Surprise! Obama expands renditions
posted at 9:12 am on February 1, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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For the last seven years, the Left has screeched hysterically over the CIA practice of rendition, in which agents turn detainees over to authorities in their home country for interrogation. Never mind that the practice started in the Clinton administration, and never mind that the other options were Guantanamo Bay, release, or two caps in the back of the head; they pilloried Bush over renditions as if he’d thought them up himself. Hollywood even made a movie about how awful the process is, apparently matched in awfulness only by the film’s box office.
Barack Obama exploited that outrage when he promised Hope and ChangeTM, and the Left squealed with joy over the Brave New Obama World in national security. Now they’ll have to squeal again as Obama has had a sudden revelation as President that renditions are more necessary than ever, if the CIA can’t hold these subjects at Gitmo or its own secret sites:
The CIA’s secret prisons are being shuttered. Harsh interrogation techniques are off-limits. And Guantanamo Bay will eventually go back to being a wind-swept naval base on the southeastern corner of Cuba.
But even while dismantling these programs, President Obama left intact an equally controversial counter-terrorism tool.
Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.
Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that the rendition program might be poised to play an expanded role going forward because it was the main remaining mechanism — aside from Predator missile strikes — for taking suspected terrorists off the street.
Renditions created a huge global controversy primarily because the home countries of the terrorists torture for information. Most of these terror suspects grabbed by the CIA come from countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and other emirates where the Geneva Convention only provides a veneer of respectability and not legal constraints of any kind. Critics complained that the CIA essentially “outsourced” its torture to subcontractors in this rendition process, ensuring that these methods would get used without getting their own hands dirty and getting the information torture produced.
Unfortunately, though, the political jeremiads of the Left has given Obama little room to manuever. He has already ordered the CIA to close its holding sites for such suspects, at least for indeterminate-length detentions, which means any terrorists taken have to be moved somewhere else in a relatively tight time frame. The one place the US has for that purpose will close, thanks to the entirely hysterical political press to close Gitmo. The CIA by law cannot bring the suspects back to the US. That leaves release, rendition, or assassination as the only three options left to Obama after all of the political posturing of the campaign.
Frankly, I think the US does a better job of treating its detainees than anywhere a rendition program would deliver them, but without a Gitmo or CIA holding site, that’s the only way to ensure that we can get any intelligence that will protect the US. I’m not surprised that Obama has reached the same conclusion, now that he has the responsibility to keep the nation secure from foreign attack. It’s amazing how clarifying that responsibility can be, and Obama at least must have a little more comprehension of what Bush went through the last seven years.
Perhaps the Left will suddenly realize the same logic and give him a pass on this. Somehow, though, I think renditions may be a bridge too far for them, and I expect that Obama will take a pretty big hit from the hysterics in the next couple of days.
Update: Moe Lane notes the emergence of several new pro-torture bloggers, at least according to their own standards during the Bush administration.
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heh…TFB!!
abobo on February 1, 2009 at 9:17 AM
Fistbump?
the_nile on February 1, 2009 at 9:17 AM
…and the MSM will praise BO for his progressive decision to continue renditions.
jbh45 on February 1, 2009 at 9:17 AM
he won’t be taking any hits from this
vinman on February 1, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Saw this coming the moment Obama said he was going to close Gitmo’s detention facilities. The legal beagles must have explained to Him that bringing these thugs to US soil would change their status immediately and also gut a good portion of Geneva. And The One is a “constitutional scholar?” Question: Whose Constitution?”
So, now we, as a nation, as a matter of official policy, will be sending captees to nations that will main, torture, and execute the captees without blinking an eye. Nice.
This is not the sort of Hope and Change the detainees thought they knew.
coldwarrior on February 1, 2009 at 9:19 AM
I think I hear Cindy Sheehan screaming now.
becki51758 on February 1, 2009 at 9:19 AM
Reality bump!
abobo on February 1, 2009 at 9:20 AM
I’m pretty dissapointed.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:21 AM
I’m not holding my breath. Sure, there might be a few on the far, far left that will squeal, but they will be hushed, marginalized, and all but ignored by the media and other Lefties. Their protest, if it ever comes, won’t be more than a blip on the radar.
ks_sonflower on February 1, 2009 at 9:21 AM
It’s what your side is. Embrace it.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Just watch how the Left spins this one. Barry will come out smelling like a rose…..
