near the perimeter wire. Nikkei were prohibited from leaving the Military Zones during the last few weeks before internment, and only able to leave the camps by permission of the camp administrators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment

Look, what FDR did was even more brutal than what is currently going on under Obama. Please either learn some actual history or stop rewriting it to bolster YOUR agenda. 'k?

You're basically saying that while the Internment led to the detention and death of many Japanese-Americans, FDR earned your trust and his goals were right.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
60. Yes, I trust that FDR was doing his best to do the right thing
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:46 PM
Feb 2013

And he made mistakes, like everyone does.

During a world war, mistakes can easily lead to enormous tragedy.

1,000 Americans die each week because of lack of access to medical care. Because Obama refused to try to get universal health care, or truly affordable health care, do you feel that he murdered hundreds of thousands of Americans? Or do you think he wanted to do the right thing, and was doing the best that he could?

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
159. What about the lynchings? Also,
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:39 PM
Feb 2013
1,000 Americans die each week because of lack of access to medical care. Because Obama refused to try to get universal health care, or truly affordable health care, do you feel that he murdered hundreds of thousands of Americans? Or do you think he wanted to do the right thing, and was doing the best that he could?

...imagine how many Americans have died because FDR refused to tackle health care more than seven decades ago.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
163. First off, health care was a fraction of the cost it is today,
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:44 PM
Feb 2013

Accounting for inflation. Perhaps one-fifth.

FDR tackled poverty among older Americans, and was tremendously successful. His reality-based economic policies powerfully reversed the Depression. He passed effective legislation that kept the bankers from blowing up the economy for decades. And so on.

Many millions of people lived longer, healthier, and happier lives because of FDR's efforts.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
195. FDR, as representative of the state, interned wakasa. he didn't target him personally for
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:18 AM
Feb 2013

assassination.

quit telling people what to do, cali. 'k?

there were a total of 5 people killed by guards during the internment, so far as i can tell. none of the killers seem to have gotten any serious punishment.

http://www.children-of-the-camps.org/history/timeline.html

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
216. I'll say whatever I please here, hi
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 09:08 AM
Feb 2013

just as you do, so keep telling me what to do. I'll keep doing what I want.

And let's be real, the internment destroyed many, many lives. You don't like reality that interferes with your ideological agenda.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
246. yet you keep telling others what to do. ps: i never said the internment didnt destroy lives --
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:53 PM
Feb 2013

metaphorically speaking.

i said the death rate in the camps was comparable to the death rate in the general population.

lapfog_1

(29,223 posts)
262. And we should have declared war... but not on a country.
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 12:04 AM
Feb 2013

and there was an unwritten rule of warfare right up until WWII that no one was to be personally targeted for assassination.

However, both sides started efforts to assassinate leaders from the other side.

And let's not even talk about the collateral damage from that war...

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
65. The memo is clear that the targets do not need to be involved
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:51 PM
Feb 2013

In an active plot.

And why skirt judicial review?

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
77. I'm going to do a larger segment on this during my next show but to give a preview...
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:01 PM
Feb 2013

Al Qaeda and its affiliates tend to operate from the places they operate because law enforcement is slim to non-existent and the ability to bring them to justice is scant. That's the whole point.

I'd be happy to call for indictment if the people in question were in the US or Western Europe or Russia or China, or even in the capital city of Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Jordan.

Reality is, we have two Americans who decided to be Al Qaeda. How many Americans have traveled abroad? Are you trying to claim the danger of a slippery slope from two Americans who decided to become Al Qaeda? You're suggesting the government is going to track down and drone strike the Griswolds on their vacation in Antalya?

I'm still waiting for a realistic alternative for any President from any party who wants to interdict terrorist operations in the planning state in areas where law enforcement cannot reach. You better do something, because your are politically toast if it comes out you knew and did nothing. We know we dont want a war of occupation, we cannot reach them with law enforcement, so what does that leave.

The bottom line is, we have no good answers for this. It's a problem we are going to be pondering for decades precisely because we don't have a good solution for it.

 

jberryhill

(62,444 posts)
85. It should be sorted out in much less than decades
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:10 PM
Feb 2013

A broad based commission should be able to come up with something that could be considered in a matter of a couple of months to develop an appropriate framework.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
112. In a previous show, I called on the administration to come up with a post drone solution to the
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:37 PM
Feb 2013

terrorist issue. I would love it if you were right.

druidity33

(6,446 posts)
110. Anwar al-Aulaqi's son was 16 when killed by drone...
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:37 PM
Feb 2013

is he one of the 2 Americans you were talking about?

and also keep in mind:

"In January 2001 after returning to the US, al-Aulaqi settled on the East Coast in the Washington Metropolitan Area. There, he served as imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque near Falls Church, Virginia, serving Muslims in Northern Virginia. He also led academic discussions frequented by FBI Director of Counter-Intelligence for the Middle East Gordon M. Snow. Al-Aulaki also served as the Muslim chaplain at George Washington University,[10][52][54][73] where he was hired by Esam Omeish.[74][75]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki#Abdulrahman_al-Aulaqi

ummm, CIA anyone?

just sayin'...



Bonobo

(29,257 posts)
133. Yup, Griswolds safe. Muslims who speak out against US foreign policy? They might not feel so safe.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:11 PM
Feb 2013

Chilling.

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)
277. They are not only targeting people involved in active plots.
Fri Feb 8, 2013, 06:25 PM
Feb 2013

But also people who the think might support terrorists or associated forces.

That's what I heard on TV.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
82. You have the wrong metaphor. Al-Awlaki was a Tokyo Rose-type propagandist, not a combatant
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:07 PM
Feb 2013

or non-uniformed spy who had been landed by submarine on a Long Island beach to blow up military-related targets in the NY area.

The US did not execute the enemy propagandists during or after WW2, with or without due process. Much less did we intentionally target their children for airstrikes, as we did al-Awlaki's 16 year old US citizen, US-born son. The young Awlaki was the third American killed in Yemen in as many weeks. Samir Khan, an al-Qaeda propagandist from North Carolina, died alongside Anwar al-Awlaki.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
89. That is one contention, the other is that he was involved in operational planning.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:13 PM
Feb 2013

I dont think we are going to convince each other on this.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
101. Wouldn't that be better established in open court?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:23 PM
Feb 2013

Funny, these guys never do get a trial where evidence is produced on the public record. See my comment below, at the bottom of this thread about what his role in AQ really was.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
105. Sure, and as I said above, if they were in the capital of Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Jordan or any
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:27 PM
Feb 2013

other place in the world where we could count on law enforcement to pick them up and turn them over to us, that would be great.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
117. We knew exactly where he was, and there's nobody aside from maybe the Russian President who we truly
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:49 PM
Feb 2013

could not capture, if we really wanted to. You do realize that he had become a liability, one of those who are far better off dead.

Unfortunately, those who are are actually running things from the Capital of Saudi Arabia are untouchable, but are the ones who should be droned if we were really intent upon killing major AQ. Drones as useful, if properly targeted.

TheKentuckian

(25,029 posts)
186. How is one an unobtainable fugitive with no US charges filed?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:05 AM
Feb 2013

Lets not pretend that due process broke down and more importantly why are you trying to hide behind this example for a defense of the policy in general that is clearly not limited to those beyond justice (should it be sought) nor to any actual act or even a plan or conspiracy to act nor does one have to be a member of Al Queda or a known affiliate. One need only be deemed "aligned" with such groups. "Aligned" without due process or reasonable hope of review.

