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Last updated: May 25th, 2009

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Heads-Heads

By Sibel Edmonds

(The Intelligence Daily) -- �In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.� -- Plato

During the campaign, amid their state of elation, many disregarded Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama�s past record and took any criticism of these past actions as partisan attacks deserving equally partisan counterattacks. Some continued their reluctant support after candidate Obama became grand finalist and prayed for the best. And a few still continue their rationalizing and defense, with illogical excuses such as �He�s been in office for only 20 days, give the man a break!� and �He�s had only 50 days in office, give him a chance!� and currently, �be reasonable - how much can a man do in 120 days?!� I am going to give this logic, or lack of, a slight spicing of reason, then, turn it around, and present it as: If �the man� can do this much astounding damage, whether to our civil liberties, or to our notion of democracy, or to government integrity, in �only� 120 days, may God help us with the next [(4 X 365) - 120] days.

I know there are those who have been tackling President Obama�s changes on change; they have been challenging his flipping, or rather flopping, on issues central to getting him elected. While some have been covering the changes comprehensively, others have been running right and left like headless chickens in the field - pick one hypocrisy, scream a bit, then move on to the next outrageous flop, the same, and then to the next, basically, looking and treating this entire mosaic one piece at a time.

Despite all the promises Mr. Obama made during his campaign, especially on those issues that were absolutely central to those whose support he garnered, so far the President of Change has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor. Not only that, his administration has made it clear that they intend to continue this trend. Some call it a major betrayal. Can we go so far as to call it a �swindling of the voters�?

On the State Secrets Privilege

Yes, I am going to begin with the issue of State Secrets Privilege; because I was the first recipient of this �privilege� during the now gone Administration; because long before it became �a popular� topic among the �progressive experts,� during the time when these same experts avoided writing or speaking about it; when many constitutional attorneys had no idea we even had this "law" - similar to and based on the British �Official Secret Act; when many journalists did not dare to question this draconian abuse of Executive Power; I was out there, writing, speaking, making the rounds in Congress, and fighting this �privilege� in the courts. And because in 2004 I stood up in front of the Federal Court building in DC, turned to less than a handful of reporters, and said, �This, my case, is setting a precedent, and you are letting this happen by your fear-induced censorship. Now that they have gotten away with this, now that you have let them get away, we�ll be seeing this �privilege� invoked in case after case involving government criminal deeds in need of cover up.� Unfortunately I was proven right.

So far The Obama administration has invoked the state secrets privilege in three cases in the first 100 days: Al Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama, Mohammed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, and Jewel v. NSA.

more at link

On NSA Warrantless Wiretapping

The new Administration has pledged to defend the Telecommunications Industry by giving them immunity against any lawsuit that may involve their participation in the illegal NSA wiretapping program. In 2007, Obama�s office released the following position of then Senator Obama: �Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies ... Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster.� But then Senator Obama made his 180 degree flip, and voted to end the filibuster. After that, along with other colleagues in Congress, he tried to placate the critics of his move by falsely assuring them that the immunity did not extend to the Bush Administration - the Executive Branch who did break the law. Another flip was yet to come, awaiting his presidency, when Obama�s Justice Department defended its predecessor not only by using the State Secrets Privilege, but taking it even further, by astoundingly granting the Executive Branch an unlimited immunity for any kind of �illegal� government surveillance.

Let me emphasize, the Obama Administration�s action in this regard was not about �being trapped� in situations created and put in place by the previous administration. These were willful acts fully reviewed, decided upon, and then implemented by the new president and his Justice Department.

Accountability on Torture

President Obama�s action and inaction on Torture can be summarized very clearly as follows: First give an absolute pass, under the guise of �looking forward not backward,� to the ultimate culprits who had ordered it. Next, absolve all the implementers, practitioners and related agencies, under the excuse of �complying with orders without questioning,� and then start giving the �drafters� of the memos an out by transferring the decision for action to the states.

After granting the �untouchable� status to all involved in this shameful chapter in our nation�s dangerous downward slide, he now refuses to release the photos, the incriminating evidence, and is doing so by using the exact same justification used repeatedly by his predecessors: �Their release would endanger the troops,� as in �the revelation on NSA would endanger our national security� and �stronger whistleblower laws would endanger our intelligence agencies� and so on and so forth.

more at link

The Revival of Bush Era Military Commission

After all the talk and pretty speeches given during his presidential campaign on the �failure� of Bush era military tribunals of Guantanamo inmates, Mr. Obama has decided to revive the same style military commission, albeit with a little cosmetic tweak here and there to re-brand it as his own. Many former supporters of Mr. Obama who�ve been vocal and active on Human Rights fronts have expressed their �total shock� by this move and its pretense of being different and improved, "As a constitutional lawyer, Obama must know that he can put lipstick on this pig - but it will always be a pig," said Zachary Katznelson, legal director of Reprieve.

Thankfully the �on the record� statements of Candidate Obama in 2008 on this issue, contradicting his action today, are accessible to all:

[Pligganease]

Obushama!

Oh my god! That's hilarious! See, you took the name of Obama. You added "ush" after the "b," making the word "bush" in Obama's name. "Bush" like the former President!

Priceless. That might be the wittiest thing I've ever seen. Srsly.

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