Young Americans for Liberty – Ole Miss Chapter

Our group was forced to postpone Rave Against the Machine. Due to all the rain and electrical difficulties, we would have had to call off all the bands. We want to make this Rave the best it possibly can be. Therefore, we will soon begin plans on a rescheduled date. Please check back soon as the date will be announced as soon as we find out. Thanks for all of those that helped out in organizing this event.

Coming off the heels of the 8-year anniversary of 9/11, now insidiously dubbed “Patriots Day,” I think it important for Americans to seriously question our outlook on terrorism. Indeed, September 11, 2001 was a tragic day for our nation’s history. However, I believe we as a nation should look to the acts committed on 9/11 as a way to connect with the rest of the world, which seems to bare the brunt of all atrocious acts we hear about on a daily basis.

I would first like to point out that I believe it takes a skeptical mind to tackle the true definition of terrorism. Relatively speaking, one person could view a violent act as terrorism while another could view it as honorable. So it is important to understand the motive behind any violent act if we have any hope of entering a peaceful world.

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Not too long ago, Republicans were fervently trying to convince Americans that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were necessary to preserve the safety of our country. Their arguments, however, began carrying less and less weight as Americans finally began expressing their dissatisfaction in ever-increasing numbers. In the former anti-neoconservative America, it seemed Republicans were wondering how to justify two useless and illegal wars. Little did they know the best argument they could create to drum up support for their crimes against humanity was a peace-preaching, closet pro-war democrat named Barack Obama. With a democrat now in the White House, the former anti-war liberals have shown their true colors and gone silent. After all, Obama was for peace, right?

Those under this “peace candidate” assumption had little clue as to Obama’s history on Iraq, not to mention his horrible record on civil liberties. After all, Obama voted to instate warterboarding supporter Michael Chertoff as Secretary of Homeland Security, voted for bills providing billions of dollars in nuclear weapons producing activities, and voted for the Defense Authorization Act’s increase of funds to prolong the wars in 2005. He even voted to commend the armed services that murdered innocent women and children in an attack that supposedly killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a man who had already been reported killed three times previously. Obama also voted against the Kerry Amendment in 2006, which would have withdrawn the troops from Iraq, and voted for a bill giving Bush another $120 billion to prolong the war in 2007. He also voted for the Patriot Act twice, the FISA legislation, and now supports the State’s Secrets privilege of the Bush Administration, giving him a civil liberties record the crows could feed off of for years.

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More than half a year after Bush left office, our country still finds itself involved with two wars. Barack Obama flew into the White House with a message of change. So far he has kept Bush’s policies of bailing out failed companies with taxpayer money, continues to support State’s Secrets, has called for the creation of internment style prison systems, supports the denial of habeas corpus to prisoners in Bagram airbase, and has escalated Bush’s side-war in Afghanistan.

I am failing to see the change that Obama promised us. Turns out I’m not alone.  There might be a few of us who remember Cindy Sheehan. She was the woman who courageously protested against the War in Iraq outside of Bush’s Texas ranch. Well unlike most people of today, she understands that there still is a war going on in the Middle East even though Obama has taken office. She is now protesting Obama’s wars in the Middle East, actually calling his policies “worse” than Bush’s. Not surprisingly, the Left who once supported her and her negativity toward Bush, are not so happy with her anti-Obama rhetoric. Go here to read her words on how quickly the Left has ‘left’ her side (pun intended).

I have been called a “racist” from the so-called left. In these people’s opinion, I was totally justified in protesting Bush, but I am a racist for protesting the same policies under Obama…There are many people in this country who oppose Obama because they’re racist, but I am not one of them. I oppose Obama’s policies because they are wrong…

The Washington Post is reporting that the White House, worried about Congress curtailing efforts to close Guantanamo, is trying to drum up support for a reassertion of an executive order that would once again give the president the authority to incarcerate “terrorist suspects” indefinitely. 

