Fact x Importance = News (16 Dec): Camp X-Ray, Khatami, Bad Cheney, Lovely Obama

Other stories we're following:

SHHH! DON'T MENTION THOSE UNLAWFUL COMBATANTS

In contrast to the glare of publicity the Bush Administration shone on its trial of 9-11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, cut short when he and other defendants tried to plead guilty, all the President's men and women are keeping quiet about the latest developments at Guantanamo Bay.



Three of six Bosnians held at Camp X-Ray will soon released, according to defense lawyers with information from Guantanamo and Bosnian officials. Last month, a Federal judge ruled against the Bush Administration, declaring there was insufficient evidence to show that five of the six, all of whom were born in Algeria, were "unlawful combatants". No word, however, on the fate of the others, including Lakhdar Boumediene, whose name is associated with a Supreme Court decision regarding the legal rights of detainees.

Meanwhile, "the Supreme Court yesterday kept alive a lawsuit by four British citizens who had been detained as terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay and had alleged that former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials were responsible for their torture and the denial of their religious rights".

TODAY'S NON-APOLOGY: CHENEY STILL GROWLS


For anyone who thought Vice President Dick Cheney might be regretting any of the Executive Power he grasped with his detaining/surveilling/renditioning/torturing/war-fighting/Constitution-shredding hands over the last eight years. Facing the tough interrogation of Rush Limbaugh, he held firm:

Once they get here and they're faced with the same problems we deal with every day, then they will appreciate some of the things we've put in place."

And...

Guantanamo has been very, very valuable. And I think they'll discover that trying to close it is a very hard proposition.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE:

The BBC's Today programme confidently reported this morning that the United Nations was on the verge of endoring "the Arab proposal", first mooted by Saudi Arabia in 2002, for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

There has been no further word, however, and The New York Times has a different perspective:

Senior Arab ministers met with the quartet of Middle East peace negotiators at the United Nations on Monday and lamented the lack of any concrete results after a year of renewed efforts

KHATAMI: WILL HE RUN, WON'T HE RUN?

From Iran, The New York Times offers a non-too-veiled boost to former President Mohammad Khatami as he continues his Hamlet-like indecision over whether to challenge for the Presidency next spring.

TODAY'S LONGEST LOVE LETTER: I HEART OBAMA


Helene Cooper writes in The New York Times, allegedly on President-elect Obama and foreign policy team:

[Obama] has read “Ghost Wars,” the history of the long adventure by the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan and its fruitless effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. He has sought the counsel of an old Republican realist — Brent Scowcroft, the former national security adviser — who has long argued against an ideologically driven foreign policy.

And he has one-upped President Bush’s six intelligence briefings a week by demanding seven, prompting Mike McConnell, who handles presidential briefings as the director of national intelligence, to joke, “I don’t know if there’s some kind of competition going.”

Etc., etc. for 1000 words.

The Obama YouTube Address to the Nation

It's gonna be a new Presidency, America. Not only has Barack Obama mastered the Internet to get into the White House, he's going to stay there courtesy of kittens, fat guys on mopeds, and body-poppin' kids....

(forgive us for the screenshot that comes with this --- the video is a lot less raunchier and a lot funnier)

YOUTUBE BOOB ADDRESS - watch more funny videos

Iraq Non-Surprise of the Day: We'll Stick Around for A While

It didn't take long for the US military to confirm our speculation that a lot of US troops won't be coming home soon. From The New York Times:

The top American commander in Iraq said Saturday that some soldiers would remain in a support role in cities beyond summer 2009, when a new security agreement calls for the removal of American combat troops from urban areas.

The commander, Gen. Ray Odierno, said American troops would remain at numerous security outposts in order to help support and train Iraqi forces. “We believe that’s part of our transition teams,” he told reporters in Balad while accompanying Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who arrived on an unannounced trip Saturday.

Odierno's spokesman coined a new term to cover the retention of troops --- they're now "enablers" --- but his boss tipped off the long-term strategy:

General Odierno said Saturday, as Pentagon officials have said previously, that the agreement might be renegotiated with the Iraqi government. “Three years is a very long time,” he told reporters.

And, just to drive the point home, Secretary of Defense Gates identified the Bad Guy to justify Occupation Lite:

The president-elect and his team are under no illusions about Iran’s behavior and what Iran has been doing in the region and apparently is doing with weapons programs.

To me, it looks like US policy is now being fashioned, not by the President or the President-elect, but by Gates, Odierno, and General David Petraeus, the head of the US military's Central Command. This doesn't mean that Obama is opposed to the policy --- far from it, if he put his foot down, he would have a chance of limiting the commitments --- but with his increasingly unreal statement that US troops will be withdrawing from iraq within 16 months, Barack is letting himself be boxed in.

Why We Love Conservapedia: How Can There Be Non-Conservatives?

Our favourite on-line encyclopedia, still reeling in disbelief at the election of Barack Obama ("an apparent Muslim, Obama could use the Koran when he is sworn into office"), has started a special section, "Why Do Non-Conservatives Exist?" Answers include the contribution of Conservapedia founder and son of the legendary feminist-basher Phyllis Schlafly, Andrew Schlafly, "Self-destructive or contrarian behavior; some choose to do what is irrational."

So far there are 18 reasons, but I'm certain Enduring America readers can make valuable additions to the list. (Indeed, I took the liberty of slipping in my own contribution, which sparked an inadvertently comic discussion amongst the Conservapedia moderators.)



Conservative principles are based on reason. So why do non-conservatives still exist? Here are some reasons:

1. They made up their mind before hearing conservative principles, and will not reconsider their views.


2. They have something criticized by conservatives in their personal background, and feel compelled to defend it rather than let it go.


3. They pride themselves on doing well in school or reading the newspaper, can't accept that what they were taught was incorrect or biased.


4. They have liberal friends, and want their approval or acceptance.


5. Their job and salary, such as working for public schools, depends on keeping conservatives out of power.


6. They knew a conservative whom they dislike for some random reason.


7. They have trouble understanding some of the slightly abstract concepts in conservatism, such as "more guns, less crime," and "less taxes, more revenue."


8. They are more comfortable discussing simple issues like race and poverty than complex issues like globalism.


9. Media bias acts to caricature conservatism, making it seem unpalatable, conditioning people to reject its teachings.


10. Schools reward politically correct, liberal answers on tests.


11. Unthinking rebellion against conservative parents.


12. Impressionable individuals buying into Bush derangement syndrome, and reacting with emotion rather than reason.


13. A desire for large government inculcated by personal weakness and reluctance to take personal responsibility.


14. A disproportionate focus on biblical passages that appear to support liberal positions, eg the adulteress story, the disciples holding everything in common, etc.


15. An admiration for historical figures whom liberals claim were liberals.


16. Self-destructive or contrarian behavior; some choose to do what is irrational.


17. Mind-altering drugs.


18. Charismatic leaders trading on image, rather than experience, can dupe the unsuspecting.

With (Illinois) Friends Like These...

Last night, I was chatting with guests at the US Embassy about an intriguing spin-off drama from Barack Obama's election: who would be appointed by the Illinois Governor to fill his Senate seat for the next two years?

Little did I know that the Illinois Governor was about to be arrested for trying to sell the seat:

Federal authorities arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder....

"I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain," Blagojevich allegedly said later that day, according to the affidavit, which also quoted him as saying in a remark punctuated by profanity that the seat was "a valuable thing - you just don't give it away for nothing."


A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

Otherwise, Blagojevich considered appointing himself. The affidavit said that as late as Nov. 3, he told his deputy governor that if "they're not going to offer me anything of value I might as well take it."