governments

The news is full of coverage of the anniversary of 9/11. You can change the channel without being reminded of what happened 10 years ago today. It was one of the most tragic days in American history and one none of us will ever forget.

And while we spend the day remembering this anniversary, let’s not lose sight of what else we lost on this day 10 years ago – America.

Since 9/11 this country has become increasingly more divided. We got a severely broken government that can’t operate due to partisan bickering. We saw the birth of this not long after the attacks 10 years ago. The Bush administration became hell bent on attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, Iraq. People who disagreed with that war were called terrorists or even accused of treason. This wasn’t limited to bars or living rooms. We even heard the vice-President of the country, Dick Cheney, as well as other officials from the administration and politicians use the same harsh language against those opposed to Iraq.

That’s right – 9/11 changed America and not for the better. We became a nation where disagreeing with the President was tantamount to wanting to overthrow the government. We had a government turn to the same thinking as the Middle Eastern governments we were going after. Freedom started a quick death on that day and America is worst off because of it.

Lord Bingham, one of the Brittan's top judiciary figures has condemned the Iraq war, calling it a “serious violation of international law”:

Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.

Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions "passes belief".

Governments were bound by international law as much as by their domestic laws, he said. "The current ministerial code," he added "binding on British ministers, requires them as an overarching duty to 'comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations'."

Sadly though these people always wait until they are out of a position of power to speak up. It would have been nice if they spoke up 5 1/2 years ago. The world might be a much better place today.

By having his agencies screw up the terrorist watch list:

A new Justice Department audit shows that for nearly three years the FBI gave outdated, incomplete and error-riddled data about terror suspects to be added to the government's watchlist.

Overall, the audit by the department's inspector general gives the FBI a mixed review for its process of nominating names and submitting other information to be included in the terrorist watchlist that is maintained by U.S. intelligence agencies

Think of the people who missed vacations because of the no-fly list. They did nothing wrong, but were punished because of this governments inability to do their jobs. Yeah I know how the right wing loves to lie about there not being a terrorist attack since 9/11 (ignoring things like anthrax), but that was purely by luck. This administration has done nothing to stop terrorism - it's just a political tool for them.

I am glad we are helping people become free in this world. Bush really is doing great:

A man could be sentenced to death after being charged with converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under Afghanistan's shariah laws, a judge said yesterday. The trial is thought to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan and highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformists over what shape Islam will take four years after the fall of the Taliban.

Abdul Rahman, 41, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press. The accused was charged with rejecting Islam.

During the one-day hearing on Thursday, the defendant allegedly confessed to converting to Christianity 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, Judge Mawlavezada said.

That's right folks. This democracy we have spread has made it so governments are free to kill people for changing religions. I wonder what God has to say to Bush about this one?

 UPDATE:

Armando at Daily Kos has much more on this important news story.

This just proves how deep the hatred of the far right goes:

In a reversal of policy, the United States on Monday backed an Iranian
initiative to deny United Nations consultative status to organizations
working to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
people. In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, a coalition of 39
organizations, led by the Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights Watch, the
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, called for an explanation of the vote which aligned
the United States with governments that have long repressed the rights of
sexual minorities.

Article continues
here.

Don't worry about nuclear weapons George, the gay community could get some
rights and that is a bigger threat. This goes to prove the point that the ideals
of terrorists is the same as the ideals of George W. Bush.