National Security

Since the death of Bin Laden, the torture supporters have been in chest thumping mode, saying that it was the harsh interrogation torture of detainees that lead to the intel:

Finally, in May 2005, al-Libi was captured. Under CIA interrogation, al-Libi admitted that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed, he received the word through a courier. But he made up a name for the courier and denied knowing al-Kuwaiti, a denial that was so adamant and unbelievable that the CIA took it as confirmation that he and Mohammed were protecting the courier. It only reinforced the idea that al-Kuwaiti was very important to al-Qaida.

If they could find the man known as al-Kuwaiti, they'd find bin Laden.

The revelation that intelligence gleaned from the CIA's so-called black sites helped kill bin Laden was seen as vindication for many intelligence officials who have been repeatedly investigated and criticized for their involvement in a program that involved the harshest interrogation methods in U.S. history.

"We got beat up for it, but those efforts led to this great day," said Marty Martin, a retired CIA officer who for years led the hunt for bin Laden.

But, as it turns out, it wasn’t torture that lead to the information:

Mohammed did not discuss al-Kuwaiti while being subjected to the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, former officials said. He acknowledged knowing him many months later under standard interrogation, they said, leaving it once again up for debate as to whether the harsh technique was a valuable tool or an unnecessarily violent tactic.

Not only does it get the debate going – it reframes it.

Remember back when Bush said Osama was hiding in some cave? Well cave's sure have evolved over the years! Here's the "cave" that Bin Laden had been hiding in before his death.

Leave it to Fox Nation to come up with the most idiotic arguments one can ever think of.  Just check out this headline:

Fact: Bush Had 2 Times More Coalition Partners in Iraq Than Obama Has in Libya

Oh my – Bush must have been far more loved by the world than Obama! I mean Bush had 30 coalition countries and Obama only has 15.

But what does that really prove?

Well the first thing it proves is that FOX can’t even comprehend the difference between a full war and a no-fly zone. Why don’t we compare like scenarios instead? How about when the no-fly zone was put into effect in Iraq in 1992? Then the first President Bush only had a coalition of 9! He couldn’t even break into double digits and the only countries actually doing anything were the US, France and Britain.

Then we get to the issue of the actual build-up to the Iraq war. I know I’ve been very busy the last few weeks, so I might have missed it, but did Obama send Hillary Clinton to the U.N. to do a presentation about WMD’s Gadhafi was manufacturing? Did we have a State of the Union address where President Obama said Gadhafi was trying to get yellow cake uranium from Niger? In other words – did President Obama go on a huge campaign to lie the world into war? Absolutely not!

Following up on my earlier post, Speaker Boehner was just handed another defeat:

In a sign that some freshman Republicans were willing to cut military spending, the House voted 233-198 on Wednesday to cancel an alternate fighter jet engine that the Bush and Obama administrations had tried to kill for the last five years.

The vote marked another instance in which some of the new legislators, including members of the Tea Party, broke ranks with the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, where the engine provided more than 1,000 jobs.

Many of the 87 freshman Republicans in the House had initially been hesitant to trim military spending as part of their drive to reduce the budget deficit.

It’s going to be interesting to hear the spin Boehner puts on this. Will he call it job killing, when he constantly tries to say that the government doesn’t create jobs? I am eagerly waiting to hear.

Domestic terrorism anyone?

SPOKANE, Wash. — A backpack found along the route of the Martin Luther King Jr. march in Spokane contained a bomb "capable of inflicting multiple casualties,"  the FBI said Tuesday, describing the case as "domestic terrorism."

The FBI said the Swiss Army-brand backpack was found about 9:25 a.m. PST on Monday on a bench at the northeast corner of North Washington Street and West Main Avenue in downtown Spokane.

In an interview on msnbc cable's "The Rachel Maddow Show," Spokesman-Review reporter Thomas Clouse said confidential sources told him that the device was equipped with a remote control detonator and contained shrapnel.

It’s interesting that this story isn’t getting more attention given the terrorism nature of it.

Just what we need – more faux foods:

Tinker with the genetics of salmon and maybe you create a revolutionary new food source that could help the environment and feed the hungry.

Or maybe you're creating what some say is an untested "frankenfish" that could cause unknown allergic reactions and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population.

The Food and Drug Administration hears both arguments Monday when it begins a two-day meeting on whether to approve the marketing of the genetically engineered fish, which would be the first such animal approved for human consumption. The agency has already said the salmon, which grows twice as fast as conventional salmon, is as safe to eat as the traditional variety.

So if they do approve this new Resident Evil fish for consumption, how long before we hear the F.D.A. issue warnings about eating it? Also, will we soon see them crossbreed a fish with the lemon? Americans are lazy after all, and getting the lemon right in there would satisfy the laziness of our nation.

Face it – the right hate seeing combat operations come to an end. Their silence on the milestone being reached last night in the 7 year war proves the claims the left has made for years; the right loves them some war.

For example, how do you think the champion news site of the right, Drudge, promotes the story?

Yup – nothing but a little blurb 1/2 way down the page on the third column. Way to celebrate our heroes their Matt!

But someone on the right did notice:

John McCain wants to thank George Bush, the guy who got us into this war with no plan for exit or victory. The same George Bush who sat by like a deer in the headlights as the insurgency many warned about came to fruition and killed thousands of our young troops.

Of course if John McCain would have won in 2008 we wouldn’t be at this milestone today. He was all set to keep combat troops in Iraq another 10 years and not think twice about it.

For us on the left, today is a day to celebrate the start of the end of this war. For the right, it’s a sad day in which their favorite national pastime is coming to an end.

I took a much needed day off yesterday and headed out to the Little Miami river in Ft. Ancient, Ohio for some paddling and sun.

It was a perfect day weather-wise, as well as nature-wise. Early on in the trip we saw this Blue Heron out on the river fishing:

Then towards the end of the trip we spotted the granddaddy of all birds sitting up in a tree watching over the nest:

Bald Eagles have been essentially non-existent in this part of Ohio for decades. Over the past three years they have started appearing again, and this is the first time I saw one in the wild here. It was an awesome finish to a great day.