This everywhere on the planet, this is anyone, this is self justifying. There are no checks on abuse ot error, not even hindsight as the whole deal is veiled in secrecy.

The double talk, deflection, wiping, and dangling is absurd. This is not what I signed up for, this shit isn't even American, much less withing tolerance of a 21st century Democratic party dealing with what would be fucking absurd to even pretend is an existential threat which makes WWII and Civil War comparisons beyond lame, weak, and silly. Get the fuck out of here. These are bands of criminals that we substantially cultivate in the first place. Our silly bullshit has magnified our number of enemies and renews their ranks.

My opinion is this concept is literally beyond the bounds of our form of government, the war powers stuff is crap too. We've escalated from war on a tactic to war on "aligned" with a tactic on a global battlefield with no nation, territory, or coherent organization with no known plausible endgame or articulated point of victory or end and that allows for the rule of law how? This is insanity!

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)
233. Hear, hear!
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:50 PM
Feb 2013

I was just reading a letter written in 1944 by a Guadalcanal vet who was protesting the internments, and you sound like you could be his twin. I didn't sign up for this shit. That is it, in a fucking nutshell.

-- Mal

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
205. If they're out sniffing bat shit in a cave, who cares?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:47 AM
Feb 2013

They're not going to shoot us with mind-bullets, you know.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
235. ...and from my readings on this: none were in combat they were
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:09 PM
Feb 2013

Last edited Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:48 PM - Edit history (1)

as you say "propagandists." And, the danger is if you target "propagandists" or people preaching their beliefs you are denying them freedom of speech...which is dangerous if it moves over here to the US where we can be called "enemies of the state or banks" because we protest as OWS or against Pipelines or Fracking.

We have to tolerate the Rush Limbaugh types who are dangerous to American Society because they preach hate because we support "Free Speech for all. If Rush (a hater of Liberals and Democrats) or a Right Wing American Preacher who preached hate against Muslims because he/she is a Christian was visiting in a country and taken out in an assassination because some government declared him a terrorist against their faith....how would we view that happening as "justified" given that America is supposedly based on a "Bill of Rights" for their citizens.

This is the problem for many of us with the targeting of US citizens by Drone abroad. Especially "taking out" the child of US target who had no involvement with any of it.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
237. The CIA has stepped over a threshhold by executing US Citizens abroad who aren't armed and
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:35 PM
Feb 2013

immediate threats.

This is the worst part of the legacy of the first Obama Administration, so far, and like some other policies, such as regime change operations against Syria and Iran, need to be reconsidered if the U.S. is going to regain the moral imperative and high-ground, which in the end will determine how history views Obama and the outcome of wars conducted during this period.

I have no inherent problem with killing armed combatants engaged in hostilities against the U.S., whether by drones or other airstrikes, there is little difference, really. Same goes for criminals. Those who are engaged in violence against lawful authority put themselves at risk of being killed, whether they are in California or Karachi.

While I doubt that Mr. al-Alwaki's speech is constitutionally protected, so long as he is not armed or does not present an imminent danger to another person, the law says he should be captured. Like every other American, his person is protected, and he has a right to trial before punishment, regardless of whether he's inside the U.S. or abroad. It was not lawful to intentionally target him for execution by remote robot assassination without trial. Even less so his 16 year old son. The execution of the boy was appalling and the sort of lawless violence that we have in the past accused our enemies of doing. We rightly call them terrorists, who have committed crimes against humanity, when our enemies do it.

We cannot allow ourselves to behave as enemies of humanity, no matter how expedient it might seem. This sort of injustice is how nations fall into ruin.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
71. Military tribunals
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:54 PM
Feb 2013

Captured on June 27, executed on August 8, on the say-so of seven generals.

But yes, they got "some kind of due process."



And let's all remember to thank FDR for the military tribunals precedent, while we're at it.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
86. Usual wartime protocol?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:11 PM
Feb 2013

Um, Ex Parte Quirin actually remains quite a contentious Constitutional issue even today; it was far from usual protocol. It is the only legal precedent for military tribunal executions in American law. FDR essentially made it up.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
178. unanimous vote, however.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:16 AM
Feb 2013
A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_tribunals_in_the_United_States

seems like fdr's panel fulfilled the basics.

i understood the germans to be operating under instructions from german high command, which makes them combatants.

i confess i haven't looked into it deeply, but that's my understanding.

of course, it could be a kangaroo court -- but then so could every single thing obama is doing.

here's the difference: one was a declared war against an identifiable enemy: the other is not.
 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
182. But not normal wartime protocol...FDR invented the tribunal for this specific case on July 2, 1942
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:46 AM
Feb 2013

He imposed it by Executive Order. It is the very definition of non-protocol, as I said. You can twist that howsoever you choose: Ex Parte Quirin was and is a big Constitutional deal, and has enabled the very policies you're attacking here.

In any case, I'm surprised you can so blithely embrace Ex Parte Quirin just to "win" an internet argument, since it stands as the ruling precedent for the Hamdi decision, and is cited along with Hamdi in the very memo you (and I, it should be noted) disagree with. Like I said, thanks to FDR for that precedent!

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
183. i'm not trying to win an argument. you think obama killing anyone he wants is ok. i don't.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:58 AM
Feb 2013

it has nothing to do with fdr, you're just trying to justify it by throwing shit up that fdr did and seeing if anything sticks.

sorry, nothing fdr did is comparable, for a number of reasons.

no one will 'win'. we have different opinions, and they won't be reconciled.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
185. Excuse me, sir
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:04 AM
Feb 2013

But that is an outright lie.

"cited along with Hamdi in the very memo you (and I, it should be noted) disagree with"

That's what I said before you posted. Learn to read.

What I object to here is the OP's usual ahistorical nonsense about his imagined golden age FDR. As is fairly clear, you know very little about this case, its effects on US law, including on the very policies you're objecting to, or probably FDR in general, so now you take to attacking me, and with a claim that isn't even borne out in the very post you're attacking.

Have a good evening.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
187. i wasn't attacking you at all. i was stating what i understood your position to be.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:07 AM
Feb 2013

i don't know from a memo.

i just disagree with obama (& bush's) contention that they can assassinate anyone at will.

your claims about fdr seem ridiculous to me. using a military court to kill a handful of germans who confessed to working for the german high command as spies & saboteurs (= combatants) in a declared war seems to me quite a different thing than killing thousands of people in undeclared wars in multiple countires, supposedly because they're tools of some shadowy organization.

and no fucking end in sight.

you're getting disagreeable and i'm out of here.

exboyfil

(17,865 posts)
23. Lord Hee-Haw
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:43 PM
Feb 2013

William Joyce. American born and executed by the Brits after WWII. If we had drones in WWII, I guarantee you we would have hit him with a Hellfire missile.

Shooting down of Yamamoto's plane is probably the closest equivalent to today.

What is a sympathizer, collaborator, or a soldier who has taken up arms against his country?

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
24. No.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:43 PM
Feb 2013

But back in those days, terrorism was an evolving concept and not a physical manifestation of the boogieman we see today. See - Communist under every bed.

