War On Terror Over!!!!!!

[phuloi]

Pay attention, Folks...This is very dangerous rhetoric.


©2009 Google - Terms of UseObama 'declared end' to war on terror: media
4 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama "declared an end" to his predecessor's "war on terror" and began to heal the US reputation abroad when he ordered the Guantanamo Bay prison to close, US editorialists wrote Friday.

Obama's order to close the detention facility within a year, end coercive interrogations and shut secret overseas CIA prisons sent a strong signal to the world and presented a new post-September 11 era, wrote The Washington Post.

"President Obama yesterday eliminated the most controversial tools employed by his predecessor against terrorism suspects," the Post said.

"With the stroke of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the 'war on terror,' as President George W. Bush had defined it, signaling to the world that the reach of the US government in battling its enemies will not be limitless," it said.

"In a broad swipe at the Bush administration's lawyers, Obama nullified every legal order and opinion on interrogations issued by any lawyer in the executive branch after September 11, 2001," the Post added.

"It was a swift and sudden end to an era that was slowly drawing to a close anyway, as public sentiment grew against perceived abuses of government power."

The Los Angeles Times pointed out the ambiguities that remain: it was still not clear what would be done about the 245 prisoners languishing in the jail, nor how their court cases would be resolved.

But the paper hailed Obama for having reversed Bush policies.

"President Obama has begun the rehabilitation of this country's reputation when it comes to the treatment of suspected terrorists," the Times wrote.

"Obama deserves credit for ending the worst of the Bush administration's excesses in the 'war on terror' ... But the orders contain ambiguities that demonstrate how hard it will be to unwind the tangle that President Bush created."

The Chicago Tribune mulled the possibility of holding the remaining Guantanamo terror suspects "as prisoners of war for the duration of the conflict or until they no longer pose a threat."

The fight against violent extremism remains fraught with difficulty, it noted.

"Assuring fairness and civilized conditions for the accused, while protecting the nation from bloodthirsty enemies, is harder in this war than in most," the Tribune wrote.

"But the new administration can do better than the last one did."

[phuloi]

Europe cheers as Obama ends Bush's 'war on terror'[fr][de]
Published: Friday 23 January 2009
On his first day in office, US President Barack Obama put an end to the previous administration's controversial methods of fighting the war against terrorism and established a strong diplomatic team to address the world's hotbeds of tension.

Background:
US President Barack Obama was an early opponent of the Bush administration's foreign policies, calling for "phased redeployment" from Iraq and demanding the opening of diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran.

During his campaign, the Illinois senator stated that he would cut defence budgets and stop investing in "unproven" missile defence systems. Obama also called for more decisive international action against genocide in Darfur.

Obama's international agenda, and the shift from a Republican to a Democratic administration from which neo-conservatives have been expelled, has inspired European politicians to speak of "a new beginning in transatlantic relations". But over-expectations have also accompanied those hopes.

The new US President has also pledged to close the controversial Guantánamo prison camp. Around 150 of the remaining 248 prisoners on the Cuban island are to be transferred to other countries. As EU counter-terrorism chief Gilles de Kerchove recently revealed in an exclusive interview with EurActiv, the Union has been in talks with Washington about harbouring Guantánamo inmates on its soil for some time.

Portugal has already offered to take in Guantánamo inmates that have been cleared for release but cannot be sent to their countries of origin for security reasons. Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado sent a letter to his EU counterparts urging them to do the same.

More on this topic:
Interview: De Kerchove: 'We must help the Americans close Guantanamo'
Other related news:
Conflicts freeze as Obama takes office
Ambassador: Obama, EU can reach out to Islam
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Obama's American dream makes Europe wonder
With the stroke of a pen, Obama brought an end to the "war on terror" as previous president George W. Bush had defined it, signalling that the US government will not breach international or US law in battling its enemies.

Key components of the structure developed under the Bush administration have now been abolished. As expected, Obama ordered the closure of the controversial Guantánamo detention camp (EurActiv 13/01/09), while the CIA is now prohibited from maintaining its own prisons overseas, which irked the EU during the former US administration (EurActiv 23/04/07).

In a sign of his determination to make diplomacy a stronger tool, Obama went to the State Department yesterday (23 January), a day after the US Senate voted to confirm Hillary Clinton's nomination as secretary of state.

