It's ironic that "beware the MIC" Eisenhower was a big proponent of the highways/petroleum addiction.

I've noticed that if its a foreigner that we've picked up for terrorism there is no law, but for those that were caught in the US there is. This is, at least, the difference in treatment I've seen so far.

Here's the part I don't get. How or why does that matter when the 'crime', if you can call it that, happened in the US? It seems to have been boiled down to where they caught the people and not where the crime took place. If its a crime then why use the military? The military isn't for domestic disputes or law enforcement. Another thing I still don't understand is why Congress didn't declare war on both Iraq and Afghanistan. These seem like such simple questions that don't even get addressed by anyone.

The statutes criminalizing "material support for terrorism" are breakthakingly broad. Any Muslim who even sneezes in the direction of a group declared by the U.S. Govenment to be a Terrorist organization can easily be convicted under those statutes. Those laws have been used to convict people as Terrorists for doing nothing more than broadcasting a Hezbollah TV station in the U.S.

This kind of thing started long before Al Qaeda with people who expressed support for groups like Hezbollah and Hamas in the Clinton Administration.

“Public Option Enemy No. 1 [Rick Scott]” [Mother Jones] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/public-option-enemy-no-1

Scott isn't foolish enough to say he opposes reform outright. Instead, his group says it wants to promote health care reform that focuses on "choice" (of doctors), "competition" (between private insurers), "accountability" (standardized insurance claim forms and tax reform), and "personal responsibility" (of patients). Not everyone thinks that's real change.

Digby: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/bernie-madoff-of-health-care-by-digby.html

It seems to me that it should be somebody's job to expose this man. He's the most evil of evil CEOs. He should be a reviled and loathed character on par with the lowliest criminals at this point, and yet he's on TV lying about health care for his own profit. How can this be?

From Digby’s Update: Chris Hayes [The Nation]: “Healthcare Enemy #1”, 3/11/09

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090330/hayes?rel=hp_currently

Having Scott lead the charge against healthcare reform is like tapping Bernie Madoff to campaign against tighter securities regulation. You see, the for-profit hospital chain Scott helped found--the one he ran and built his entire reputation on--was discovered to be in the habit of defrauding the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

[…]

Congressman Pete Stark, a veteran of the last bruising round of fighting over healthcare reform, remembers Scott all too well. Stark recently sent his colleagues a letter hoping to refresh their memories. Calling Scott a "swindler," the letter said, "If he is the conservative spokesperson against healthcare reform, there is no debate."

The article was purely from the perspective of the detainee. Hardly objective reporting. Maybe he just learned his lesson and is now on the right side.

Where's all the fire and brimstone from glenn regarding the American journalists being held in North Korea?

because last night the Buddhas of Bamyan stood on my side (of the bed) again and cried because they were intentionally dynamited and destroyed by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in 2001, after the Taliban government declared that they were "idols" (which are forbidden under Sharia law).

You can not blow up a World Heritage Site - and especially not a peaceful Buddha - Or bad Karma heads your way Heru - and rightful so!!!

From The Nation article referenced above:

But in Washington there's no such thing as permanent disgrace, and as the healthcare debate heats up, Scott has established himself as a go-to source for reporters looking to hear from the opposition. He's been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He's been on Fox, of course, railing against President Obama's efforts to control healthcare costs. He appeared on CNN, where (as Media Matters noted) host Jessica Yellin never saw fit to notify viewers that the man she introduced as running "a media campaign to limit government's role in the healthcare system" once ran a company that profited mightily from ripping off that government.

Writers like Glenn have a pretty clearly stated goal of affecting US policies, not simply decrying anything bad that happens to anyone in the world. There are certainly no shortage of journalists and writers covering those journalists, and I don't think an angle has been left uncovered there.

Your other point is pretty close to being too ridiculous to critique; aside from the fact that there's nothing wrong with covering the viewpoint of someone who has been accused of criminal activity, you're wrong anyway. The article has additional sources that concur that Wakil is not involved in any "terrorism".

"How could he be a terrorist? He is never far off the government's radar," leading Afghan presidential candidate Mirwise Yaseeni said. "His family is here. I have never known him to do anything criminal."

Mohammed Roze, who directs the Afghan government's peace and reconciliation commission in Kunar, said he thought that Malik Zarin, who was then the head of the rival Mushwani tribe, had turned Wakil in because the Mushwani tribe opposed a poppy-eradication program that Wakil had begun in Kunar around the time of his arrest. Zarin had built close ties with American forces in Kunar, Roze said. He said that Wakil was never a threat to American troops.

Wakil's reputation in his province eventually helped his case. Fellow residents compiled hundreds of letters on his behalf. Politicians, including some who'd eventually seek his support, also wrote on his behalf.

To some extent, he might have used his influence" to earn his release, said Mohammed Akram, the administrative director of the national peace and reconciliation commission, which help Kunar's tribal leaders secure Wakil's release.

Karzai's government confirmed Wakil's account. "Whatever Haji Rohullah says about meeting with Karzai and his chief of staff is true. He is an honorable man, so whatever he said happened is correct," Karzai's chief of staff, Omar Daudzai, told McClatchy.