Give Up A Little Power Here and There

When we talk about War, we’re really talking about Peace

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON HOMEOWNERSHIP
at the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Washington, D.C.
June 18, 2002, 10:30 A.M. EDT

… and that’s going to mean making sure our homeland is secure, and I appreciate the progress we’re making on setting up a Department of Homeland Security. I know it’s going to be hard for some in Congress to give up a little power here and there, but I think it’s going to happen because people realize we’re here to serve the American people, not here to serve a political party or turf in the United States Congress. (Applause.)

But the best way to secure the homeland is to hunt them down one by one. And I mean hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice, which is precisely what America will do. (Applause.)

click on image to enlarge

I want to thank the choir for coming, the youngsters for being here. I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace. We want there to be peace. We want people to live in peace all around the world. I mean, our vision for peace extends beyond America. We believe in peace in South Asia. We believe in peace in the Middle East. We’re going to be steadfast toward a vision that rejects terror and killing, and honors peace and hope.

I also want the young to know that this country, we don’t conquer people, we liberate people — because we hold true to our values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The security of our homeland, the need to make sure that America is safe and secure while we chase peace is my number one priority for the country.

You Can’t Handle the Truth

Retreat at Tora Bora

(TIME) Dec. 16, 2001 – The war in Afghanistan began nine weeks ago on a battlefield the size of Texas, and if all goes according to plan, it will end in a high, narrow valley smaller than the city of Austin. After weeks of playing Where’s Osama?, military officials believe they have overheard bin Laden on handheld radio in the White Mountains, giving orders to his dwindling al-Qaeda forces, now estimated at just 300 to 1,000 men. If bin Laden is in Tora Bora, he and his soldiers are trapped in a box: snow-covered peaks loom on two sides, Afghan and American soldiers await on a third, and Pakistani border patrols stand guard on the fourth.

…
As al-Qaeda fighters scampered up the mountains in search of safe haven, one of the warlords, Haji Zaman, agreed to a cease-fire without bothering to consult the other two Afghan commanders or the U.S. Zaman claims the Arab-speaking fighters reached him via wireless and offered to surrender on the condition that they be turned over to the United Nations.

…
Forty miles east of Tora Bora lies Pakistan’s Tirah Valley, a semiautonomous tribal belt only nominally under government control. In the late 19th century the British established the area around and including the Tirah Valley as a buffer zone between Afghanistan and British India. The Pakistani government has never had an official presence there, and many of the tribesmen who rule Tirah are deeply conservative supporters of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Given local sympathies, if bin Laden could make it there, he might be well protected.

Return of the Jihad
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – Al Qaeda’s resurgence brings about the worst in the Bush’s administration math and logic.

Republicans are having trouble telling the country the real truth about terrorism, so what’s new?

YouTube – Ron Paul Forces Rudy Giuliani into 9/11 Commission Report Gaff

“No. Non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we’ve been over there; we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We’ve been in the Middle East — I think Reagan was right.

We don’t understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. So right now we’re building an embassy in Iraq that’s bigger than the Vatican. We’re building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us.”

American citizens have already been besieged with enduring slogans, “Operation Enduring Freedom“, timeless WOT and now the final step to a totalitarian regime:

Enduring Constitutional Government

National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51

May 9, 2007 – “Enduring Constitutional Government,” or “ECG,” means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency …

≈ Cross-posted from BooMan’s diary — What Would Jefferson Say? ≈