Look, we need an enemy. If it has to be a few civilians to make the corporate CEOs happy with another few billion in government contracts...who are we to complain? Okay, technically WE are the civilians that could face possible indiscriminate harm and should complain...but HEY look! *Jingle jingle*...shinny keys! Look at the shinny keys!

catbyte

(34,447 posts)
76. Mortaliy rates in camps very high. That's death without trial, esp. hard hit were
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:59 PM
Feb 2013

children & the elderly.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
100. actually not. rates of morbidity and mortality were comparable to rates in the general
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:21 PM
Feb 2013

population.

e.g.:

http://books.google.com/books?id=e8mB7Op0DMgC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=manzanar+death+rate&source=bl&ots=Nh2d35xHxo&sig=sWQvUya3FcpdF8yhow5YZJ2w9Ts&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oLsRUfGqGo-MigKAjYHYCA&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=manzanar%20death%20rate&f=false

"morbidity and mortality rates in American internment camps were not significantly different from those in the general population, suggesting that living conditions were acceptable, if somewhat Spartan."

http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/I/n/Internment.htm

METHODS:

Twenty women who were ages 18 to 31 years at the time of internment at Heart Mountain, Wyoming Japanese American Relocation Camp, and one caucasian nurse who worked in the obstetric unit of the camp's hospital were interviewed. Archival, demographic, and historical data, including some prenatal records, provided information about maternity and public health care for pregnant women and new mothers.

RESULTS:

Obstetric hospital practices were typical of the 1940s in the United States. Community public health services for new mothers included formula kitchens and well-baby clinics. Infant mortality statistics from 1942 to 1945 at Heart Mountain were comparatively better for the same time period than for the state of Wyoming or the United States. These outcomes may have reflected the camp's extensive social and family support, adequate housing and food, and universal access to maternity services.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9355278

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
199. I met a Japanese-American couple who had been interned in a camp
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:53 AM
Feb 2013

Fifty-plus years after the fact, they still hated Democrats with a passion. This was made worse by the fact that the government did not get around to talking about official reparations until the mid-80s, during a Republican administration.

Regardless of whether there was a higher death rate in the camps, the fact remains that the internees were rounded up, and their possessions confiscated, with no compensation for 40 years.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
202. and i knew a japanese college professor who'd been interned -- who didn't. yes, those facts
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:16 AM
Feb 2013

Last edited Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:51 AM - Edit history (1)

remain.

not sure what your point is. i'm not supporting the internment.

simply the facts, as you say: morbidity and mortality rates *weren't* high. *few* (five, actually) people were shot by guards.

tule lake wasn't auschwitz & topaz wasn't dachau.

and the majority of japanese/americans living in US territory *weren't* interned.

(which actually demonstrates that there was no real justification for the internment policy. 1/3 of the population of hawaii was at least part japanese, and few of were interned. hawaii was a us territory; the japanese had attacked it; it was a way-station to the mainland -- yet the majority of persons of japanese ancestry there went about their business. i suspect because interning them would have disrupted hawaii's plantation labor supply.)

but after 911, it was easy to understand the hysteria after pearl harbor, as well as the overreach of executive power.

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
204. My point was that *even if* morbidity and mortality were roughly equal
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:45 AM
Feb 2013

to what was in the outside world (and I am not so sure, given that few people really gave a crap about what happened to the internees in those days), the camps had a terrible emotional and financial impact on the people who were forced to live in them.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
207. i'm well aware of that. the area near where i grew up was once covered with japanese truck
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:57 AM
Feb 2013

farms; my stepfather participated in helping round up japanese during the internment.

it's fairly well-accepted that there was anti-japanese agitation in these parts partly because certain people had designs on their land. that and the obvious hysteria after pearl harbor.

to say that morbidity/mortality was more or less 'normal' and that camp conditions were generally decent is not to say the internment was justified or that people didn't suffer.

the internment was *not* justified and the government knew it. i believe that's a documented fact. and as i said in an addendum to my previous post (not sure you saw it) -- it should have been clear even at the time that something was screwy, because hawaii had the biggest japanese population in US territory -- about 1/3 of the population being japanese or part japanese -- yet most of them were not interned. even though hawaii had high strategic military value, even though it had been attacked, etc.

i believe they weren't interned because they were needed as plantation labor and also because they were much more closely integrated (through intermarriage, etc) with the rest of the hawaiian population rather than being a somewhat isolated minority as on the west coast.

but if they were a security risk anywhere, it was in hawaii, for various reasons.


Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
265. Plantation labor
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 02:50 AM
Feb 2013

That could be one reason why there was a camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, in rice-growing country.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
270. i found this about another camp in the same area, 'jerome'.
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 05:20 AM
Feb 2013

Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2013, 06:05 AM - Edit history (3)

While most of the other relocation camps were built on barren, windswept lands, Jerome Relocation Center was in the middle of heavily wooded swampland, 18 miles south of McGehee and 120 miles southeast of Little Rock. The camp was named after the town of Jerome, which was located a half-mile south...Arkansas was actually the home of two camps, Jerome and Rohwer, which were located about thirty miles apart.

The original plan for the Farm Security Administration land in the southeast part of the state had called for the clearing and draining of the swamps to be used as homesteads for low-income farm families.

The internees themselves provided much of the general labor, clearing land, digging ditches and building bridges. Because of drainage problems, an eight-mile canal was constructed that enabled them to run a successful farm operation. By 1943, 630 acres were under cultivation, which expanded to 718 acres by the following year. Jerome was able to grow 85 percent of its own vegetables. In addition, the internees raised over 1,200 hogs for consumption at the camp. The camp also had a sawmill that produced more than 280,000 board feet of lumber and 6,000 cords of firewood from the cleared trees.

Because the WRA leave process had enabled many internees to resettle outside the camps before the end of the war, the population among all the relocation centers declined dramatically in 1944. Since Jerome was the least developed of all the camps, it closed on June 30, 1944. It was also one of the smallest, and nearby Rohwer Relocation Center was able to take in most of the remaining Jerome residents.

After the camp was closed, it was converted into a German Prisoner of War camp.

http://www.javadc.org/jerome_relocation_center.htm



apparently george takei was at rohwehr:

The Rohwer that I came back to, however, was not that of my memory. It was utterly changed. The swamp that I remembered had been drained completely. The trees of the dense forest that surrounded us had all been chopped down. Rohwer today was mile after mile of open farmland.


http://www.georgetakei.com/news-2003-december.asp

but this says different:



Rohwer War Relocation Center was located five miles west of the Mississippi River in a swampy area intertwined with canals, creeks, and bayous. Forests had once covered the area, but by 1940 had been replaced by agricultural fields. Rohwer was at an elevation of 140 feet.

Acreage: 10,161
Opened: September 18, 1942
Closed: November 30, 1944


http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/rohwer.html

There's a camp-made newsletter in the link above: it talks about distribution of paychecks; need for 500 lumberjacks; work opportunities outside the camp for those interested. The ones I read didn't mention any specific kind of work except the lumberjacking. Residents are cautioned not to cut down trees near powerlines. There's some more pictures too.

I didn't see anything about rice, but cotton farmers are mentioned and there's a picture of a camp resident spinning cotton on a spinning wheel.

oops, here's something about farmwork (summary of one newsletter's contents):

Page 1: Essay contest winners to attend meet; M.I. school opened; co-op instructions on relocation released; friends center sponsors an evacuee art exhibit; on to Shelby.

