Reply #217: Two Minutes of Research on this Article and Author Produced the Following [View All]

[PopSixSquish]

The article was not written by IPS but rather by William Fisher and orginally posted on Antiwar.com and linked to in the Latest News section of Bill of Rights Defense Committee website.

The person quoted in the article is Joe W. (Chip) Pitts III who is the President of the committee. He makes the following statement, " "the secret and hypocritical lobbying by the Obama administration against reforms – while publicly stating receptiveness to them.".

This vote occurred after the arrest of Najibullah Zazi a citizen of Afghanistan and a legal U.S. resident, was arrested in September as part of a group accused of planning to carry out acts of terrorism against the U.S. Zazi is said by the FBI to have attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan. (Hmmm....I remember several DUers cheering the arrest and saying that this proves that President Obama can keep us safe without resorting to Bush-like tactics).

The author does not offer any other proof that the Obama administration or Obama himself backs the provisions.

This is an opinion article written by a gentleman who spent more than thirty years managing economic development programs for the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development. He has served in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Fisher started his career as a journalist with Florida newspapers and the Associated Press. He served in the international affairs area during the Kennedy Administration. (from his blog bio at HuffPo)

Here is his site - http://www.blogger.com/profile/08751070111937957444


http://original.antiwar.com/fisher/2009/11/23/obama-quietly-backs-patriot-act-provisions/

http://original.antiwar.com/fisher/2009/11/04/no-sunset-for-sweeping-patriot-act-powers/

Antiwar.com is funded by the Randolph Bourne Institute - Randolph Bourne was an avid isolantionist who opposed the US entry into WWI. Antiwar.com founders "The founders of Antiwar.com were active in the Libertarian Party during the 1970s; in 1983, we founded the Libertarian Republican Organizing Committee to work as a libertarian caucus within the GOP." (from their site)

"Our initial project was to fight against intervention in the Balkans under the Clinton presidency. We applied the same principles to Clinton's campaigns in Haiti and Kosovo and bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan." (again from their site).

For those of you not familiar with the Balkins and Kosovo, does the name Slobodan Milošević ring any bells? Clinton ordered the bombing to prevent the massacring ethnic-Albanians. The ethnic-Albanians recently put up that 11 foot statue of Bill Clinton.

I don't think these people are exactly objective observers when it comes to their reporting, but you decide...