DL13 on February 1, 2009 at 9:23 AM
Let’s see if a single member of the MSM reports on this. If they do, I’m sure they will spin the story like cotton candy, being the miserable losers they are.
I read a story yesterday, stating that Obama was sending the GITMO terrorists to San Diego. Wonder where that story came from.
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 9:26 AM
My side in terms of progressives? Nah I don’t think progressives will get on board with this, it’s one of the reasons I actually turned out to vote for Obama instead of choosing the lefty third party. Democrats have always been war mongerers and he seemed to be less of one. The bait and switch with closing blacksites/Guantanamo but keeping renditions open isn’t appreciated.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:26 AM
I can’t wait till this story makes it to the Democratic Underground. They’ll be plenty of blood on computer screens.
William Teach on February 1, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Hope you’re not holding your breath. It’ll most likely be ignored or rationalized away, just like all the other Obama-hypocrisy.
AZCoyote on February 1, 2009 at 9:30 AM
We’ve never, er, always been at war with Eastasia.
lol, It’s a whole lot harder than just running for President isn’t it?
I read your post over at the Iran “concession” thread. Way to project on all the other international situations he’s tripping through also. I guess you forgot already how much better Gaitners comments must have made the Chinese situation.
How about that Blackwater Press Sec exchange? Did you read that Hack? I was wondering if they were really that clueless or if that was just some cut and paste joke. Do you know if it’s real Hack?
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Are you kidding? How much more left can you go than complete Marxist/Socialism. My God, are you a Marxist?
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Woops my mistake, I actually bought Ed’s spin on the story and didn’t read the entire article. I’ve been palling around conservatives a little too long on here.
This isheartening.
Good, let’s see what the taskforce says and hopefully the HRC will get off its ASS and keep a close eye on this Administration as they did on the Bush Administration to make sure these kinds of policies are implemented in the way Obama is saying they will. As usual, Jeremiah Wright was correct, he said that as soon as Obama became President he would come after him because the governments policies “grind people over.” I’ve been saying in my circles that we have to keep the pressure up, not let down because we think our guy won. Let’s hope we can do that.
I’m more upset with the HRC, this is despicable.
Um, you’re not supposed to take compromise stances, that’s for the politicians to work out. You’re a progressive advocacy group. Pro-lifers don’t think they will end abortion, but do they compromise, of course not, it’s not their job. What are you doing? Ugh.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Again? Want a Mulligan?
fogw on February 1, 2009 at 9:36 AM
As I’ve said many times. No. I don’t think workers should control the means of production, I don’t think profit should be outlawed, I don’t think there needs to be a worker’s revolution. THAT is the definition of Marxist/socialist so please learn your terms. But, if folks remember on a number of domestic issues Obama ran to the right of Hillary in the primary. He didn’t support single payer healthcare, he had no problem talking about “clean coal” (no such thing exists) he didn’t support “gay marriage” (though he did want to overturn DOMA and have federal civil union law, which will happen YAY!). And on Afghanistan he definitely was more hawkish than Hillary was in the primary. However, I sort of foolishly was under the impression that he dove to the middle to win and would move to the left post election. And in some ways he did on the foreign policy front. But this is a step in the wrong direction. On average I’m more happy with him than I am under Bush, but I’m a pretty gung ho about my principles kind of a guy so I will be hating on decisions, like this one, that I don’t like. As should all true leftists.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Yep, just tell a “progressive” that you’ve formed a task force and or blue-ribbon panel and their eyes glaze over, a smile appears on their face and all is right with the white ivory tower world again.
Hack, in a Muslim country, you would be executed. I’ve done more to defend your lifestlye than progressive liberals have. Wake the heck up. Problem is you don’t pal around with Conservatives enough. They’re not your enemy.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:38 AM
Not familiar, link?
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:39 AM
I’m trying to talk to you here, quit patronizing me and I’ll be civil too. You said as much that you were left to the thinking of Obama. It was a natural question on my part.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Yea, the Greenwald’s and Nation magazine will make some half-hearted condemnation then get right back on their knees
in the People’s Temple of Obama.