Obama installed two heavyweights in the State Department to handle the Middle East crisis and the situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama and Clinton jointly introduced George J. Mitchell, special envoy for the Middle East, and Richard Holbrooke, who will fulfil the role for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader, helped broker a peace agreement in Northern Ireland, while Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat and formerly America's ambassador to the UN, played a central role in drafting the 1995 Dayton peace accords, which ended the war in Bosnia.

EU to help the new US president

In the meantime, EU foreign ministers are preparing to meet on Monday in Brussels, when they are expected to discuss how to help the US administration to close Guantánamo by accepting former detainees on their soil.

No common EU position is expected, because some countries have ruled out accepting Guantánamo detainees. But Portugal, Ireland, France, Germany and some other countries are considering granting asylum status to released detainees for whom a return to their home countries may pose threats to their safety.

The Czech EU Presidency issued a statement welcoming Obama's decision to close Guantánamo and to put an end to particularly harsh interrogation techniques previously used on terrorist suspects.

"We believe that the decision has great symbolic and practical significance, and could facilitate strengthening transatlantic counter-terrorism and security cooperation, based on the respect of international law and human rights," the statement reads.

(With agencies.)

Positions:
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg issued a statement calling on EU countries to help Obama close Guantánamo.

"While the United States created the Guantánamo problem and has the primary responsibility for correcting the injustices, there are strong arguments for European assistance in closing Guantánamo Bay," Hammarberg states.

"To achieve this goal, Council of Europe member states should stand ready to receive some of those remaining detainees who cannot go back home for fear of persecution and torture if returned. Giving such an offer would be both the right thing to do and of critical importance in our attempts to push for the prompt closure of Guantánamo Bay," the statement further reads.

Sarah Ludford MEP (UK Liberal Democrats), a member of the Parliament's civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee who was the EU assembly's rapporteur on Guantánamo and vice-chair of its temporary committee on extraordinary rendition, issued a statement welcoming the executive order issued by Barack Obama on his first day in office.

"I pressed both the EU counter-terrorism coordinator and the Czech Interior Minister [acting on behalf of the EU presidency] yesterday during their hearings in the EP civil liberties committee to secure urgent and decisive offers by EU countries to help the US administration close Guantánamo, by giving residence to released detainees who cannot safely be returned to their home countries. EU foreign ministers next Monday must authorise EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot and Czech representatives, when they visit the US, to deliver a message of serious assistance from the EU," Ludford said.

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) Director Mike Hayden issued a statement pledging to comply with the US president's order, setting out new instructions for the detention, rendition and interrogation of captured terrorist suspects.

"When our government changes its law or policy, we will follow that direction without exception, carve-out or loophole," Hayden states, instructing his personnel: "As intelligence professionals, you, the men and women of CIA, will make the best possible use of the space the Republic has given us to act boldly and bravely in its defence. I have every confidence in your enduring ability to do so, honoring, as always, the laws and values of the democracy we faithfully serve

[Seascamp]

The presumption then is that the nightmare goes away, all better now. Not at all likely and yet another exercise in ignoring reality. Dysfunctional and corrupt belief systems and countries cannot possibly provide for their own and dump them one way or another. Tik- tik on the lectern, the current Mexican war and border war boil over isn’t theory or political yadda- yadda hide the button deal. Mexico is a corrupt and failed state, hate the Gringo country, dump their unwanted population country.

Personally, being a social lab rat or victim of the Mexican wars doesn’t ring my chimes. Julio has a need to kill Horge, Juan has to kill Emilio, on and on. I have no need of that Mexican kill culture and my newly acquired Remington 870 short barrel pump speaks a universal language and is not of Liberal of intent. Come at me or mine Mexican gang punks, then expect to have a quick journey to the goal posts of next Wednesday, amen

Scamp

[SuperScout]

Gosh!!! I feel safer already! O thank you, thank you, thank you, Massa Barak, fo makin' all us folks who thought we needed to cling to our guns and our religion see the light. Lawdy, Lawdy how wrong we was, thinking that you was some po' dumb ass from the cesspools of Chicago, who didn't know shit from shinola. Nowze we sees dat you the smartest MF on de block, even if dat block was all covered up with the trash that all the idol worshipers leff behind after they done watched you f-up the oath of arfice.

Maybe you can let those ragheads who used to want to behead me and my neighbors lose in your former 'hood in Chicago, and see if'n dey can get rid of the gangs.