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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
August 7, 2009
/ 17 Menachem-Av 5769
Orders are easy to give, just hard to carry out
By
Paul Greenberg
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Harry Truman was said to have been in a philosophical mood he often was on leaving the White House as the most unpopular president since Herbert Hoover. It was January of 1953, the country was still at war in Korea, the Cold War could turn hot any minute, the shadow of The Bomb loomed over the planet, the state of the economy was as uncertain as ever, Joe McCarthy remained on the prowl for non-existent Communists in government, which meant the real ones might be overlooked … and Mr. Truman had just turned over the reigns to a retired general named Dwight D. Eisenhower. (The impression that the 1950s were just one long episode of "Happy Days" was always more a product of nostalgia than fact.)
According to one story, HST looked back and, surveying all he was leaving behind for his successor to deal with, said something like: "Poor Ike. He's been in the Army all his life, where you can give an order and it's obeyed. He'll find it's different in the White House. He can give all the orders he wants, and nobody'll pay the slightest attention."
On his first day in the Oval Office last January, our still new president issued an executive order closing down the military prison at Guantanamo, where hundreds of the enemy in this never-ending war on terror (if we're still allowed to call it that) are being held.
With a stroke of his pen, Barack Obama had wiped out years indeed, centuries of military law that had once provided the country with a way of dealing with enemy combatants (we may not be allowed to use that term any more, either) through the well-established precedents of military law.
Suddenly gone were the old distinctions between legal and illegal combatants, and the military commissions that had traditionally dealt with both. The new president and commander-in-chief made it clear what he thought should be done with that whole, elaborately constructed legal structure:
Forget it.
The military commissions were canceled, or at least suspended. Guantanamo was to be shut down by presidential order. How simple it had all turned out to be.
Too simple. Just closing Guantanamo was always the easy part. That was the goal of the previous administration, too, which sought to achieve it over the years by releasing, relocating, expatriating and generally diminishing the number of prisoners held there despite the objections of those who cried Rendition! The now former administration continued to move prisoners out of Gitmo even as some of those released have had to be recaptured on the battlefield or have been caught in new terror plots.
Guantanamo's prison population had been reduced from 775 to 245 by the time Barack Obama took the presidential oath. But those detainees who remained included the hardest cases. And governments in their home countries were proving much too savvy to accept many of these clear and present dangers. Who can blame them?
What is now to be done with terrorists who freely admit their guilt, and even insist on "martyrdom," at least in their public statements and pleadings? Where are they to be held if Gitmo is closed? Or will they be held at all?
Shall the Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds be turned over to ordinary criminal courts in this country as defendants, with all rights and privileges pertaining thereto, at the risk of revealing the sources and methods of our counterterrorist operations in open court?
Shall the government proceed to stage a whole new series of circus trials a la that of Zacarias Moussaoui over the next couple of years or decades? Or should it seek willing executioners abroad? Or just forget the whole thing and hope for the best?
The president gave his answer to all such questions last January: Temporize.
A way to handle these tough cases, he said, would be found by the end of the year. And by now his administration has indeed come up with an answer, or rather a whole, conflicting slew of them. To quote a new story in the Washington Post:
"The administration is looking at transferring some detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a facility in the United States that would contain courtrooms to hold federal criminal trials and military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. … Officials said such a facility could also house prisoners held in indefinite detention and those cleared for release but who have no country willing to accept them. Those convicted in federal court or [by] military commissions could serve their terms there."
In short, the more the Obama administration studies the difficulties this president invited when he announced that Guantanamo would be shuttered, the more it comes to adopt the Bush administration's way of dealing with these hard cases.
It'll just be done at a different site one on the American mainland. (Which ought to make us all sleep more soundly.) Traditional military commissions are back and so is the policy of holding enemy combatants, if by another name, until hostilities are concluded, if they ever are.
To sum up, Gitmo is just being moved ashore.
But there is at least one difference between the way this administration has approached this issue and how its predecessor did. For all the civil liberties its critics claim the Bush-Cheney administration was threatening when it set out to crush al-Qaida at home and abroad in order to prevent another September 11th, it never moved to incorporate a system of preventive detention without trial the hallmark of every totalitarian regime into American criminal law.
So there is indeed a big difference between the Obama and Bush administrations' approach to this challenge. And it's a chilling one.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
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