Page 2: Residents catch queer 'things'; Spears' job to Bricker; guests; new outside employment; dance with the 'Densoneers'; relocation calendar; dietitian's class; ordered world almanacs here; deadline for exhibit from page 1; intelligence school from page 1.

Page 3: Now showing; Michigan growers association seeks 120 farm workers; center library has additions; drivers must report back; vital statistics; Scouts now have reference books; night school notes; outside cost of living.

Page 4: Packed court of honor advances 13; Club Notes; library takes rapid shape; block 16 donates dictionary; honesty is the best policy; Chandler states.

Page 5: Stored items moved; Engei Kai premiere night; Hawaii bids aloha to 2600 Japanese-American soldiers; center waiting WPB approval for entry porch extensions; marble contest slated by CA; old new songs at singspiration; current movie synopses.

Page 6: Editorial; cartoon; Smoke Signals.

Pages 7, 8: Sports.

Pages 9-12: In Japanese.


Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
271. I actually visited the Jerome site, back in 1998 I think
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 07:52 AM
Feb 2013

Nothing at all remained of the camp-- there was just a marker to note that that had been the site of an internment camp. But this Wiki article says that the site has been or will be restored:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_War_Relocation_Center

 

jberryhill

(62,444 posts)
88. And his response was to hate the US forever?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:13 PM
Feb 2013

Uh, no. Oddly, he did not become reflexively cynical about the prospect of the ongoing process of aligning our principles with our circumstances.

 

Marr

(20,317 posts)
31. To the Excuse Crew bringing up Japanese internment...
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:52 PM
Feb 2013

How is that a defense of the Obama Administration? Last I checked, just about everyone agreed that the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII was a horrific injustice. Are you saying it was reasonable?

Or are you saying that, since the US has done horrible things in the past, this new horrible thing needn't be discussed?

 

quinnox

(20,600 posts)
37. I thought the same thing
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:55 PM
Feb 2013

So, since the United States made a big mistake in WW 2, and that which has been acknowledged as wrong, that means it is ok for us to continue making mistakes? I don't get the logic. You would think we would strive to make less mistakes, not make lame and dumb excuses for new ones.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
44. uh, grab a clue: The OP used FDR to indict Obama. It's historically inaccuarate
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:07 PM
Feb 2013

revisionist. Of course to the Revisionist Crew that's just fine.

I'm saying don't fucking rewrite history to further your agenda.

 

Marr

(20,317 posts)
48. It's been brought up as a defense.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:22 PM
Feb 2013

Or at least, that's how it's read to me, and I think any objective observer would agree.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
51. I think it goes like this
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:30 PM
Feb 2013

There are plenty of ways to attack the asinine drone memo and policy. Holding up FDR as some kind of perfect exemplar of executive restraint, however, is not a very good one. The OP has a rather odd fetish for FDR that is easily debunked. That's not a defense of the asinine drone policy, but an eye-rolling response to the OP's ridiculous implicit assertion that FDR is a model of civil liberties in wartime. indeed, as FDR's absolutely outrageous refusal to deal with lynching legislation for fear of offending his southern Dem flank makes clear, he wasn't even really that great on civil liberties in peacetime. None of this is particularly complicated: the OP made a stupid, ahistorical, and easily countered argument, and it was easily countered.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
53. So FDR executed Americans without habeas corpus or trial
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:37 PM
Feb 2013

simply on his belief that they were Axis sympathizers.

Got it.

But at least we seem to agree that the present policy is wrong.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
57. Yes,
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:41 PM
Feb 2013
So FDR executed Americans without habeas corpus or trial

simply on his belief that they were Axis sympathizers.

Got it.

But at least we seem to agree that the present policy is wrong.


...he did: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2318670

Gee, it's mighty big of you to agree that the "present policy is wrong."
 

Egalitarian Thug

(12,448 posts)
210. Of course they are. There is nothing inexcusable as any excuse will do.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 04:43 AM
Feb 2013

Once an injustice has been committed it is no longer unjust, unless it was committed by someone we don't like and then it is still unjust until someone we like does it, then it is just. See?

We have become what we claimed to be against when the other guys were doing it.

 

JEB

(4,748 posts)
52. Executing Americans
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:32 PM
Feb 2013

without habeus corpus or trial is wrong no matter who does it. We in the USA have a pretty long list of shameful behavior, broken treaties, wrongful incarceration, even executions. I doubt I'll live long enough to see an end to our crimes.

Kalidurga

(14,177 posts)
56. Internment camps wrong does not equal drones are ok.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:39 PM
Feb 2013

I haven't seen a single person saying that. In fact I would venture to guess that people who think internment camps were a black mark in US history would also be the ones to say that drones are a black mark in our current time.

I think that executing people remotely is a horrible idea myself. But, I am not going to polish up history and ignore the fact that hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned without charges and without trial and draconian laws were passed against US citizens.

lunasun

(21,646 posts)
170. +1
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:00 AM
Feb 2013

Had a friend whose family lost everything and was taken to those camps = let us never return to imprisoning our citizens by color, creed origin, etc.
i remember hearing some idiot after 9/11 saying we should round up all Muslims in camps right away here like they did after Pearl Harbor.

 

RZM

(8,556 posts)
73. It seems you're talking about Obama here, so perhaps you should define 'sympathizer'
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 09:56 PM
Feb 2013

Are you saying that Obama has executed terrorist 'sympathizers' who are American citizens? The examples I've seen seem to be mostly people who were actively involved in terrorist organizations, which is not the same as being a sympathizer.

I doubt FDR or anybody else would have hesitated for a second to execute Americans who were German spies, in the German military, or whatever.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
78. Was al-Alwaki proven to be an al Qaeda member?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:01 PM
Feb 2013

Or proven to be plotting to attack the auas?

Last I checked, he was only known to be an nitwit spewing anti-American claptrap. Which sucks, but is protected by our Constitution.

And what about his 16 year old son executed in a followup attack?

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
80. Is it proven that MannyGoldstein and ThirdwayManny are the same person?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:05 PM
Feb 2013

Is it proven that the guy charging up the hill on Iwo trying to attack the Marine was in fact a Japanese soldier, or was the Marine generalizing and being ethnocentric.

What proof do you want? What would satisfy you?

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
95. The Japanese soldier got due process? What if it had been an American of Japanese descent and the
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:19 PM
Feb 2013

Marine shot him? Perhaps it did happen. Should the Marines on Iwo have checked each opposing soldiers identification before shooting them to make sure they didnt have American passports?

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
97. Awkward deflect there Leser. Al-Awlaki never held a gun, as far as we know. Again, wrong metaphor
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:19 PM
Feb 2013

Do you want to know what he really was: a live moth fluttering around on a spider's web attracting other bugs. He had communicated with Al-Qaeda attackers in at least four different operations, including the Flt. 77 hijackers, the Shoe Bomber, the Ft. Hood shooter, and the Underwear Bomber.

He was Manny Goldstein, but you probably don't get that allusion.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
102. Is it? You want me to tell you the mindset and daily activities of someone 10000 miles away?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:25 PM
Feb 2013

Particularly when those activities are probably classified?

The reality is, this is 2-3 people who decided to betray their country, join Al Qaeda and plot against us. Some folks are up in arms as if this means a slippery slope of some sort. I was not against drones when Bush was in office, and I am not against them now. I am not against the government trying to interdict terrorist operations in the planning stages, and that is regardless of who is doing the planning.

