If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Our religious and political institutions have been polluted by words without action, which have resulted in liturgies and platforms that are hollow and meaningless. Young people are tired of words.
In order to ensure the United States does not repeat the mistakes of the past, a full and public accounting of how U.S. government policies and practices failed to conform to our legal and moral obligations is required.
On October 12, 2000, a skiff pulled up alongside the U.S.S. Cole, docked in Aden, Yemen, and blew up. Nearly 13 years on, prosecutors and defense lawyers are still in pre-trial hearings, arguing over spiral notebooks, whether a dead man can testify, and dozens of other legal questions.
Unreported in the mainstream press is the long-term hunger strike by a group of Americans in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Guantanamo prison.
Thirteen years after the USS Cole was bombed, a military commission in Guantanamo Bay is trying to figure out if the act constituted "terrorism" and if "terrorism" is a crime that can be charged in a military commission. We still don't know.
Compliant detainees, we're told, are not shackled. The wires of computers and microphones run through the furniture so that, our guide says, they cannot be used as a weapon.
Does an accused man have the right to hear classified evidence he already knows, when it's directly relevant to whether he'll be put to death? Not in a U.S. military commission, according to the government.
When you watch the strange, repetitive political dance that swirls around Guantanamo -- the president announcing yet again that he plans to "close" it and the Republicans swearing that they won't let him -- it's hard not to wonder what alternative universe we live in.
A four-month hunger strike, mass force-feedings, and widespread media coverage have at last brought Guantanamo back into American consciousness. Still unnoticed and out of the news, however, is a comparable situation in the U.S. itself.
As President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China begin discussions designed to forge closer personal bonds between the two nations, they should not shy away from uncomfortable topics. The centerpiece for this summit ought to be crafting a shared vision on human rights.
This week, Bianca Bosker puts the spotlight on Joel Osteen's efforts to spread God's word through social media, and Ryan J. Reilly looks at the hunger strikes that have brought attention -- if only briefly -- back to Guantanamo, and the fact that President Obama still hasn't honored his pledge to close the prison camp down.
I'm not under any illusions that these demands are going to be met immediately. But here are three things that, following President Obama's speech, I claim are realistic goals for reforming the former "Global War on Terror" in Yemen in the next six months.
The Obama administration recently lifted its veil of secrecy about its drone usage by providing a substantial amount of information for the first time to a public audience about the program.
Obama's speech on counterterrorism may represent the high watermark for civil liberties since his inauguration five years ago. It is disappointing, given his thoughtful words, that he ignored so many inconvenient truths.
On Memorial Day we honored those who died in war. We carry forth that honor by being honorable ourselves and by helping create and sustain a military culture as an honorable place to serve, a place where people honor each other's personhood and body.
Ron Reagan and Mary Matalin debate Obama's speech refuting Bush-Cheneyism on terrorism. Was it transformational or largely rhetorical? No more treating local thugs as UBL? And despite Noonan's & Will's best efforts to blur Obama & Nixon, 44 has the Teflon of 40.