There will be no marches from code pink,answer,and hollywood to condemn their Messiah.
They have already given him a pass on:
his 20 yr. support of the racist Rev. Wright,
starting his political career in the living room of the domestic terrorist Ayers
ditching campaign finance reform
keeping troops in Iraq based on conditions on the ground
Bombing and air raiding civilians in Afghanistan/Pakistan
Signing on to the NSA wire tapping program
support for lobbyist and putting them in his administration
stocking his cabinet up with corrupt tax cheaters
on and on and on the hypocrisy of liberals selective outrage is on full display.
Now that Obama is continuing the Rendition program,it will be considered “smart power” by sheep that follow this Paparazzi President.
Baxter Greene on February 1, 2009 at 9:41 AM
Awesome. Send them back to Saudi, Jordan, Yemen and wherever.
Then there are two options that’ll happen:
1. Torture, out-and-out torture. Hands, feet cut off, the rack, etc, etc. Places like that don’t pay any attention to the Geneva convention.
or
2. The terrorists will be let go and join their jackhole friends at the terroristing. Hopefully when they do so, the people they are terrorizing won’t take them prisoner (if you get my drift).
I think #2 is more likely.
Hope and Change, indeed.
mjk on February 1, 2009 at 9:42 AM
I didn’t see alink. Keemo posted it. If it’s real, it’s pretty bad.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:42 AM
The media will spin for him. I heard a report on the radio today that the pictures of Obama and staff in shirtsleeves in the Oval Office was the new “casual” environment” which DC “welcomed.” So the reason they all had their coats off was not because they were guzzling fuel oil to keep the One warm, but because they weren’t as stuffy as Bush (who insisted that people behave in a dignified manner in the Oval Office after what Clinton was doing there.)
In this case, the MSM will do the same. It has tied its credibility to Obama, and cannot cut loose.
And we should remember Jim Geraghty of NRO: “All of Obama’s statments come with expiration dates. All of them.“
Wethal on February 1, 2009 at 9:43 AM
In a Muslim country you might be mired in major poverty, I’m not sure what these hypotheticals have to do with anything? I’m an American and as such I have a right to push my country in the direction I’d like to see it go. Others can organize and oppose, yay for Democracy. Saying “but if things were different they’d be different” doesn’t actually prove anything.
Really? If you recall those on the left waited patiently for the 9/11 commission report to come out and then they pressed the Bush Administration to actually DO the things outlined in that report. If you are familiar with the environmental movement they allow the scientists to gather information on the role particulates play in increasing lung disease/Sulphur and Nitrous play in polluting the water supply and post-commission report they advocate for laws to prevent those things from happening. Yes we’re fact finders, but we’re also do-ers post fact finding. Your side, on the other hand, goes based merely on feelings and digs in. Which is why the debate on U.S. hegemony is so silly. You just feel the U.S. should lead no matter what, even when logic and reality seem to indicate that sometimes it’s just not our time. Like now.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:44 AM
You’re much too kind to the Obamessiah. His campaign was built on the premise that he is all things to all people, and I doubt very much that he ever gave any serious thought to the implications of many of his campaign promises. He’s the only president I’ve ever heard dismiss some of his promises as “campaign rhetoric” after winning the election. I came across an interesting article on RCP this morning that takes him to task for not seeing beyond the immediate consequences of his actions. Evidence is mounting to support this observation, and if it turns out to be largely true, he will indeed remake both America and the world but in ways he never imagined, none of them good. I guess that’s what you risk getting when you elect someone who’s spent most of his adult life running for office rather than actually accomplishing anything. The means justify the end – which until recently had been to become president. Now that he’s there, he doesn’t have a clue how to actually govern.
ProfessorMiao on February 1, 2009 at 9:46 AM
BHO, flip-flopping? Shockah!
jgapinoy on February 1, 2009 at 9:47 AM
The CIA by law cannot bring the suspects back to the US. That leaves release, rendition, or assassination as the only three options left to Obama …
Let’s make a reality show out of it. People get to call in to choose between the three options.
