Terrorism: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

UPDATE: Arrest 'imminent' in Boston bombings; or maybe not

Max Brantley — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:51:42 -0500

Arrest said to be imminent in Boston bombings, apparently helped by analysis of video. UPDATE: But no arrests have been made and much confusion in all the reporting. Talking Points Memo assembled the video above of the reversal in reporting on CNN.

These are unsettling times. Also today, CNN reports:

A letter to President Obama that was intercepted at an off-site facility has tested positive for ricin, the FBI says.

The envelope, addressed to the White House, was immediately quarantined by U.S. Secret Service personnel and a coordinated investigation with the FBI was initiated.

The FBI said White House operations were not affected.

The letter was intercepted Tuesday, the same day that a letter to U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker was intercepted at an off-site facility and tested positive for ricin.

That's not all: Suspicious package and suspicious man are causing problems at the U.S. Senate office building.

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CIA uncovers underwear terror bomb plot

Max Brantley — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:21:38 -0500

The CIA apparently thwarted a plot to put a terrorist with an advanced underwear bomb on a U.S.-bound plane. It was stopped before a plane ticket was bought by an al-Qaeda sympathizer in Yemen.

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Tulsa police arrest two in random shootings

Max Brantley — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 07:08:51 -0500

Two men have been arrested in the random drive-by shootings of five black people in Tulsa, three of whom died.

The suspects are white, including the 32-year-old man shown here.

Perhaps they will argue that they felt threatened and were compelled to fire. Oklahoma has a "stand your ground" law. Benefit of the doubt goes to shooter, right?

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Judge Griffen blasts Obama for signing detention policy

Max Brantley — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:45:39 -0600

Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen has written in Ethics Daily about the new law providing for indefinite detention of U.S. citizens who are terrorism suspects. He's complimentary of neither the law nor President Obama, who signed it.

If you think that smacks of tyranny, you're right.

If you think Obama is smart enough to know better than to sign such a measure, you're right.

If you hoped Obama would demonstrate the fortitude to carry out his publicized threat to veto the legislation if this offensive provision wasn't removed, you're badly disappointed.

Count me among the badly disappointed people who know tyranny when we see it.

Count me among the people who take no consolation in Obama's signing statement that his administration won't use the power he signed into law.

This is the kind of foolishness that produced the 1944 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States that upheld the forced detention of U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry based on xenophobic and racist hysteria after Pearl Harbor.

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Federal charge still possible in soldier's shooting

Max Brantley — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:23:01 -0600

Daris Long of Conway told Congress yesterday of his unhappiness about the Army and federal response to the killing of his son, Andy, outside a Little Rock military center by a man who claimed political motives. Efforts are underway in Congress to award Long a posthumous Purple Heart because of the circumstances of his slaying by Adulhakim Muhammad. Long favors a federal prosecution of Muhammad, who's pleaded guilty and received a life sentence to state charges.

A note: Channel 4 provides a statement from U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer, who says, in part:

Because there is no statute of limitations for murder, the possibility of a federal prosecution still exists; however, it would not be appropriate to comment further on that possibility.

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Reflecting on 9/11

Lindsey Millar — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:37:42 -0500

Rabbi Eugene Levy of Temple B'nai Israel in Little Rock sends along an editorial with a worthy message: As we consider the anniversary of Sept. 11, we should urge the government to end torture.

In just a few days, I, along with hundreds of clergy throughout the country, will be participating in ceremonies which will honor and memorialize the more than 3,000 men and women who lost their lives in the attacks of 9/11. We will be reading names and honoring heroism. We will be reviewing video and continuing to comfort the families permanently affected by this tragedy. And no doubt, there will also be some in our country who will use this occasion as a time to rekindle their anti-Arab feelings and champion unwarranted xenophobia.

As for me, I am also hoping that we can add to the memory of the day a revisiting of the issue of any use of torture (or lesser forms of coercion) to obtain information from prisoners.

In 2005, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, meeting in Annual Convention in Houston, Texas, adopted a resolution that basically denounces and opposes the use of torture and other forms of prisoner coercion in violation of the Geneva Conventions. While there are Jewish legal and moral arguments that can be made to justify some coercion in times of war and in opportunities to save lives, as the resolution states, for the most part, the weight of Jewish tradition acknowledges that “all human beings are created in the image of G-d,” and therefore, torture and prisoner abuse defile that image. If it is bottom-line absolutely necessary for some coercion to take place, then, the resolution goes on, it must be done with ”humility and with full respect for the human dignity of those upon whom it exercises discipline.”

As I see it, the weight of Jewish tradition tilts away from using any kind of torture to extract vital information, even when such information could be used to save the lives of innocent people. Even after 9/11, this principle should be upheld as strongly as possible, especially as we have seen abuses in the name of preserving or furthering national security or fighting terrorism.

