[ALBSA-Info] NYTimes.com Article: Seizing Dictatorial Power

[Xhuliana Agolli]

In a way, one's views and one's tendencies in opining can be shaped by one's 
experiences. At least, that's what I see happening in my case. I think 
you're right in so far as you imply that I too am one of these 
anti-government "hippies". I have no problem saying it outloud that I am not 
for or with the administration of a dimwit such as George W. Bush and of a 
dangerous fundamentalist such as Ashcroft. They both offend my intellect 
very deeply.

As per your claim that I should be feeling "guilty" for 'enjoying' the 
benefits of Imperialist America, I can only say to you that that is a very 
poor argument. Actually it's not an argument at all if one considers its 
object. It doesn't address the views that you think I may have; it addresses 
a fact that no one can change, a fact that has to do with the location of my 
body rather than my beliefs and/or views, viz., that I was born and raised 
in Albania and not Pakistan, and that I've ended up in the States rather 
than Afghanistan. That tells absolutely nothing as to whether I'm actually 
"enjoying" the consequenes of imperialist/expansionist policies excercised 
by the US. People can't do much about where they're born or where they end 
up becoming old. And that should have nothing to do with the issue here, if 
we're considering the nature of American foreign policies and whether 
they're right or wrong or... I actually am having a hard time seeing what 
you're thinking of when you say that "These people criticize the imperialist 
policies and at the same time enjoy the benefits that resulted from these 
policies." Please cite me some "benefits" that have been enjoyed BY THE 
PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA from imperialist/expansionist 
tactics.