I am going to travel overseas this summer, and I can assure you all I have 0.000000000% worry I will be targeted in a drone strike. Know Why? Because I am not affiliated with a terrorist organization that has attacked American warships, American embassies, and New York and Washington DC.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
113. You don't know who al-Awlaki was because that's classified. But, it's clear what his role was,
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:38 PM
Feb 2013

witting or not. He was at various times an agent provocateur, and a catch and release, who the US had in custody after 9/11 but let go, like a number of other key AQ figures who operated inside the US.

You probably don't know that, even though it was reported in the NY Times, WaPo, etc., because apparently you choose not to read closely enough to have formed an informed, independent opinion. Instead, you attack others on this board for their independence of thought using conventional homilies and nostrums about people who betray their country. Yet, you apparently don't even know how US intelligence operations work and the indispensable role of agents provocateur and catch and releases, until someone decides they've become dispensable.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
124. Wikipedia disagrees with you. Apparently you are not as well informed as you think
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:57 PM
Feb 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki#Abdulrahman_al-Aulaqi

On August 31, 2006, al-Aulaqi was arrested with four others on charges of kidnapping a Shiite teenager for ransom, and
participating in an al-Qaeda plot to kidnap a U.S. military attaché
.[14][77] He was imprisoned in 2006 and 2007, reportedly under American pressure on the Yemeni authorities.[58] He was interviewed around September 2007 by two FBI agents with regard to the 9/11 attacks and other subjects, and John Negroponte, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told Yemeni officials he did not object to al-Aulaqi's detention.[50]

His name was on a list of 100 prisoners whose release was sought by al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen

In July 2010, a Seattle cartoonist was warned by the FBI of a death threat against him issued by al-Aulaqi in the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire. Eight other cartoonists, journalists, and writers from Britain, Sweden and Denmark were also threatened with death. "The prophet is the pinnacle of Jihad", al-Aulaqi wrote. "It is better to support the prophet by attacking those who slander him than it is to travel to land of Jihad like Iraq or Afghanistan."[118]

Al-Aulaqi influenced several other extremists to join terrorist organizations overseas and to carry out terrorist attacks in their home countries. Mohamed Alessa and Carlos Almonte­, two American citizens from New Jersey who attempted to travel to Somalia in June 2010 to join Al Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group based there­—allegedly watched several al-Aulaqi videos and sermons in which al-Aulaqi warned of future attacks against Americans in the U.S. and abroad.[134] Zachary Chesser (nicknamed Abu Talha al-Amrikee), another American citizen who was arrested for attempting to provide material support to Al Shabaab, also told federal authorities that he watched online videos featuring al-Aulaqi and that he exchanged several e-mails with al-Aulaqi.[135][136] In July 2010, Paul Rockwood pleaded guilty to, and received an eight-year prison sentence for, assembling a hit list of 15 targets for assassination or bomb attacks within the U.S. of people who he felt had desecrated Islam.[136] Rockwood admitted to having become a "strict adherent to the violent jihad-promoting ideology of cleric [Awlaki]", which "included a personal conviction that it was [Rockwood's] religious responsibility to exact revenge by death on anyone who desecrated Islam", and following al-Aulaqi's ideology, "including devotion to [Awlaki's] violence-promoting works, Constants on the Path to Jihad and 44 Ways to Jihad".[136]

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
139. Is Wiki the extent of your research? Why start with events in 2006?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:19 PM
Feb 2013

Just serve me a Jeezbus on a Ritz. You have to go back to 2002.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2182508/FBI-admits-terrorist-Anwar-al-Awlaki-custody-let-go.html#axzz2K5KaNCbC

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 04:52 EST, 2 August 2012 | UPDATED: 04:52 EST, 2 August 2012


The FBI has publicly admitted that they had radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in custody when he returned to America in 2002 but let him go.

An American-born al Qaeda cleric, second only to Osama bin Laden on the world's most-wanted list, al-Awlaki was eventually killed in Yemen last September during a US drone strike.

Despite being named a major threat by the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service and the first American to become one of the CIA’s top targets, the FBI released him from custody after detaining him at JFK Airport in October 2002.
CIA top target: Radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was in US custody in 2002 but was allowed to walk free but the FBI have offered no explanation why al-Awlaki, who had lived in London and thought to be behind several al Qaeda terrorist plots, had become the public face of the Islamic terrorist organisation in the wake of bin Laden's death.

Former FBI agents said there are two possible explanations for al-Awlaki’s abrupt release in 2002. That the FBI wanted to track him for intelligence or that the bureau wanted to work with him as a contact.

Mark Giuliano, the FBI’s assistant director for national security told an enquiry yesterday that there had been conversations between an FBI agent and the US attorney in Colorado about al-Awlaki’s re-entry into the country and the warrant.

He said: ‘Yes, sir, there was a dialogue, as there always will be.

‘If a case agent has a case on somebody that is coming into the country, the system is triggered and set up so that there will be a call to that case agent.’

But Mr Giulano could not explain how the FBI knew of the terrorist’s return to America nor the reasons why he was allowed to walk free from custody.

At a hearing yesterday into the Webster report into the bureau’s intelligence failures leading up to the Fort Hood massacre, in which Major Nidal Hasan was accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 in Texas, links were made between Hasan and Al-Awlaki.

In an exchange of 19 emails Hasan told al-Awlaki that he advocated using suicide bombers and that he believed it was OK to kill civilians to which al-Awlaki replied that Hasan should keep his contact details handy.

Republican Rep Frank Wolf, chairman of the committee that oversees the FBI said at a hearing: ‘I really want to get to the bottom (of this)’ according to Fox News.

‘We’re going to send a letter on this. If we can, we’re going to get a hearing, and if we have to, we may even subpoena the thing.’
al-Awlaki was being held when FBI agent Wade Ammerman told customs agents that ‘the warrant…had been pulled back’ but documents show that the warrant was still active at that time and was only relinquished later that day.

The bureau has always maintained that the case against al-Awlaki was weak and the pulling back of his arrest warrant was coincidental with the day he returned to America.

Why he was able to walk free when scores of Muslim men were held in detention centres on material witness warrants in the wake of September 11 attacks has never been explained by the FBI.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2182508/FBI-admits-terrorist-Anwar-al-Awlaki-custody-let-go.html#ixzz2K5LeqRGq
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


leveymg

(36,418 posts)
156. Here's a NYT story about the FBI taking an interest in him going back to 1999 and his 9/11 hijackers
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:37 PM
Feb 2013

relationship. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/world/09awlaki.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

In fact, the F.B.I. had first taken an interest in Mr. Awlaki in 1999, concerned about brushes with militants that to this day remain difficult to interpret. In 1998 and 1999, he was a vice president of a small Islamic charity that an F.B.I. agent later testified was “a front organization to funnel money to terrorists.” He had been visited by Ziyad Khaleel, a Qaeda operative who purchased a battery for Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone, as well as by an associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, who was serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up New York landmarks.

Still more disturbing was Mr. Awlaki’s links to two future Sept. 11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhazmi. They prayed at his San Diego mosque and were seen in long conferences with the cleric. Mr. Alhazmi would follow the imam to his new mosque in Virginia, and 9/11 investigators would call Mr. Awlaki Mr. Alhazmi’s “spiritual adviser.”

