From R. Bruce St. John:

Since September 11, 2001, President George W Bush's administration policies in the "war on terrorism" have mutated the global threat, mobilizing anti-US sentiment. The crisis in Iraq, coupled with radical shifts in US policy in the Middle East and elsewhere, have given extremists a new focus, allowing radical groups to widen their appeal among Muslims and others.

/snip/

The US adoption in Iraq of Israeli tactics employed in Palestine adds to the problem. The early use of plastic handcuffs and hoods was followed by the demolition of Iraqi homes and businesses, together with the prolonged detention of prisoners without rights or charges. Most recently, we have the growing prisoner-abuse scandal. The power of images is enormous in the Arab-Muslim world. And the pictures television viewers see of US troops in action in Iraq are often mirror images of Israeli troops in action in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli use of dehumanizing force against the Palestinians has proved counterproductive, simply increasing Palestinian opposition to Israeli occupation. The same is true for the US use of similar tactics in Iraq.

/snip/

The Bush administration has yet to recognize that the outcome of the "war on terrorism" will depend on the quality of the peace. By ruling out the peaceful settlement of disputes in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere, the White House has not eliminated terrorism. It has provoked it.

By becoming war criminals, our political leaders have made the world a much less safe place and increased recruitment for terrorist causes significantly.

Link to St. John column at my name.

As a final note, these thoughts are at the bottom of my opposition to Eric Holder's nomination to be Attorney General. I just can't get past his invocation of Washington insider connections to make the worst of the charges against Chiquita go away when they engaged in many of the same, or worse, activities in Latin America.

Doesn't that mindset, rather obviously, substantially increase the likelihood -- if not render inevitable -- that such behavior will occur again?

Given the repeated crimes after pardons for Watergate and Iran/Contra, there can be no other answer than yes for this question.

Prosecution, not just investigation, not just exposure, is the only route to stopping this behavior. These guys absolutely will not stop until they are punished, and punished severely.

Never again in our name.

Timelines are always informative. I'd love to see it. The folks at Emptywheel also love them. Marcy's done one there on the torture tapes (linked at my name) but not one on torture authorization in general.

Don't they do a great breakfast buffet?

Are we now going to have to fly barefoot since shoes are now weapons even if they don't have explosives in them?

My local paper ran Jay Ambrose's column of December 11 in today's paper. The drivel Ambrose spouted was so ridiculous, and is refuted so well with the transcript from Glenn's appearance with Moyers that I just couldn't help myself. Oxdown Diary linked at my name: A Tale of Two Pundits.

Glenn,

The contrast you point out between the Moyers and the Maddow shows can be extended into the format of blogs like UT. Even thought it was only 25 minutes, I felt that the Moyers interview was really only just getting started when it ended, and as you point out, part of the intended subject area didn't get covered.

On the other hand, the blog format, and your preferred posting of only one or two pieces a day, allows for a much more extended conversation that can stretch for over a day on a single topic. Many more voices are included and the special beauty is that the research goes on in a cooperative way throughout the day as various people pursue minithreads and come back with evidence to support their theses.

Still, given those constraints on both the Maddow and Moyers formats, you did a tremendous job of inserting into both a viewpoint that is much needed in the political discussion of the day. Like many of the others here, I hope to see much more of this in the days to come.

Sorry sir, I'll leave him alone.

PS: The gown ties in the back.

Breaking news:

Portugal is willing to grant asylum to Guantánamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries, Foreign Minister Luis Amado said in the letter sent to his EU counterparts.

Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/breaking-news/story/808988.html

According to the story, Portugal sent the letter yesterday to mark the 60 anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Perhaps there is hope for humanity, after all.