And, please, don't be so naive as to consider the alternative to an 
imperialist/expansionist US as the equivalent of "stone-age". America, YOUR 
America, did not invent its (mind you,REPRESENTATIVE) "democracy". And 
civilization was not born here. If there is one other thing that was born 
here, besides the Atomic Bomb, and besides the other many great 
technological and scientific novelties--I'm sorry to say--is the opposite of 
what is generally considered as civilization. And please control your 
patriotism lest you should declare me at some point an 'infidel' of the 
United States of De-civilization. Because I know I was told I was such one 
in the country where you, and many of you, were born.
xha
>From: Endri Leno <endril at rocketmail.com>
>To: albsa-info at alb-net.com
>Subject: Re: [ALBSA-Info] NYTimes.com Article: Seizing Dictatorial Power
>Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 16:25:15 -0800 (PST)
>
>           ----------- ALBSA-Info Mailing List ---------
>           - ALBSA Web Site: http://www.albstudent.com/albsa -
>
>Even though Mr. Protopapa is addressing the “fact
>presenter” rather harshly, I think, that he is
>undoubtedly right.
>The facts, and interpretations that XHA sends to the
>list are generally one sided, and their aim seems to
>be the denigration of the US President and his
>policies.
>These views are usually typical of the
>neocommunist-environmentalist (pseudo ecologist)
>hippies of Harvard and Central Squares. For those who
>don't know what I am talking about, these are the
>people who handout anti-government leaflets and stalk
>others to sign their petitions in every train station.
>The problem with these people is that even though
>sometimes they might be right, they never present a
>clear solution to the problems they are complaining
>about.
>These people fail to recognize the fact that without
>the imperialist and expansionist Western politics,
>which sometimes are by the way, the world would have
>never gotten past the stone age.  These people
>criticize the imperialist policies and at the same
>time enjoy the benefits that resulted from these
>policies.
>This standing not only makes them as "guilty" as the
>US President is, but also makes them hypocrites at the
>same time.
>Endri Leno
>
>
>--- jetkoti at hotmail.com wrote:
> >           ----------- ALBSA-Info Mailing List
> > ---------
> >           - ALBSA Web Site:
> > http://www.albstudent.com/albsa -
> >
> > This article from NYTimes.com
> > has been sent to you by jetkoti at hotmail.com.
> >
> >
> > Exclusively from the New York Times for Sejfi
> > Protopapa.
> >
> > Being that Mr. Protopapa accused me not very long
> > ago that I am
> > "hell bent to tell members of ALBSA that America is
> > a Fascist country and that President Bush is the
> > Dictator."
> > Or that,
> > "You, Ms Agolli are using ALBSA to PROPAGATE YOUR
> > NOTIONS of fascists America and the dictatorial Mr.
> > Bush."
> >
> > I feel therefore obliged to tell Mr. Protopapa that
> > it's not that I'm trying to propagate notions, even
> > less MY notions, but simply present facts and
> > interpretations of those facts, if need be.
> > Corteously,
> > XhA
> >
> > jetkoti at hotmail.com
> >
> >
> > Seizing Dictatorial Power
> >
> > November 15, 2001
> >
> > By WILLIAM SAFIRE
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > WASHINGTON -- Misadvised by a frustrated and
> > panic-stricken
> > attorney general, a president of the United States
> > has just
> > assumed what amounts to dictatorial power to jail or
> > execute aliens. Intimidated by terrorists and
> > inflamed by a
> > passion for rough justice, we are letting George W.
> > Bush
> > get away with the replacement of the American rule
> > of law
> > with military kangaroo courts.
> >
> > In his infamous emergency order, Bush admits to
> > dismissing
> > "the principles of law and the rules of evidence"
> > that
> > undergird America's system of justice. He seizes the
> > power
> > to circumvent the courts and set up his own drumhead
> > tribunals - panels of officers who will sit in
> > judgment of
> > non-citizens who the president need only claim
> > "reason to
> > believe" are members of terrorist organizations.
> >
> > Not content with his previous decision to permit
> > police to
> > eavesdrop on a suspect's conversations with an
> > attorney,
> > Bush now strips the alien accused of even the
> > limited
> > rights afforded by a court-martial.
> >
> > His kangaroo court can conceal evidence by citing
> > national
> > security, make up its own rules, find a defendant
> > guilty
> > even if a third of the officers disagree, and
> > execute the
> > alien with no review by any civilian court.
> >
> > No longer does the judicial branch and an
> > independent jury
> > stand between the government and the accused. In
> > lieu of
> > those checks and balances central to our legal
> > system,
> > non-citizens face an executive that is now
> > investigator,
> > prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner.
> > In an
> > Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this
> > Soviet-style
> > abomination "a full and fair trial."
> >
> > On what legal meat does this our Caesar feed? One
> > precedent
> > the White House cites is a military court after
> > Lincoln's
> > assassination. (During the Civil War, Lincoln
> > suspended
> > habeas corpus; does our war on terror require
> > illegal
> > imprisonment next?) Another is a military court's
> > hanging,
> > approved by the Supreme Court, of German saboteurs
> > landed
> > by submarine in World War II.
> >
> > Proponents of Bush's kangaroo court say: Don't you
> > soft-on-terror, due-process types know there's a war
> > on?
> > Have you forgotten our 5,000 civilian dead? In an
> > emergency
> > like this, aren't extraordinary security measures
> > needed to
> > save citizens' lives? If we step on a few toes, we
> > can
> > apologize to the civil libertarians later.
> >
> > Those are the arguments of the phony-tough. At a
> > time when
> > even liberals are debating the ethics of torture of
> > suspects - weighing the distaste for barbarism
> > against the
> > need to save innocent lives - it's time for
> > conservative
> > iconoclasts and card-carrying hard-liners to stand
> > up for
> > American values.
> >
> > To meet a terrorist emergency, of course some rules
> > should
> > be stretched and new laws passed. An ethnic dragnet
> > rounding up visa-skippers or questioning foreign
> > students,
> > if short-term, is borderline tolerable. Congress's
> > new law
> > permitting warranted roving wiretaps is
> > understandable.
> >
> > But let's get to the target that this blunderbuss
> > order is
> > intended to hit. Here's the big worry in Washington
> > now:
> > What do we do if Osama bin Laden gives himself up? A
> > proper
> > trial like that Israel afforded Adolf Eichmann, it
> > is
> > feared, would give the terrorist a global propaganda
> > platform. Worse, it would be likely to result in
> > widespread
> > hostage-taking by his followers to protect him from
> > the
> > punishment he deserves.
> >
> > The solution is not to corrupt our judicial
> > tradition by
> > making bin Laden the star of a new Star Chamber. The
> > solution is to turn his cave into his crypt. When
> > fleeing
> > Taliban reveal his whereabouts, our bombers should
> > promptly
> > bid him farewell with 15,000-pound daisy-cutters and
> > 5,000-pound rock-penetrators.
> >
> > But what if he broadcasts his intent to surrender,
> > and
> > walks toward us under a white flag? It is not in our
> > tradition to shoot prisoners. Rather, President Bush
> > should
> > now set forth a policy of "universal surrender": all
> > of Al
> > Qaeda or none. Selective surrender of one or a dozen
> > leaders - which would leave cells in Afghanistan and
> > elsewhere free to fight on - is unacceptable. We
> > should
> > continue our bombardment of bin Laden's hideouts
> > until he
> > agrees to identify and surrender his entire
> > terrorist
> > force.
> >
> > If he does, our criminal courts can handle them
> > expeditiously. If, as more likely, the primary
> > terrorist
> > prefers what he thinks of as martyrdom, that
> > suicidal
> > choice would be his - and Americans would have no
> > need of
> > kangaroo courts to betray our principles of justice.
> >
> >
> >
>http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/15/opinion/15SAFI.html?ex=1006855557&ei=1&en=454d0209d9782e61
> >
> >
> >
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