Furthermore, the use of torture is not compatible with the leadership standards for which the United States should be striving. Thus, from Reform Judaism’s perspective, we should use 9/11 to reaffirm the continued validity of the Geneva Conventions and its laws of war as we promote adherence to its guidelines. The final statement in the CCAR’s resolution on torture reads:

“Therefore, the Central Conference of American Rabbis urges that the President and the government of the United States resolve to … create an independent commission to investigate and report on the detention and interrogation practices of U.S. military and intelligence agencies deployed in the global ‘war on terror.’” The call for such a commission aligns well with the ongoing call by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a coalition of religious organizations committed to ending torture that is sponsored or enabled by the United States, for a commission of inquiry into the same issue.

9/11 should give us the opportunity to reaffirm the dignity of all.

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The face of terrorism: A blond Norwegian Christian

Max Brantley — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:37:58 -0500

Much more is to come on the Norwegian believed responsible for a massive explosion that hit a government building in Oslo and then the mass slaughter of teenagers at a youth camp.

The photo is of the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, 32, said by news agencies to come from his Facebook page. He doesn't look much like the suspect imagined by some of our blog's right-wing contributors yesterday, when they were demanding apologies from Muslim leaders for the attack.

CNN puts the death toll from the bombing and gun slaughter at 91, 84 of them at the youth camp.

The suspect, who identified himself as working in farming, reportedly purchased six tons of fertilizer from an agricultural supply business in May. The echoes of the right-wing bombing in Oklahoma City are unmistakable. The man identified as a suspect described himself on his Facebook page as a conservative Christian. He's also described in various accounts as a right-wing extremist and anti-Islam, a supporter of a notorious anti-Islamic Dutch politician. He registered three firearms with the government, including a Glock pistol and rifle (one account describes it as an automatic). He's believed to have had a Twitter account with one post:

One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.

These are described as some of Breivik's writings.

The Guardian is reporting arrest of a second person (though scattered reports make it unclear if he's viewed as related to the attacks or arrested for being armed with a knife to protect himself) and provides more background on Breivik in its extensive and constantly updated coverage:

What has emerged so far paints a disturbing picture: a Christian fundamentalist with a deep hatred of multiculturalism in his country, of the left and of Muslims who had written disparagingly of prominent Norwegian politicians. A fan of violent video games as well who some former neighbours have told Norwegian media had sometimes been seen in
"military-style" clothing.

Also this:

Frank Mersland, a journalist with FVN TV, says Anders Behring Breivik, who has been arrested over yesterday's attacks, has been linked to the anti-immigration Progress party.

He writes via email: "The suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, has been tagged as a former member of the right winged political party Frp (Progress party). It's the second largest political party in Norway and their main issues are lower taxes and a much stricter policy on immigration. The Frp-leader, Siv Jensen, verified his membership on Norwegian TV2 a little while ago."

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'No-ride' list for Amtrak?

Max Brantley — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:40:19 -0500

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has proposed applying no-fly lists to train travel.

My instinctive reaction is negative.

Airport style security screening to board trains? It would be a huge hassle — not to mention huge new expense — particularly in the busy Northeast corridor.

What next?

Greyhound?

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The hunt for bin Laden

Max Brantley — Sat, 07 May 2011 06:48:06 -0500

I don't know about you, but I'm fascinated by the intelligence work that led to the successful raid in Pakistan.

Here's a good detailed account from the Washington Post.

And this is a book-like project from the Post on the hunt for Osam bin Laden.

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The new bin Laden talking point

Max Brantley — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:30:44 -0500

Nothing else has taken hold, so now comes torture meister John Yoo to explain how President Obama screwed up the manhunt for Osama bin Laden.

He should have been captured alive so he could have been tortured. This is NOT a story from The Onion.

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bin Laden death photo won't be released

Max Brantley — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:55:59 -0500

CNN is reporting that President Obama has decided not to release the photo of Osama bin Laden after he was killed.

Right? Wrong? Defensible?

UPDATE: Caribou Barbie calls this "pussyfooting."

UPDATE II: But if it's dead bodies you crave, photographed in the bin Laden compound, Reuters has them.

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Value of torture in bin Laden hunt: Not much

Max Brantley — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:01:09 -0500

The New York Times delves deeply into the question of the role played by torture in developing intelligence that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Not much, it would appear. Some of those tortured the most were the most misleading about what they revealed.

“The bottom line is this: If we had some kind of smoking-gun intelligence from waterboarding in 2003, we would have taken out Osama bin Laden in 2003,” said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council. “It took years of collection and analysis from many different sources to develop the case that enabled us to identify this compound, and reach a judgment that Bin Laden was likely to be living there.”

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