Tony737 on February 1, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Not hardly. The MSM/Democratic Socialist Party will give him a complete pass on this and will ridicule anyone that points it out…as if “you” are just like Rush and “want” Obama (and America) to fail.
saltyrover on February 1, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Perhaps someone is missing the thinking of followers of Obama.
It goes like this:
If Bush did it, it was wrong.
If Obama does the exact same thing, it is right.
To the Obamaniac the mantra is:
Bush was always wrong, Obama is always right.
No follower of the Messiah will ever criticize the One.
albill on February 1, 2009 at 9:50 AM
It’s legit. But I don’t think it’s 100% embarassing. It’s Feb 1, talk to me in 4 months and if Blackwater is still providing security you’ve got a point.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Everyday, little by little, it will become more evident how little you, and your kind, actually knew about who and what you were voting for when you supported Obama.
You don’t have an appreciation for Obama’s bait and switch? A lot of us don’t have an appreciation for your vote, when you obviously didn’t appreciate what Obama really is: a hack politician with little experience that is way in over his head. It’s a little late for you to suddenly lack that appreciation.
Yoop on February 1, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Do you ever really read what people post to you and soak in what they say before you go off on strict progression lecture notes?
You don’t believe in the aim of radical Islamists, then nothing I can say will make you take the GWOT and the ramifications if we lose seriously. Sorry then. I guess I can’t help you there. Look to what Iran does with gays who live openly.
My point was that regardless of other task-forces, nothing like that will effect these people. Once they’re sent back to their country of origin, they’re toast. (not that I care, they’re murderers) And the alternative is we still keep them and then Obama hasn’t solved that problem now has he?
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:52 AM
I’ve done more to defend your lifestlye than progressive liberals have. – Hawk
Libs don’t defend our lifestyle AT ALL, they want to tear it down and replace it with a Euro-socialist “third-way” system.
Thanks for your service, Hawk (I assume you flew Blackhawks?)
Tony737 on February 1, 2009 at 9:52 AM
It’ll be so hard for the left to screech over this, what with their heads exploding and all.
flipflop on February 1, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Well written post Ed. I am learning from you.
RobCon on February 1, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Again, the point is not whether Blackwater loses the contract, it’s that the Ones PressSec was absolutely clueless that it happened and what the administration was going to do about it. It’s like asking your Mayors PressSec what they’re going to do about the your sheriffs department being completely fired and he says. “Huh? Problems with the sheriff?”
Blackwater protects the preponderance of civil figures in Iraq.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Thanks. yep Alphas and Limas.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Here is how it plays out…
- Rendition continues. As long as nothing major breaks, we won’t hear a thing.
- If something major breaks (e.g. torture of a transferred prisoner), we’ll hear a response that the US was given all assurances that wouldn’t happen so it’s not our fault.
- Everyone goes on their merry way.
Maybe that old lady will ask the press secretary a question in the daily briefing… that’s about it.
Pianobuff on February 1, 2009 at 9:58 AM
A good article but unfortunately in need of some editing.
Basilsbest on February 1, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Here’s your link hack…
http://rantvillereborn.blogspot.com/2009/01/look-dumber.html
While you’re in a “open minded” mood hack, read some more…
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/now-its-tom-daschle-tax-chiseler.html
http://www.theconglomerate.org/2009/01/the-final-bill-was-privately-agreed-by-most-and-publicly-conceded-by-many-to-be-a-big-messy-largely-.html
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 9:59 AM
BW also protected NObama’s sorry ass while he was “visiting the troops” during the campaign.
saltyrover on February 1, 2009 at 10:00 AM
No wonder the LA times is going down tubes,the first paragraph is a joke:
Obama has still left undetermined whether he will allow a loop hole for harsh interrogation techniques with executive approval.So no those techniques are not “off-limits”.
The CIA’s secret prison’s are not closed down.They have simply been cast in a different role.If you can still take terrorist off the streets and hold them,whether it is a short amount of time in each place or not,then they are still open for business:
Did Obama allow exception for “temporary” CIA black sites?
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/28/did-obama-allow-exception-for-temporary-cia-black-sites/
The bottom line is Obama and his liberal sheep are no longer on the sidelines whining and complaining.They are responsible for the same things President Bush was,so now policies like wire tapping and bombing villages and civilians are “smart power” instead of “war crimes”.
