Friday News Roundup - Hour 2
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-09-30/friday-news-roundup-hour-2
Yeman says a high level U. S.-born al-Qaeda operative has been killed. The key leader is thought to have ties to the Fort Hood shooting and attempted Times Square car bombing. Secretary of State Clinton condemns an attack by pro-government Syrians that temporarily trapped the U. S. ambassador in Damascus. Germany approves a bailout extension for Greece. Protesters blocked access to government offices in Athens for European officials to assess the country’s finances. And Saudi Arabia holds its last male-only elections. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
Abderrahim Foukara
Washington bureau chief of Al Jazeera Arabic.
Indira Lakshmanan
senior reporter, Bloomberg News.
Peter David
Washington DC bureau chief, The Economist
Comments
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I'd just like to point out the obvious: that if Anwar al-Awlaki wasn't convicted in a U.S. court, even in absentia, before he was killed by U.S. forces, that this is extrajudicial killing, which is a euphemism for state-sponsored murder.
As odious as this man may have been, was he killed for anything more than shooting his mouth off? If he actually plotted to carry out terrorist acts and was bad enough to target, couldn't a case have been successfully prosecuted against him in court?
The America that I was raised to believe in recedes further into fairy tales and memory. It used to be that our governement's adherence to democratic principles and the rule of law were what made our country superior to and stronger than the various dictators and tin-hat despots we reviled and opposed. Then we found out that militaristic administrations were either covertly or even overtly supporting those same dictators and despots under the rubric of "national security" in order to advance American corporate interests.
We can no longer only blame the Banana Republicans for disappearing and killing people. American citizens should demand that our government submit its actions and policies to review by the International Criminal Court, consequences be damned. Otherwise, we remain a rougue, arguably terrorist state and the one with as many arms and armaments as the rest of the world put together. No one wants to challenge our military head-to-head, which recommends terrorism to effectively combat American intransigence.
Though I would never accuse substitute host Susan Page of being a "CIA shill," if the shoe fits ..
In any case, sad to hear her celebrating the weakening of Africa as a whole by the recent coup in Libya. The fact that al-Qaida figure Abdelhakim Belhaj is prominent among the rebels speaks volumes.
Likewise, her dismissal of the armed thugs scattered among legitimate protesters in Assad's Syria. As any schoolchild knows, the only political parties banned there are specifically *Salifist* ones (i.e., of the Saudi-backed Islamist variety). Assad - like Iraq under Saddam - is a thoroughly *secular* dictatorship. I doubt that will be the case if it becomes a Saudi client state.
"As odious as this man may have been, was he killed for anything more than shooting his mouth off?"
As an enemy-combatant he is a legitimate target in war.
HI - My name Diane Reems :)