The F.B.I., whose agents interviewed Mr. Awlaki four times in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, concluded that his contacts with the hijackers and other radicals were random, the inevitable consequence of living in the small world of Islam in America. But records of the 9/11 commission at the National Archives make clear that not all investigators agreed.

One detective, whose name has been redacted, told the commission he believed Mr. Awlaki “was at the center of the 9/11 story.” An F.B.I. agent, also unidentified, said that “if anyone had knowledge of the plot, it would have been” the cleric, since “someone had to be in the U.S. and keep the hijackers spiritually focused.”

The 9/11 commission staff members themselves had sharp arguments about him. “Do I think he played a role in helping the hijackers here, knowing they were up to something?” said one staff member, who would speak only on condition of anonymity. “Yes. Do I think he was sent here for that purpose? I have no evidence for it.”

The separate Congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks suspected that Mr. Awlaki might have been part of a support network for the hijackers, said Eleanor Hill, its director. “There’s no smoking gun. But we thought somebody ought to investigate him,” Ms. Hill said.
 

RZM

(8,556 posts)
104. You didn't clarify what you mean by 'sympathizer'
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:26 PM
Feb 2013

Is that what you think he was? Or are you shoehorning him into that description because you need a name to fill it?

You could probably also get an argument from the lawyers as to whether or not everything he said was protected speech. I'll bet a lot of it wasn't. Of course, that's not all that important to the point you're trying to make either.

I'm not saying this shit is pretty. Nor am I entirely comfortable with all of it. But I do think that 'sympathizer' is quite a stretch for al-Awlaki. I guess it would have been better to seize him and bring him back, but as I commented on DU at the time, how good of an idea would such an operation really have been? Lots can go wrong. I can see the logic, especially from a political standpoint, of serving up a missile instead of a complicated extraction mission that could result in dead US personnel and no al-Awlaki.

Court trials for anybody and everybody accused of conducting terrorist activity outside of the US may sound nice, but it's simply not feasible in the real world. The question is where you draw the line

It's a tough one.





treestar

(82,383 posts)
217. Thank you!
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 09:26 AM
Feb 2013

There is no reasoning with these people. They are conveniently not mentioning the people who are the targets, to make them look like persecuted innocent Americans with only a political protest.

KakistocracyHater

(1,843 posts)
96. I'm an FDR Dem, & possibly infused with Teddy Repub
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:19 PM
Feb 2013

spiced in. Why is it the "party of Lincoln" is actively trying to undo his legacy, & the "party of FDR" is trying to undo his legacy? the leaders, at least? 'always on the table' crap, etc

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
136. Both parties have become unhinged from the 99%, and unhinged from reality and evidence
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:15 PM
Feb 2013

It's pretty awful.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
106. in a declared war on a specific country. as opposed to an undeclared war on 'enemies' anywhere
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:31 PM
Feb 2013

in the world, with bystanders anywhere in the world becoming collateral damage.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
107. Oh! Got ya'.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:35 PM
Feb 2013

So, you'll be okay with this if Obama goes and declares war?

Cool!

FWIW, your trying to explain away the firebombing that most believe was absolutely unnecessary and a potential war crime, is absolutely hilarious and pathetic.

I love FDR - but he was no saint. Stop trying to build him up to tear down Obama. If you want to go there, you'll find just as many skeletons - if not more - than what we've seen from Obama.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
123. far from trying to 'explain away' anything, i'm explaining the difference between the firebombing
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:56 PM
Feb 2013

& obama's assassinations.

i made no judgements about the firebombing, fdr, or anything in particular.


simply put, this administration's position is that they have the right to kill anyone, anywhere.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
126. You're right. There is a difference...
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:58 PM
Feb 2013

Obama hasn't killed nearly as many people.

Simply put, FDR decided to wipe out an entire city. No one said being president was filled with easy decisions.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
130. Wouldn't it be wild if
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:05 PM
Feb 2013

the upcoming hearing for the CIA director leads to an end to the drone strikes, and the determination is made that traditional warfare is better.

They could send this thread to show support for killing tens of thousands of people to stop terrorists. After all, it's the more ethical way to do it. The goal is right, massive deaths, but no drones.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
137. I guess DU would be fine with another war...
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:16 PM
Feb 2013

That's what it sounds like they're advocating here. Go declare more war, send boots on the ground and watch the U.S. casualties rise.

Are drones the answer? Maybe ... maybe not. I'll defer to Obama. Just as I would have deferred to FDR in the 40s to know to do what is right in a world that is far more complex than we give it credit and certainly not nearly as black and white.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
141. We're no more in favor of more war than you're in favor of
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:21 PM
Feb 2013

shredding the entire Constitution.

Your stretches are not helpful.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
142. Didn't the
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:23 PM
Feb 2013

"We're no more in favor of more war than you're in favor of shredding the entire Constitution."

...Internment entail "shredding the entire Constitution"?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022318948

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
145. Not according to the courts that heard the case
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:27 PM
Feb 2013

You've heard of courts, no doubt?

Can't you at least try to divert the conversation more effectively?

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
153. The drones are not the problem
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:36 PM
Feb 2013

Extrajudicial executions are the problem.

If this SCOTUS rules they're OK? That makes my brain hurt.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
146. So, basically, do nothing?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:28 PM
Feb 2013

Just let these terrorists plot to kill Americans and ignore 'em?

Aren't you the same fools who get on Bush's nuts for ignoring 9/11?

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
150. No.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:31 PM
Feb 2013

There should be judicial review, unless something's about to happen in minutes. The FISA court, for example, can make decisions in hours 24/7/365.

The Judiciary exists for very good reasons, it should not be avoided.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
154. We don't know exactly what the process has been...
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:36 PM
Feb 2013

We don't know what the intelligence says. We don't know what these men are plotting. It's a very tricky situation that can't be explained very easily. I might be too naive ... but I trust Obama's judgment.

TheKentuckian

(25,029 posts)
203. Do you trust the Presidency regardless of occupant with such power?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:33 AM
Feb 2013

If not then you do not get to make any one human an exception to our form of law and government, Obama is a human, we are not supposed to hang by "trust" in a personality and then extends that "trust" effectively without end or enforceable or even verifiable boundary or limits as an inherent outcome of said "trust".

I think this is crazytown territory.

TheKentuckian

(25,029 posts)
273. Bullshit, a logical construct based on present trust in Obama and a rhetorical trick
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 11:27 AM
Feb 2013

You wouldn't trust fucking Bush to set up a secret and unchecked kill list, asserting power to kill anyone in the world at his discretion and whim.
You wouldn't trust him to do any such thing because in reality you probably wouldn't trust him to watch your dog or water the plant BUT you of course would trust him to emulate Obama because you trust what Obama is doing but don't pretend you would trust Bush with any secret, unverifiable, unchecked, and by definition unlimited power of any sort. There would be no possible way to know if he was conducting himself in a way that Obama has and your phony "trust" would break down.

Of course you don't know what Obama is doing either but you "trust" him for whatever reason. I wouldn't trust my dear departed mother with such power, I don't know Obama or Bush so I'm not interested in "trust" of either. Our form of government doesn't work on trust but rather checks and oversight.
Trust is foolish, lazy, and gives away self governance.