Baxter Greene on February 1, 2009 at 10:01 AM
And being nice to the terrorist will give them a change of heart.
Johan Klaus on February 1, 2009 at 10:02 AM
This isn’t the Blackwater he thought he knew.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Yup, just a branding exercise. Sometimes I think the most helpful form of education would not necessarily be on the content of political/world affairs, but rather on psychology as it relates to marketing. Critical thinking and general BS detection skills have gone down the wazoo in the last few generations.
Pianobuff on February 1, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Thanks for that post. It’s nice to see the psychological tortuousnesses of a desperate liberal “mind” put to paper.
TMK on February 1, 2009 at 10:05 AM
This fear that detainees who are sent back to their country of origin will be tortured totally befuddles me.
I am more concerned that their homeboys will release and/or celebrate these murderers as heroes.
IrishEi on February 1, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Yes it is real,I posted about it last night on the “10% Pentagon cuts”.
Got link from Instapundit.Reynolds checks his stuff pretty thoroughly before he posts.
Baxter Greene on February 1, 2009 at 10:07 AM
The Great Leader will receive a pass. After all, he is just trying to keep us safe!
This proves once again that it isn’t as much the policies as much as it is the personalities. Bush was Satan, anything he did was evil, the Messiah does it, it is divine.
JeffinOrlando on February 1, 2009 at 10:08 AM
And yes I do read your posts, how else could I respond.
So you’re saying that because of Obama’s shift from Bush’s war on terror strategy Iran is going to take over the United States, enact Shariah law and all the homosexuals are going to be executed? Seriously? It’s those kinds of arguments that makes me wonder what planet your side is on, because it’s not mine. It also makes me wonder why people with such hysterical paranoia about the future look at the hysterical paranoids on the left and roll their eyes.
Let me be clear. The human rights violations against homosexuals, and to a much greater extent against women (cliterodectomy…so so awful) in much of the Islamic world is absolutely horrifying. But I question how important these issues are to the right when you look at Saddam’s Iraq. While incredibly cruel to the Kurds to the North Saddam’s Iraq also had the most westernized Muslim society. Women were educated, Shariah law was outlawed, which is precisely why Iran and the rest of the middle east didn’t like him (and was also why we kind of DID like him in the 80s). We certainly didn’t care about the Taliban’s egregious policies against women when we funded their predecessors against the Soviets in the 80s. So when you deploy these arguments about homosexuals and the threat of shariah law it all rings a bit hollow. No doubt in the 80s you though the Taliban were “freedom fighters” and that Saddam was our ally against the Russians because those were the rights talking points then. Now the rights talking points seem to be about homosexuals and women’s rights as the things we need to protect, meanwhile, the most right wing members of the Senate attemped to filibuster Lily Ledbetter and will definitely attempt to do the same with Federal Civil unions law comes down the pike. It’s an incredibly easy thing to do you know. Point out inequality and oppression in other places while, in less violent ways, promoting those same things at home. I just can’t buy it when your side attempts this crap.
If you read the transcrip you now he’s actually a stand-in press secretary and it seems he wasn’t briefed on the new admins policy. Embarrasing, but I bet if asked again next week he’ll have been briefed. If not and nothing happens for months, again, you have a legit argument.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 10:10 AM
To all you progressives out there who weren’t in the military. One thing you need to understand is that he gets the real deal daily intel briefs now and watch his hair start turning gray.
There is more to the war on terror than you can get from MSNBC. Obama might just be getting it. You need to get it too. If he gets tough it’s for a reason.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:11 AM
That’s an obscure definition of socialism. The number one goal of socialism is to forbid ownership of private property. So are you for or against property rights?
Maxx on February 1, 2009 at 10:11 AM
I wouldn’t call it assassination…after all, they’re already in custody. Execution is the better word here.
James on February 1, 2009 at 10:14 AM
Well libtards, once again the unintended consequences come back to bite you in the butt. Way to go!
4shoes on February 1, 2009 at 10:15 AM
You’ve got to be kidding hack. The media ripped into every person (bar none) that Bush put in front of a microphone if they messed-up in any way-shape-form… The hypocrisy is off the charts with you lefties. All we ask of you is to be consistent with your behavioral patterns. Is this too much for you people?