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.

As Glenn Greenwald points out, this Washington Post article is only calling attention to a policy still being considered and is unable to point out specifics. However, gathering information from Obama’s speech he hypocritically gave in front of the original US Constitution, we already know he wants a preventative detention system put in place giving him the authority to hold prisoners indefinitely without charges. It’s a sad situation when the American people must now choose the lesser evil of the government’s law breaking. Is it better for the president to break the law himself through executive order, or use Congress to do it?

Due to the negative press the US has gotten over its military reports concerning the air strikes in the Farah Province in Afghanistan and their “possible” murder of 86 innocent civilians, General McChrystal has issued a tough new order for his troops: don’t fight so close to innocent people. 

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took command of international forces in Afghanistan this month, has said his measure of effectiveness will be the “number of Afghans shielded from violence,” and not the number of militants killed.

Of course, the problem could be the simple ignorance of the rules of engagement with total impunity. However, It seems Gen. McChrystal may be on to something. Perhaps, his new goal of low civilian exposure to violence will be best achieved by simply leaving Afghanistan. I believe then the civilians there would be under no threat of violence from US forces whatsoever. You want less violence and less death Gen. McChrystal?  How about stop bombing (and torturing) the world.

An oldie, but a goody.  Laurence Vance, as usual, provides a powerful jeremiad that will, sadly, go ignored by the American people.  But they’ll get up in arms about who deserved to win American Idol.

It is no stretch for one to conclude that terrorism has replaced socialism as the new perceived threat to America. Our government has found it exponentially more convenient to use mythical terrorist threats to scare US citizens into saluting the flag and pledging support for all horrendous atrocities being carried out in our names. These scare tactics are to be expected post Cold War because America needs a new reason to justify its empire, as well as its increasing control over the lives of the population. However, a recent court case has me questioning the arbitrary definition our government has placed on terrorism.

According to Al Jazeera, A US court recently sentenced the former heads of the charity organization Holy Land Foundation to 65 years in prison for providing funds to Hamas. Prosecutors claimed that the charity was spreading Hamas ideology by providing aid to its schools, hospitals, and social welfare programs inside Palestinian territories. They also accused the charity of allowing Hamas to fund its fighting with the charitable donations. Bush labeled this case another battle in the War on Terror. However, while I would not agree with this charity funding Hamas’s violent actions, the case does expose the hypocrisy of the US government in dealing with Israel and Palestine.

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A new documentary is shedding some light on the US invasion and assualt on Fallujah.  It follows Mark Manning as he travels into the Iraq war with no security of his own to document the true nature of war. Visit the site for more information here.

THE ROAD TO FALLUJAH follows the story of Mark Manning, the only westerner to live with the people of Fallujah, Iraq immediately following the November 2004 battle that destroyed their ancient and holy city.  With unique access to both sides of the conflict, the film gives a voice to the people directly involved and affected by the war and takes an in-depth and humanizing look at the issues in Iraq, breaking through the myths and misconceptions surrounding the violence and offering alternative solutions to war.

Disillusioned with the lack of un-biased information about the war in Iraq, Manning leaves his job as a diver on the offshore oilrigs of California and travels to the Middle East, where he meets and joins forces with an Iraqi woman, Rana Al-Aiouby, a humanitarian aid worker and journalist from Iraq.  Together, they travel into the heart of the Iraq war, unembedded and without armed security, to experience and document the reality of war from the perspective of the Iraqi people.

As one Military Commander said, “As went Fallujah, so went Iraq.”  THE ROAD TO FALLUJAH gives a detailed analysis of the circumstances that led to the siege of Fallujah, the actual events of the siege itself, and the consequences of the battle that have shaped the present situation in Iraq and beyond.  With a clear presentation of the reality on the ground in Iraq, the film provides a human perspective of U.S. policy in the Middle East, offering a new direction towards solutions to the current crisis and a guide for future foreign policy decisions.