Obama Challenges Terrorism Critics

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/us/politics/08terror.html?scp=1&sq=White%20House%20challenges%20terror%20critics&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Subject: re: Obama Challenges Terrorism Critics
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    Dissatisfaction is growing in the country, and it is not solely the Right that's unhappy.  The majority of the electorate who voted for change is disappointed that this administration is "not handling any of these cases any different (sic) than the Bush administration handled them".  "State Secrets" is a scant fig-leaf to conceal unconstitutional warrantless wiretaps, torture violated both our statues and our treaty obligations and detention "for the duration of hostilities" in a conflict that no one has the authority to end is an abomination.  We voted for a president who would "take care that the Laws be faithfully executed". To continue the Bush administration's evasion of the Law may appeal across the aisle, but it has alienated president Obama's own base.

Barry Levine

The Muddled Selling of the President

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/weekinreview/31stevenson.html?scp=1&sq=muddled%20selling%20of%20the%20president&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 8:42 AM
Subject: re: The Muddled Selling of the President
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   There is the risk that president Obama could be remembered as the leader of the party that couldn't pass a bill even with sixty senators and a majority of the House.  Let me propose that he instead  frame himself as the public servant who "take[s] care that the laws be faithfully executed".  Wrapping oneself in the constitution need not be a cynical partisan trick; in this case, it would be fulfilling his oath of office. Prosecution of torturers would be an excellent start. As long as we can't be trusted to enforce our statutes or to fulfill our treaty obligations, our government lacks legitimacy and our diplomats have no credibility.

Barry Levine

Health Bill Stalled, Obama Juggles an Altered Agenda

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/politics/29cong.html?scp=1&sq=obama%20juggles%20agenda&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 9:01 AM
Subject: re: Health Bill Stalled, Obama Juggles an Altered Agenda
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   the president of the United States of America has a large and complicated job, but he is not the State.  Whether our Legislature behaves responsibly or irresponsibly, it remains the presidents duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed". Where are the prosecutions for warrantless wiretaps? Where are the prosecutions for torture? Until the world sees that the U.S. is ruled by laws and not by the executive whim, we have no legitimate place in the community of civilized nations.

Barry Levine

Rivalries in Iraq Keep G.I.’s in the Field

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/world/middleeast/27mosul.html?scp=1&sq=rivalries%20in%20iraq%20keep%20G.I.'s%20in%20the%20field&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 10:33 AM
Subject: re: Rivalries in Iraq Keep G.I.’s in the Field
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    While it is true that "Ultimately the Americans hope to withdraw", that hope has been pushed farther off by the Bush/Petraeus strategies in Iraq.  L. Paul Bremer's deBaathification created an Iraqi military that is seen as an arm of the Shiite majority, rather than of the nation.  U.S. support for the Sunni Awakening diverted such Sunnis as wished to serve into a purely sectarian militia, rather than into the national service. When we credit general Petraeus with reducing the monthly bloodshed, we should remember that the cost has been prolonging our role as occupiers.

Barry Levine

Torture’s Loopholes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/opinion/21alexander.html?scp=1&sq=torture's%20loopholes&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 11:09 AM
Subject: re: Torture’s Loopholes
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

     In 1994, the Senate of the United States of America ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Since that day, this has been--in our Constitution's words--"the supreme Law of the Land".  That law necessarily applies also everywhere that we claim jurisdiction, whether on an airbase in Afghanistan, a naval base on Cuba  or a dungeon in an un-named Eastern European country.  Every president who has failed to "see that [this] law is faithfully executed" has done so in violation of his oath of office.

Barry Levine

The Pragmatic Leviathan

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/opinion/19brooks.html?scp=1&sq=david%20brooks%20leviathan&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 4:09 PM
Subject: re: The Pragmatic Leviathan
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   For seven years,  the Bush/Cheney administration claimed extraordinary powers for extralegal wiretaps and torture. Now suddenly David Brooks discovers the threat of an absolute monarchy, but he perceives the threat from president Obama. The illogic would be comical if it weren't so predictable. If majorities in the two houses of our legislature pass a healthcare bill, then president Obama will get to sign it into law. That's not tyranny, that's the proper function of government as per our constitution. That would be change I can believe in.

Barry Levine

Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/nyregion/14watchlist.html?scp=1&sq=meet%20mikey&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Subject: re: Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    James Fotenos' statement that “there are no children on the no-fly or selectee lists” is newsworthy because is it falsifiable and has been shown to be false.  We should also consider that it might point to illegal activity. For very good reasons, we have laws prohibiting the use of taxpayers money to direct propaganda at the homefront in times of war.  Much is unclear here. Are we at war (albeit without a declaration from congress)? Is the T.S.A. engaged in the war-effort? That should  be properly left to the prosecutor to determine.  As long as mr. Fotenos is paid from tax-levee money, we the taxpayers deserve to know why he's lying to us.

Barry Levine