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Prepare for “Bait and Switch” boy, if the name “Blackwater” is tainted , they just change name. And you’re a happy Obamabot. Iraq has said they wont stop the people working for Blackwater to work for some other company in Iraq. Why not call the new company “WaterBlack” or sumpthing.
the_nile on February 1, 2009 at 10:16 AM
No. Once and for all read my answer carefully. Listening?
I have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are both supplied, influenced and actually trained by Iranians. They are bent on destroying Israel and forcing Islamic law on the entire free world.
My point is that there is a real threat and a real chance if we that we can lose the war of Islamic terrorism. If you don’t believe it, there’s nothing else to say.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:17 AM
“the hypocrisy of liberals selective outrage is on full display” — Credit to Baxter Greene, above.
The Black Plague is going to get a pass on this. I am sadly concluding that he gets more passes from The New York Timeseveryday than Larry Fitzgerald will get today.
Oh I am collecting new names for The One since he doesn’t wear a suit in the oval office. Kudos to a couple of guys a few subjects down for giving me suggestions.
IlikedAUH2O on February 1, 2009 at 10:19 AM
White Water works for me.
RalphyBoy on February 1, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Ed, I think the very nature of the Loonybin Left precludes any logic at all. The only syllogisms the LbL will accept are those based on deeply-felt illogic.
njcommuter on February 1, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Explanation– he doesn’t wear a suit in the oval office so how can he be an empty suit? I 86ed the racist ones.
IlikedAUH2O on February 1, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Dead-on. You remember the constant inspections of Guantanamo Bay this last decade?
So which is better: a U.S. Naval Base not in our country yet subject to independent inspection, or rendition torture-holes in foreign countries that will not be inspected independently, but by Obama’s hand-picked shills?
If you are D2MH, you’ll get over it.
TMK on February 1, 2009 at 10:21 AM
There is more to the war on terror than you can get from MSNBC. Obama might just be getting it. You need to get it too. If he gets tough it’s for a reason.
Hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Very well stated Hawk, and absolutely 100% truthful… The number 1 job of the potus is to protect the American people. Clinton failed miserably, and thousands of civilians were killed. That will be part of the Clinton legacy whether you LIbs like it or not. Clinton’s failure to kill OBL when handed to him on a silver platter; this will haunt Clinton and for good reason. Clinton failed to protect the American people simply because he didn’t want to face the music from you lefties. Clinton is a coward, amongst many other things. Obama faces the same challenges that all Presidents have faced before him.
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 10:21 AM
You made me laugh. Your work is done here. Must run.
Hack, I’m actually starting to pity your side. Why? You’ll be the ones understanding as the execution knife is separating our forth and fifth neck vertebras that it was your fault.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:22 AM
I honestly don’t believe that. Guess we’re at an impasse.
DeathToMediaHacks on February 1, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Lefties Says;
Obama’s allowing Renditions? That’s just the right wing media making things up again.
Gwillie on February 1, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Yes Ralphy, by Jim! The headline: “The McDougal Section of Whitewater was accused of crimes…” has a nice ring to it.
IlikedAUH2O on February 1, 2009 at 10:26 AM
And Hack, if he get’s tough to my liking, you can expect rightful praise from me.
Happy SB Sunday all. Go Steelers. Why?
Because Jessica Simpson ruined my Cowboys again this year.
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:27 AM
This is part of the drip-drip-drip of O-fatigue that will afflict the Left. Not now, not next week, or next month, but over time all these little broken promises and hypocritical posturings will erode Obama’s lefty support.
There’s also an opportunity for Conservative Media to report on some poor sap who gets picked up in Afghanistan and is tortured to death as part of rendition. The NYT and other lefty media will never report on anything like this, but this would get lots of play in the alternative media.
The Left and Obama want to sweep all this under the rug. Let’s remind them what rendition is and what it looks like.
EMD on February 1, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Yeh, let’s give him a break. He was in over his head, new to the job and unprepared for fastballs from the press.
He deserves a break. Let’s give him a week to come up to speed, just like they gave Palin.
