Retort Part II
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
In regards to Yemen, the author states "To 're-emerge' there must be withdrawal. The Jamestown Foundation, which has monitored terrorism since 1984, found that Yemen has long been a safe haven for Al-Qaeda since the early 1990s. Particularly fatal to the author's case - on two separate occasions in 2000, Al-Qaeda attacked US naval ships docked in Yemen."
This is true but according to an article titled "Waning Vigilance: Al-Qaeda's Resurgence in Yemen", "By late 2003, al-Qaeda in Yemen had been largely defeated through the close cooperation of U.S. and Yemen" security forces. The article continues later with after that victory "the threat from al-Qaeda - was certainly ignored." It was during this time that VP Cheney authorized the release of Said Ali Shari who, according to ABC news, was "One of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a ... passenger jet over Detroit was released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November 2007." That plot was the failed Christmas day terrorist attack. On February of '09, the NY Times reported that the same Said Al-Shari had became the deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. And had therefore become part of Al-Qaeda's resurgence in Yemen.
In regards to killing too many terrorists the author states, "After stating all terrorists are legitimate targets, the official questioned whether Obama's drone campaign against terrorists is more advantageous than Bush's policy of capture and interrogation." This is a valid question but another Republican Michael Scheuer stated on Fox and Friends,"You win wars by killing people, not capturing them." He continued, "We're not killing enough people. As you can see the GOP uses both sides of the argument to criticize a sitting war-time president, something the GOP says is unpatriotic. Meanwhile, President Obama is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
And finally the writer of "Reality" tries to defend how opponents of the unprovoked Iraq war were treated by the GOP. I stated that opponents of the war were called unpatriotic and terrorist sympathizers. His retort begins with "Even if true, it was Obama who placed dissenters on the terrorist watch list." The writer is correct that some rightwing extremists groups were placed on a watch list by the Department of Homeland Security. But the writer compared non-violent opposition to an unprovoked war by elected officials, to the growth of rightwing extremist groups who have advocated violence in the past. I see no comparison.
After all that, the writer of "Reality" at no point refutes the blatant GOP hypocrisy, which was the main theme of my letter "GOP Hypocrisy". Instead what was presented was a series of the usual GOP talking points that upon further review and research were found to be inaccurate at best. The letter was similar to previous GOP responses to accusations of hypocrisy. Avoid the issue, talk around the facts, give only parts of the story, and change the subject.
Robert Betances
Warsaw, via e-mail
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In regards to Yemen, the author states "To 're-emerge' there must be withdrawal. The Jamestown Foundation, which has monitored terrorism since 1984, found that Yemen has long been a safe haven for Al-Qaeda since the early 1990s. Particularly fatal to the author's case - on two separate occasions in 2000, Al-Qaeda attacked US naval ships docked in Yemen."
This is true but according to an article titled "Waning Vigilance: Al-Qaeda's Resurgence in Yemen", "By late 2003, al-Qaeda in Yemen had been largely defeated through the close cooperation of U.S. and Yemen" security forces. The article continues later with after that victory "the threat from al-Qaeda - was certainly ignored." It was during this time that VP Cheney authorized the release of Said Ali Shari who, according to ABC news, was "One of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a ... passenger jet over Detroit was released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November 2007." That plot was the failed Christmas day terrorist attack. On February of '09, the NY Times reported that the same Said Al-Shari had became the deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. And had therefore become part of Al-Qaeda's resurgence in Yemen.
In regards to killing too many terrorists the author states, "After stating all terrorists are legitimate targets, the official questioned whether Obama's drone campaign against terrorists is more advantageous than Bush's policy of capture and interrogation." This is a valid question but another Republican Michael Scheuer stated on Fox and Friends,"You win wars by killing people, not capturing them." He continued, "We're not killing enough people. As you can see the GOP uses both sides of the argument to criticize a sitting war-time president, something the GOP says is unpatriotic. Meanwhile, President Obama is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
And finally the writer of "Reality" tries to defend how opponents of the unprovoked Iraq war were treated by the GOP. I stated that opponents of the war were called unpatriotic and terrorist sympathizers. His retort begins with "Even if true, it was Obama who placed dissenters on the terrorist watch list." The writer is correct that some rightwing extremists groups were placed on a watch list by the Department of Homeland Security. But the writer compared non-violent opposition to an unprovoked war by elected officials, to the growth of rightwing extremist groups who have advocated violence in the past. I see no comparison.
After all that, the writer of "Reality" at no point refutes the blatant GOP hypocrisy, which was the main theme of my letter "GOP Hypocrisy". Instead what was presented was a series of the usual GOP talking points that upon further review and research were found to be inaccurate at best. The letter was similar to previous GOP responses to accusations of hypocrisy. Avoid the issue, talk around the facts, give only parts of the story, and change the subject.
Robert Betances
Warsaw, via e-mail
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