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Thursday, October 16, 2003
 

Target: Greenpeace. In April 2002, Greenpeace activists boarded a ship that was transporting mahogany from Brazil to a Miami logging company, which violates Brazil's moratorium on the export of mahogany. The Greenpeace activists carried out a non-violent protest on the ship, mounting a banner on the ship calling for an end to illegal logging of mahogany.

The activists were duly charged with interfering with law enforcement and illegally boarding a high-seas vessel and their cases resolved in various ways (ultimately six pled guilty and were sentenced to time served; charges against the others were dropped).

Then on July 19 of this year, the federal government brought an indictment against the Greenpeace organization itself on charges of conspiracy.

[...]

What disturbs commentators is not the charges themselves, which are relatively minor, but that the Greenpeace organization is being targeted independently of and in addition to the activists who actually broke the law. The legal experts cited by the New York Times say that the only precedent for this is attempts in the 1960s by certain Southern states to try and shut down civil rights organizations. [Open Source Politics]

The legal experts must not have been very expert--as one person pointed out in a comment on this post, this tactic has been used more recently in civil cases against racist groups. The targetting of al Qaeda for the actions of its members is similar, although in that case the courts aren't being used.

It's nice to see the Feds actually doing something they have the legal power to do ("define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas") for a change. However, I don't think it's appropriate in this case to target an entire organization for collective punishment. If they could identify the highest-level member of the organization who was involved in the crime, they should arrest and charge that person.
11:05:24 PM    comment ()


DoD undersecretary says our real enemy is Satan.

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The Los Angeles Times reports:

Yet the former commander and 13-year veteran of the Army's top-secret Delta Force is also an outspoken evangelical Christian who appeared in dress uniform and polished jump boots before a religious group in Oregon in June to declare that radical Islamists hated the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian ... and the enemy is a guy named Satan."

Discussing the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, Boykin told another audience, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

"We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this," Boykin said last year.

On at least one occasion, in Sandy, Ore., in June, Boykin said of President Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."

MSNBC has more on that last statement:

Boykin also routinely tells audiences that God, not the voters, chose President Bush: "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that heâs in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."

According to CNN, Rumsfeld is standing behind Boykin:

Asked about this Thursday, Rumsfeld told reporters he had not seen the videos and did not know the "full context" of Boykin's remarks. But the secretary did say, "We do know that he is an officer that has an outstanding record in the United States armed forces."

President Bush has often said the view of the administration is that the United States is in a war against terrorism, "not a war against a religion," Rumsfeld said, but rather a war against people who "have tried to hijack a religion."

"There are a lot of things that are said by people that are their views," he said, "and that's the way we live. We are free people and that's the wonderful thing about our country, and I think for anyone to run around and think that can be managed or controlled is probably wrong."

Added: CAIR wants Boykin to be reassigned:

"Putting a man with such extremist views in a critical policy-making position sends entirely the wrong message to a Muslim world that is already skeptical about America's motives and intentions," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Everyone is entitled to their own religious beliefs, no matter how ill-informed or bigoted, but those beliefs should not be allowed to color important decisions that need to be made in the war on terrorism. General Boykin should be reassigned to a position in which he will not be able to harm our nation's image or interests."

Awad said Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews. He noted that Arabic language Bibles use the word "Allah" when referring to God and quoted the Quran, which states: "Say ye: 'We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between one and another of them and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.'" (Quran, 2:136)

"We call on Americans of all faiths to reject any attempts to turn the war on terrorism into a religious crusade. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld should also take this opportunity to further distance themselves from those who actively promote the clash of civilizations and religions," said Awad.

[Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs]

Here we have another person demonstrating that the terrorists aren't the only religious fanatics around. I've been somewhat disgusted by the way Christians go on about their god ever since the "god bless America" crap that was going around after 9/11. It's quite disturbing to hear people grovelling to the same imaginary friend that the murderous terrorists were grovelling to.

I'm also mildly disgusted by the CAIR's reaction. General Boykin cannot be removed from his post based on his religious beliefs--to do so would be a violation of rights protected by the First Amendment. You'd think that someone who represents a currently unpopular minority religion would have enough sense to refrain from trashing the First Amendment, lest the more numerous Christian religious fanatics decide to follow his example.

However, I do think that General Boykin should be reassigned, for an entirely different reason. He's the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence--and he doesn't know that Christians and Muslims worship the same god? That demonstrates a truely amazing degree of incompetence for someone in an intelligence position. He should be reassigned to some position where it doesn't matter if he's totally ignorant.
3:32:28 PM    comment ()



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