Sheesh.
fogw on February 1, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Hawk,
You are trying to educate someone who will steadfastly refuse to understand until such time that the rusty sword is actually held against HIS throat. At that time he will scream to the heavens in anger because YOU aren’t there to save his ass.
Some only recognize reality in their last moment of life.
Yoop on February 1, 2009 at 10:31 AM
For a pretty good recap of Obama’s first ten days:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022697.php
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Then I truly pity you. Watch Fitna!
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Yes, happy SB Sunday to all of you… The SB is a fabulous example of American culture; great combat, millions of people having fun, great food and drink being consumed, lots of money getting put back into the economy….
Must go outside and get my chores done! Great day to all!
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Wow.
IrishEi on February 1, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Just a few points.
To the Left, I’m convinced that you will not be happy until we are attacked again on our soil for all our country’s imagained wrongs from the beginning of time.
To the Left, I also say, “Don’t wish too hard for something. You just might get it.” Let these other countries deal with these terrorists–that’ll fix their wagons. I can’t wait to read reports that the heads of these terrorists are rolling, literally, once they’re under thumb of other countries.
To HA readers, do you notice how Obama’s executive orders throwing bones to his pet constituencies get noon time press conference coverage, while his executive orders such as those dealing with renditions appear to be released on Friday night at 11:00 in 2 point Sanskrit typeface?
BuckeyeSam on February 1, 2009 at 10:40 AM
The amazing result of the leftist efforts against prisoners being tortured is that the prisoners actually get tortured instead of merely having stressful interrogations. I’d far rather have the CIA “torture” me, because they aren’t going to maim one for life or doing anything really sick–unlike what can happen in a muslim country.
This is hardly the first time that leftist have worsened a situation that they claim to want to improve.
thuja on February 1, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Oh , just coincidence.
the_nile on February 1, 2009 at 10:47 AM
Fitna
If you don’t believe the content of the movie, believe a Fatwa was called to kill Geert Wilders for making it. They proved his point for him.
Now, really, off to get ready for mindless SB fun.
Curse you Jessica Simpson!
hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Damn. I just about spit all over my monitor when I read this comment.
I’d like to know exactly who DTMH thinks should “lead”, if “it’s just not our time”. The Russians? EU? China? C’mon, DTMH, tell us: if not the US, what country do you think should lead?
Bush 43’s steadfast commitment with regards to national security interests, was that we would absolutely NOT involve US troops in conflicts that did not directly involve threats to our national security. He campaigned on this issue in 2000 and did not waver from it.
By comparison, how many of Clinton’s military deployments were the result of a direct threat to US national security, in terms of the deployed region AND the shape of his response? DTMH, that means not only *where* the deployment took place, but also the makeup of the deployment itself. For example, Clinton’s deployment to Somalia was for “humanitarian” reasons only, and the force contingent was nothing more than a tripwire. The moment things got hot there, Clinton withdrew them. That’s one example; there are several others.
(And before you bring it up, yes, I disagreed with *one* of Reagan’s deployments on this same issue – that of the Lebanon action in 1983. When the troops were removed from the area after that bombing, I wondered why we had placed them there to begin with.)
We lead, DTMH, because it is in the national security interest of the US to do so. Period. We have the resources and the strength to lead, so we lead to protect our interests in the world. Britain did the same thing at the height of the British Empire back in the mid-19th century. We do so now. Were we to lose our ability to lead, we would be at the mercy of someone else, hoping that their interests were aligned with ours.
Any country would lead if it had the resources and ability to lead, for good or for ill. It has absolutely nothing to do with “feelings”.
Oh, and on a completely unrelated note: Allahpundit wasn’t being efficient when he mentioned one of the three options as “two caps in the back of the head”. All you need is a single 7.62mm sniper’s round, fired at the base of the neck from behind. With one shot, the body collapses like a sack of potatoes, without a sound.
Wanderlust on February 1, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Oh, and as to being “do-ers post fact finding”, I have one comment for ya, big guy: LOGAN AIRPORT, after the 1996 commission on airport security run by none other than AL GORE. Gore implemented all the things he discovered at Logan during his tenure running that blue ribbon panel, right?
/spit
Wanderlust on February 1, 2009 at 10:55 AM
How about calling it “Darkcurrent”?