Your job as a citizen is not about blank checks.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
148. i agree, more died at dresden than in obama's assassinations. however, that's really quite
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:29 PM
Feb 2013

Last edited Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:06 AM - Edit history (2)

irrelevant to my point: that Obama presumes he has the right to secretly kill *anyone* *anywhere* on the globe.

according to this, 176 children have been killed by drone strikes since 2004, and 1255-1405 people altogether.

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/12/03/november-2012-update-us-covert-actions-in-pakistan-yemen-and-somalia/

also three american citizens.


The White House on Tuesday defended targeted assassinations of Americans thought to consort overseas with terrorists as “necessary,” “ethical” and “wise,” as the Obama administration faced fresh questions about its sharply expanded drone war.

"We conduct those strikes because they are necessary to mitigate ongoing actual threats—to stop plots, prevent future attacks and, again, save American lives,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters. “These strikes are legal, they are ethical, and they are wise."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-memo-justifies-drone-war-killing-americans-164123578--politics.html

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
180. that's how it works in war. but this is not war; it's a president declaring he has the power to
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:26 AM
Feb 2013

kill anyone, anywhere, for reasons he won't tell us.

you think it's ok; i don't.

nothing more to say.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
181. So, it comes back to you being okay with it if Obama declares war...
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:44 AM
Feb 2013

Well, I'd rather go this route than declare war and get us involved in a massive fight.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
197. no, who would we be fighting a war with if we weren't doing covert war? who is this 'al qaeda'?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:26 AM
Feb 2013

just a ragtag band of muslim extremists? but someone is funding them, quite clearly (otherwise they'd be sol). who is that someone or something?

it's either a state, a faction within a state, or some kind of monied interest or a combination of the above.

who is it?

furthermore, what are we fighting *for,* exactly?

do you know?

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
198. Hopefully we don't fight 'em...
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:50 AM
Feb 2013

I think that's the point of the drones. Pick 'em off without the fight!

Democracyinkind

(4,015 posts)
213. I have beachfront property in Waziristan, just waiting for you....
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 06:16 AM
Feb 2013

It think you'd better follow the question of who exactly we're picking off over there and how those picked off on feel about it.

This administration, exactly like the last one, counts on the ignorance of the American people. The only difference is that there is no excuse anymore to being totally uninformed as to our assassination campaigns in FATA, Jemen, Somalia (and god knows where else).

I do not believe that any of these strikes would stand judicial review. I don't even believe that they have a firm grasp on who they're killing - as far as the picture presents itself, it's just a free for all in which CIA and private contractor paint targets which someone in Washington randomly approves. "Signature Strikes", as Obama has come to call them, are evidence of that.

If this were any other country, at any other time in history, we'd be unilaterally condemning this star-chamberism.

http://livingunderdrones.org/

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
214. I'm not uninformed. I support it.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 07:59 AM
Feb 2013

I'd much rather kill 'em over there without risking American lives than sending in troops to do the job - or worse, letting 'em live as they plot to attack America. Unless someone can show me evidence of Obama purposely striking innocents, then I see no reason to carry on any debate about this matter.

I guess I just don't have sympathy for people who hate America. Let 'em die and kill 'em without risking our people here.

Democracyinkind

(4,015 posts)
215. If you'd bother to actually read about the subject, you'd know that most America-hating
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 08:10 AM
Feb 2013

in Waziristan began when the Drones came.

To state that all of the people killed in Waziristan are terrorists or "people who hate America" is, to put it bluntly, quite fascistic.

And there is evidence of Obama purposely killing innocents: It's called double-diping. He seems to be ok with it. At least, he's begun the tactic and he hasn't stopped it yet. Obama is also the first president to use "signature strikes" - Both methods are guaranteed to strike innocents.

Of course, Obama has a solution to that: Change definitions so that "militant" means "someone killed by a drone strike".

If you're, at this point, unaware of "double diping" and "signature strikes", than I can't consider you informed. This is not meant as a personal attack. But I did link you to the most up-to-date study on our assassination program, in which the things I talk about are documented - you answer, by denying it - and saying you trust him.

I do not trust anyone - Democrat, Republican or Satanist - that wants to implement "double dips" and "signature strikes". And I can't respect anyone - member of DU or not - that defends them.

And I think it borders on being criminally inhumane to simply claim that a couple of hundred thousand people "had it coming " simply because they happen to be born in the FATA.


Edit: I do believe that drones can be helpful. I think our military more or less figured out how to responsibally use them. At least they came up with a system of checks and balances.

As to the "black" drone program, run by CIA and contractors - we have absolutely no reason to believe any of that pertains.

Democracyinkind

(4,015 posts)
252. I do understand.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 03:46 PM
Feb 2013

I think you have no idea who "these people" are. And you think you don't give a fuck. You will when they will (again) carry their shit to our front porches.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
253. So, ignore 'em? Let 'em fester?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 03:56 PM
Feb 2013

The problem I have is that there doesn't seem to be a good solution. We can't just turn our backs and ignore these terrorists and we can't invade these countries to take 'em out.

I believe in blowback, but it's also more complicated than that. We're lucky, tho, because we are an isolated country. It's not you and me who really has to worry - it's all of Europe. Unfortunately, this issue is very complex and unlike anything we've ever experienced in our history. It'd be easy to just say they hate us because we attack 'em ... when they were hating us long before drones were invented. Yeah, a lot of that has to do with past foreign policy, but just uprooting ourselves from the Middle East and going home ain't going to solve this problem.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
118. Yes. And that was part of an effort to break Germany's will
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:50 PM
Feb 2013

So the war would come to an end.

Just like Sherman's march to the sea during the Civil War.

Awful stuff, awful. But perhaps less awful than the alternatives.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
119. "Awful stuff, awful. But perhaps less awful than the alternatives."
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 10:51 PM
Feb 2013

More awful than killing one terrorist or a dozen?

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
134. Could you imagine if a drone could have taken out Hitler and his top officials?
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:14 PM
Feb 2013

That would have saved a lot of "Awful stuff."

Should we have attacked Afghanistan?

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
138. Droning Hitler would be fine.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:18 PM
Feb 2013

Since we were at war, he was a reasonable and legal target.

We should have attacked al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Your turn to answer my question.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
222. The policy was NOT to target Hitler. There was no help given assassination attempts.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 10:47 AM
Feb 2013

The Allied leaders and intel agencies considered Hitler to be a net liability to the German war effort, and on those occasions when Germans reached out for assistance in assassination, none was actually provided.

bobduca

(1,763 posts)
226. TARDIS
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:21 PM
Feb 2013

If only the plucky Brits could have used a "time and relative dimension in space" type device to go back and kill Hitler?

 

nadinbrzezinski

(154,021 posts)
143. Empires behave in ways democracies really don't.
Tue Feb 5, 2013, 11:24 PM
Feb 2013

We are an empire, one in decline I might add. I will not be pretty.

Response to SidDithers (Reply #175)

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
196. Ok Manny, which of your multiple personalities is speaking here?
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 01:22 AM
Feb 2013

IMFHO life was simpler then. Nations had fairly distinct boundaries. Now with globalization and the major corporations all being "international" how do we know who the enemy is? The oligarchic elites are playing some of us against others.

Duppers

(28,127 posts)
209. A sympathizer is not the same as someone actively plotting and participating....
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 04:35 AM
Feb 2013

in the demise of other U.S. citizens. That's called treason.

