Recall my post of a couple of days ago, "If It Can Be Done To One American, It Can Be Done To Any Of Us"? Remember that American citizen Gulet Mohamed was detained in Kuwait (by Kuwaiti or U.S. authorities, either way without due process), allegedly abusively interrogated, and placed on the no-fly list to prevent his return to the U.S.
The good news is that Mohamed is on his way home. As of this writing, the plane has not landed yet, but DoJ assures (heh) that he will have no trouble on arrival in the U.S. If you think about it, this probably would not have happened, at least not so quickly, without active pressure from our side of the blogosphere (notably Glenn Greenwald).
Of course this does not mean that we have regained all our civil liberties or even minimal due process. Only when there are real assurances that this will never happen again, only when all those illegally detained are either released or charged, only when... Dog help us... the torture stops, can we sigh with relief that our civil liberties have been restored. Don't hold your breath.
UPDATE: This morning, Friday 1/21, Mohamed was detained at Dulles airport and questioned without access to counsel by government agents (FBI). There it is again... that feeling I keep experiencing that the Bill of Rights has vanished. Be sure to watch the video. Denial of counsel after that right was explicitly invoked by an American citizen is truly un-American, and speaks badly of both the FBI and Obama's DoJ.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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Off topic Steve, do you find it necessary to wipe your boots after kicking Duff's butt? lol
ReplyDeleteOT, mandt, my boot 1) is huge, much bigger than any normal footwear, 2) has a plastic shell rather than leather or other natural material, 3) has a sole that is nearly three inches thick at its tallest point. I can even step in cat-doo without horribly adverse consequences! :-)
ReplyDeleteDuffy is kind of sad, as is witnessing his gradual decline. Worst of all, he seems unaware that even his best arguments no longer make sense even from a conservative's perspective. He's losing it. I had the sad duty to watch my late mother decay in the same way as she descended into the dementia characteristic of Alzheimer's.
That said, I still feel an occasional need to kick Duffy where the Sun don't shine. But I can't say I'm proud of that feeling. He is no longer a threat to anyone but himself.