DarkCurrent on February 1, 2009 at 11:00 AM
The only thing anyone should care about is which method provides the best intelligence.
I have a hard time with rendition because you don’t know if the country doing the questioning is as effective. We can have people on site directing the interrogation, but it still is not as effective. Adding an extra step in the process is not good. It adds time, it creates security risks, it exposes our own people, etc…
There are circumstances where rendition is the best option, but Obama is a fool to take any options off the table.
The opponents of Gitmo and black sites have been exposed as frauds. Their concern is over politics, not human rights. Obama is certainly the biggest fraud of all. By closing Gitmo, changing interrogation rules, and closing black sites, he is making sure detainees receive far worse treatment, provide less intelligence, and valuable time is lost obtaining information.
This is simply unbelievable.
The message is that the US is afraid to do what needs to be done to protect it’s interests because of political pressure. Instead, we will let others do our dirty work for us and hope for the best?
Rubbish.
reaganaut on February 1, 2009 at 11:05 AM
… airport security run by none other than AL GORE. – Wander
Haha, yeah. When I first started working in the airline business as a baggage handler (Ramper) they were teaching me about the ’selectee’ process. When you check your bags at the counter, if you’re flying one-way or if you paid cash, the ticket agent put a red tag on your luggage. We’d set aside those bags by the plane and call the gate agent to verify that the people who owned these bags were actually on the plane, then we’d load ‘em. I thought “Well that’s dumb, what if there’s a suicidal terrorist on board? Whose dumb idea was this?” Their answer: “Al Gore”.
Tony737 on February 1, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Lil dose of reality coming at us by way of powerline…
Late in last fall’s Presidential campaign, Joe Biden predicted that if elected, Barack Obama would be tested by foreign powers within the first six months of his administration:
Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. … Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.
It’s starting to look as though we may have several, and it may not take six months. The latest is North Korea’s threat of war against the South:
North Korea warned Sunday that South Korea’s confrontational policies may trigger a war on the divided peninsula, a message coming two days after the communist country vowed to abandon all peace agreements with its southern neighbor.
… Tension heightened Friday when the North said it was ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace accords with South Korea.
The tension may lead to “an unavoidable military conflict and a war,” North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Sunday by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.
Obviously, it’s unfair to blame everything that happens in the world on Barack Obama, just as it was unfair for the Democrats to blame everything on President Bush. But, as Biden implicitly recognized, our new President is regarded around the world as inexperienced and weak, and that could make the next few months a critical period on a number of international fronts. So far, Obama’s missteps have done nothing to dissuade our enemies from that assessment.
Keemo on February 1, 2009 at 11:11 AM
DeathToMedia-Hacks
Why do you call for death to people who think like you?
Basilsbest on February 1, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Noted, yes!
4shoes on February 1, 2009 at 11:19 AM
@hawkdriver on February 1, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Yours is a very informative post and it’s obvious that the Obama administation has not even begun to think of a contingency paln to replace Blackwater.
In fairness to Obama however he had been extremely busy of late – what with that letter of apology to Mahmoud and trying to find cabinet appointments who don’t have tax problems.
Basilsbest on February 1, 2009 at 11:22 AM
You know, I’d be more optimistic about America if Obama had been elected without illusion, as a mortal.
But liberalism is a religion. It needs mythology, symbols, demons, gods. And the MSM gave us that, and more.
So now we have a nation of desperate people convinced Obama is going to pay their mortgage and make the world love us.
Meanwhile, the world-as-it-really-is is planning to confront the USA, seeing their last chance to settle old scores, seeing their shot at the coup de grace.
When the linchpin comes out, i.e., when the illusion about Obama’s omnipotence is shattered, and we find ourselves under attack, there really will be panic, runs on banks, suicide, anarchy, and yes, there will be atonal music.
jeff_from_mpls on February 1, 2009 at 11:28 AM
And still, the LA Times gives Obama cover:
“One component” — along with his so-called “classified loophole” and “warrantless wiretaps” (aka FISA).
Paul_in_NJ on February 1, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Where’s 60 Minutes?! Aren’t they annoyed by this? Where is Bob Simon or Scott Pelly?
jencab on February 1, 2009 at 11:29 AM
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