Update in the Global War on Terror
Posted on October 22, 2008 by David
This week the US has abandoned its pursuit of criminal charges against eleven Gitmo detainees despite “plenty of evidence to convict all of them” because of the Bush Administration’s pig-headed efforts to abandon all appearances of deference to the rule of law. That is, because “there were systemic problems with the fairness of the military prosecutions” under the current protocol.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, prosecutions are humming right along, with two successful prosecutions of suspected suicide bombers.
Ditto, in Britain, where “Britain has prosecuted suspects in all the major terrorist attacks in the country since 2005 [and] has achieved a 90 percent conviction rate.”
So what explains this difference? According to one high-ranking former British intelligence agent:
The response to 9/11 was “a huge overreaction”, she says. “You know, it was another terrorist incident. It was huge, and horrible, and seemed worse because we all watched it unfold on television. So yes, 9/11 was bigger, but not … not …” Not qualitatively different? “No. That’s not how it struck me. I suppose I’d lived with terrorist events for a good part of my working life, and this was, as far as I was concerned, another one.”
Rimington hopes President Bush’s successor will stop using the phrase “war on terror”. “It got us off on the wrong foot, because it made people think terrorism was something you could deal with by force of arms primarily. And from that flowed Guantánamo, and extraordinary rendition, and …” And Iraq, I suggest. “Well yes,” she says drily. “Iraq.”
Next up on the America First chronicles: “US infant mortality rate now worse than 28 other countries ”
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