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Harris Sherline: Should We Declare War on Terrorism?
The latest question being debated in the media is, “Can we kill an American who is working for al-Qaeda overseas?” It may be rhetorical, but it clearly demonstrates the confusion in America today about our status — that is, whether we are at war.
The nation is divided over the issue. If we are at war, why aren’t we trying war criminals in military tribunals as opposed to giving them the same rights that our citizens enjoy in civilian courts?
The Bush administration seemed to be clear that we are at war, and that enemy combatants should be tried in military courts. Although Guantanamo Bay was established as the place to hold people who were picked up on the battlefield or otherwise captured and known to be terrorists, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, in the eight years after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the government never completed the job of updating our laws to deal with such prisoners.
Most of the public seems to believe we are at war and that it is a war on terrorism, but the Obama administration apparently doesn’t agree.
This leads to confusion and weakens our nation’s defenses. President Barack Obama’s position that the word “terrorism” is not to be used by his administration and being unwilling to acknowledge that we are at war is directly at odds with his authorization to send an additional 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan and his approval of attacks by military drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The confusion is further exemplified by the administration’s handling of incidents such as the Fort Hood shootings, promising to close Gitmo without thoroughly considering the consequences, and moving the trials of Mohammad and the Christmas Day bomber to civilian courts. For the most part, the reasoning behind these decisions is not clear, and the public appears to strongly object to them.
Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution says, “Congress shall have power to … declare war,” so perhaps the question should be: Why not declare war on al-Qaeda and any other group that attacks us?
We seem to be overlooking the fact that Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States in August 1996. His declaration was published in a London-based Arabic language newspaper and followed a long list of attacks on U.S. properties and personnel overseas dating back to 1979, when Iran took U.S. embassy employees hostage. It continued from there with the 1983 attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon, and a succession of other attacks thereafter — the most notable of which were the 9/11 attacks and the attempt to bomb a Northwest Airlines flight from Copenhagen to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
So, what’s the problem? Are we at war or not? If we are, why don’t we formally declare war and move on from there? The obvious question is: Against whom? There is no easy answer, but how about starting with al-Qaeda and any nation or group that gives them support or allows them to use its territory for training and staging attacks on other nations?
As for declaring war, that’s the province of Congress — not the president — so why not move the process directly to the legislature where the issue can be openly debated, regardless of what the president may want? Ultimately, the decision is up to them.
My guess is that the American people would strongly favor debating and settling this issue once and for all. We should eliminate any confusion about holding enemy combatants until the war ends and trying them in military tribunals or civilian courts, or killing an American who is openly waging war against his or her own country.
I know it’s a complicated and confusing issue, but no more than many others that are taken up by Congress. Let them get everything out on the table for all to see and discuss, then decide. That way we can go forward with a clear understanding of the alternatives — good and bad, which hopefully would unify the nation behind a single, clear-cut policy.
The problem with the current situation is that it allows our enemies — al-Qaeda, Muslim fundamentalists and others, such as Iran — to capitalize on our confusion and adapt their strategy accordingly, while we can’t seem to agree on how to respond.
As long as we continue to allow our enemies to exploit our vacillation and indecision, there are sure to be more attempts to attack our homeland, some of which are bound to succeed. To succeed, they only have to be right once, while to prevent them we must be right 100 percent of the time.
We should push Congress to debate the issue and vote up or down for an open declaration of war on our enemies.
— Harris R. Sherline is a retired CPA and former chairman and CEO of Santa Ynez Valley Hospital who has lived in Santa Barbara County for more than 30 years. He stays active writing opinion columns and his blog, Opinionfest.com.
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» on 02.06.10 @ 11:02 PM
This is so we can strike before being hit..
The liberal cowards will disagree..
» on 02.06.10 @ 11:27 PM
Richard Reid, a member of Al Qaeda, co-conspirator in the Sep. 11 attacks, and attempted bomber of American Airlines Flight 63 on Dec. 22, 2001, was tried in US Federal Court during the GW Bush administration.
So where in blazes does Harris Sherline get the bizarre comment, `The Bush administration seemed to be clear that we are at war, and that enemy combatants should be tried in military courts.’?
Will Harris Sherline’s next comment be, `There were no domestic terrorist attacks under George W. Bush.’, like Rudy Giulani said on Jan. 8, 2010?
Jeez Louise, the GW Bush administration was inundated with intelligence that 9/11 was about to happen, and GW Bush was off at his ranch having long vacations and ignoring the intelligence. He let 9/11 happen. How soon we forget.
» on 02.06.10 @ 11:54 PM
Definitely round up US military vet Christian terrorists like Tim McVeigh who bombed the Oklahoma City building and killed 168 Americans including many <5 year-old kids. Round up those US military vet Christian terrorists and send them to Gitmo.
» on 02.08.10 @ 10:47 AM
publius with a small p;
It is you that have a conveniently biased and incredibly short memory. The United States was indundated with intelligence that would have easily identified the “underwear bomber” Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab and his attempts to bomb an airliner over Detroit on last Christmas day with a PTN explosive mixture.
You undoubtely forgot that OBAMA WAS ON VACATION IN HAWAII at the time.
How soon YOU forget!!!!
CAN YOU SPELL H Y P O C R I S Y !!
» on 02.08.10 @ 01:03 PM
I’m shocked, shocked that anyone would take a holiday at Christmas.
George W Bush set new records for amount of vacation time taken.
A lot more people died on 9/11 than died due to the intel screwups w/r to Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab. Come to think of it, nobody died due to Abdulmutallab, and thousands died courtesy the GW Bush administrations incompetent intelligence management in 2001.
Then add the 1000’s of american soldiers GW Bush is responsible for the deaths of, and the 100,000’s of Iraqi citizens dead courtesy GW Bush… hmmm, hard to get excited about Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab.
» on 02.09.10 @ 07:25 PM
JAX suffers from Bush Voter Syndrome which causes amnesia when remembering that both the Twin Towers and our economy collapsed under right wing rule .
» on 02.10.10 @ 03:27 PM
Ya, Willie and I have some swamp land in Florida you Kool-Aid drinkers might be interested in. So in your idiotic logic everything wrong in the world today is Obama’s fault? Oooooooooh, wait a minute! He inherited all the crap that’s wrong today. So Bush was responsible for 911 only 9 months into his admin while being coached by a bunch of treasonous Clinton leftovers in the state department and a financial system racked by criminals in the house and senate screwing with mortgages since early in the Clinton admin. But your boy in the white house is mister Teflon now huh? Hypocrite!
» on 02.11.10 @ 03:46 AM
Absolutely true, that Obama made mistakes on underpants/jockstrap bombers.
Underpants/jockstrap bombers represent and incredible threat to America today, and underpants/jockstrap bombers need to be inspected personally at border crossings by Sarah Palin, on reality TV. That will solve everything.
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