What if during WWII, some American citizen colluded and fought with Nazis during the war and it was an ongoing process? If we knew their location, would we have hesitated to take them out? Especially if trying to capture them endangered other American lives?

Yes, I know it's a very slippery slope.

JoePhilly

(27,787 posts)
225. FDR provided the means.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:21 PM
Feb 2013

And those means were used just months after his death.

Truman didn't even know about the Manhattan project until after FDR's death. The wheels were already in motion.

On April 12, only weeks before Germany's unconditional surrender on May 7, President Roosevelt died suddenly in Warm Springs, Georgia, bringing Vice President Harry S. Truman, a veteran of the United States Senate, to the presidency. Truman was not privy to many of the secret war efforts Roosevelt had undertaken and had to be briefed extensively in his first weeks in office. One of these briefings, provided by Secretary of War Stimson on April 25, concerned S-1 (the Manhattan Project). Stimson, with Groves present during part of the meeting, traced the history of the Manhattan Project, summarized its status, and detailed the timetable for testing and combat delivery. Truman asked numerous questions during the forty-five minute meeting and made it clear that he understood the relevance of the atomic bomb to upcoming diplomatic and military initiatives.


Thus the baton was passed.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/p5s1.shtml

Others have responded to you referencing Dresden. Of course in that case, the Nationality of those killed was impossible to determine.

The defense of the Dresden attack by FDR, and of Hiroshima for Truman, was that these acts were necessary because ultimately they would SAVE LIVES.

In other words, in each case the defense, including the use of drone strikes, is actually the same: Kill "some" now, to prevent "more" dying later.

FDR did it. Truman did it. One could argue that Lincoln did the same thing during the civil war.

Trying to cherry picking narrow comparisons is a fools errand.
 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
248. I believe that the question is narrower than
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 02:58 PM
Feb 2013

Kill "some" now, to prevent "more" dying later.

Obama claims that he can execute citizens who are not actively plotting, or engaged in, attacks against the US.

Very different than people killed in a hot war, or as collateral victims.

JoePhilly

(27,787 posts)
250. That's not very accurate.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 03:25 PM
Feb 2013

Obama does not claim what you claim he claims.

Those targeted must be engaged in planning attacks, or at a minimum supporting such attacks, even if those attacks are not imminent. They are not drawing names out of a hat.

And you ignore Lincoln and the civil war. That was not a war against another country. In the civil war, there were Americans who wanted to attack the legitimate US government.

Imagine that, American citizens who took up arms against America. And the President used the US military to kill lots of them.

obamanut2012

(26,137 posts)
220. FDR signed an EO to imprison law-abiding citizens
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 09:54 AM
Feb 2013

Including children. As well as confiscating all of their goods.

And, did this for years and years and years.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
229. I start out with my strong opinion about the memo.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:33 PM
Feb 2013

It's wrong. It's evil. There are no ifs, ands, or buts.

The president should not have the power to summarily execute anyone and the drone issue is very troubling.

Of course all of this pertains to Anwar al-Awlaki and it is a retroactive effort to justify that execution. I haven't seen anyone who doesn't believe that this guy got exactly what he deserved. Don’t cry for Awlaki. He left here with the specific purpose of waging war against us. He didn't use technology to kill us, but what's the difference between sending a drone or coopting others to do your murdering? Weren't the Fort Hood shooter, the underwear bomber, and the Times Square bomber effectively human drones?

If you're faced with the choice of being able to take someone like this out with a drone, effectively saving American lives, or not taking him out knowing that he will be behind future murders, what do you do?

It's kind of like Truman's decision to drop the bomb. This is a problem we have debated for decades. Do we really have an answer? I don't think so. The moral problem of killing hundreds of thousands of civilians is very, very disturbing. Yet it is a fact that invasion by conventional methods would have been much, much worse.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
267. There are some rather odd things about al-awlaki's bio. this video is interesting for a little
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 03:39 AM
Feb 2013

different perspective, maybe.



Cary

(11,746 posts)
272. Maybe, but you're suggesting something above my pay grade
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 08:49 AM
Feb 2013

I am your average consumer of news with absolutely no independent knowledge. My experience with espionage and intrigue includes tv, books and movies. And given this guy's association with al Qaeda he isn't going to be the beneficiary of any benefit of my doubt.

I am not inclined toward conspiracy theories or conspiracy theorists. I have crossed paths with way too many "Zionist" conspiracy theorists who are anti-Semites at their core, or LaRouchies who just out of their minds, or Ron Paul cultists. And then there's the Orly Taitz of the world.

Of course anything is possible but is a video couple of benign minutes of a speech enough to even raise my eyebrow? I don't think so.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
278. Your experience with espionage and intrigue doesn't include the knowledge that intelligence
Sun Feb 10, 2013, 05:04 PM
Feb 2013

services frequently do one thing under the table while telling the public another thing?

that's no larouchite fantasy, but acknowledged truth.



Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
232. We should demand to see the immigration paperwork of the 10k nazis they allowed to become Americans
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 12:38 PM
Feb 2013

bet they lied on that paperwork.

 

Buzz Clik

(38,437 posts)
254. Yep. We won that war by complaining about our enemies over the internet.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 04:02 PM
Feb 2013

Whoops. No we didn't.

We sent millions of young million to fight a war on two fronts.

 

Kelvin Mace

(17,469 posts)
257. Another question:
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 06:55 PM
Feb 2013

Remember how we stood toe-to-toe against the Soviets, a country with actual nuclear weapons, and we won the cold war without a Patriot Act?

WHEN CRABS ROAR

(3,813 posts)
259. Better start running the government by the ideals that you taught me.
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 08:07 PM
Feb 2013

When you continually show me by your actions that violence
is the answer to our problems, what are you teaching me?
Would you want me to use those teachings against you?
Is that the lesson?

 

sulphurdunn

(6,891 posts)
261. No internment camps
Wed Feb 6, 2013, 08:52 PM
Feb 2013

were built during WWII to house German or Italian Americans. Furthermore, The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army was composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese descent who volunteered to fight in World War II even though their families were subject to internment. The 442nd, beginning in 1944, fought primarily in Europe during World War II. It fought with uncommon distinction in Europe. The 442nd is the most decorated infantry regiment in the history of the United States Army but was referred to as thee Purple Heart battalion. Of the approximately 3,000 men who served in 442nd, 950 were killed or wounded. The 442nd was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations and twenty-one of its members were awarded the Medal of Honor.

 

tama

(9,137 posts)
263. Remember how McCarthy era executed commie sympathizers
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 01:11 AM
Feb 2013

and see what is going on now in US and elsewhere?

What is the difference between us and Nazis?

We don't see them as the other, but remember that all of us can act like that. But we don't want to.

 

graham4anything

(11,464 posts)
276. I consider FDR the #2 president of all time, however, What about the Japanese?
Fri Feb 8, 2013, 06:20 PM
Feb 2013

I think the title is just a wee bit disingenious, but that's just me.

And I love the Kennedys, but hey, it would be disingenious to omit the fact that Bobby and Jack wiretapped Dr. King. (something Teddy never did.)

And well, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln...The #1 president of all time.
He had haters too.

I love President Obama, FDR, the Kennedy's and Lincoln.

and don't forget that jefferson (whom I do NOT love), kept slaves even though he wrote all Men are equal (let alone that he forgot women in his statement.)

As Ben Franklin said, an Ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Drones are an ounce of prevention.

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