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Lies and videotape?

08 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

After witnessing the Transfiguration, the disciples are instructed to keep what they have seen to themselves for the time being. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) apparently also has been keeping information to itself. The agency admitted Monday it had destroyed 92 videotapes of harsh interrogations of Al Qaeda suspects, a much greater number than it had previously acknowledged. The interrogations were a highly divisive issue during the Bush administration, with many Democrats and other critics saying that some methods used amounted to torture--a contention Bush and other officials rejected. A criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter. Monday's acknowledgment involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking more details of the interrogation programs following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. "The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said a letter submitted in that case by Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety-two videotapes were destroyed." At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday he hadn't spoken to the president about the report, but called the news about the videotapes "sad" and said Obama was committed to ending torture while also protecting American values. Source: An article by Devlin Barrett for the Associated Press

robert gibbs central intelligence agency cia videotapes al qaeda american civil liberties union lev dassin torture

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Tortured arguments

26 Apr 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles for this Sunday includes this judgment of those who put Jesus to death: "You acted out of ignorance . . . ." It was the public that was in the dark until it came to light this week that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) interrogators used waterboarding 266 times on two key Al Qaeda prisoners, far more than had been previously reported. Top Obama administration officials have described the near-drowning technique as illegal torture. But when the president released secret memoranda last week detailing the harsh tactics employed by the CIA, he said officers who used it and other harsh interrogation methods with the approval of the Justice Department would not be prosecuted. But under intense pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill and human rights organizations, the president suggested Tuesday that he would not stand in the way of a full inquiry into what he has called "a dark and painful chapter" in the nation's history. The president restated his opposition to prosecuting CIA operatives who followed the Bush administration's legal guidelines in conducting interrogations. But as for lawyers or others who drew up the policies allowing techniques he has banned, Obama said it would be up to his attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., to decide what to do. The White House's shifting comments in recent days provide a glimpse into its struggle to deal with one of the thorniest issues Obama has faced since taking office. His own national intelligence director, Dennis Blair, said in an internal memo last week that the now-banned interrogation methods had produced valuable information, contrary to the White House view that they had not been effective. Blair, however, issued a statement Tuesday evening underscoring his support for the president's decision to ban the "enhanced interrogation techniques" at issue: "We do not need these techniques to keep America safe. The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us, and they are not essential to our national security." Source: Articles by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Peter Baker, and Scott Shane for the New York Times and Pamela Hess for the Associated Press

barack obama dennis blair justice department prisoners waterboarding eric h holder jr torture al qaeda cia central intelligence agency interrogation

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No new nukes, announces Obama

11 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the Sunday reading from the Book of Revelation, “a voice as loud as a trumpet” says to John, “I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.” Expressing grave concern over the potential for nuclear proliferation and “nuclear terrorism,” President Barack Obama Tuesday announced a fundamental shift in the nation’s nuclear strategy. Arguing that the spread of atomic weapons to rogue states or terrorists represents a worse threat than the nuclear Armageddon feared during the Cold War, Obama said his administration would narrow the circumstances in which the U.S. might launch a nuclear strike, forgo the development of new nuclear warheads, and seek even deeper reductions in U.S. and Russian arsenals. "The greatest threat to U.S. and global security is no longer a nuclear exchange between nations, but nuclear terrorism by violent extremists and nuclear proliferation to an increasing number of states," Obama said. The announcement set the stage for his trip to Prague Thursday to sign a new arms reduction agreement with Russia to cut stockpiles of long-range nuclear warheads by a third, as well as for a "nuclear summit" of 40 world leaders Obama will host next Monday in Washington. Those gathered will discuss improving safeguards against terrorists acquiring nuclear bombs. From the start of his term in office Obama has put halting the spread of atomic arms near the top of his defense priorities. But during his first year he failed to achieve a significant breakthrough on arguably the two biggest threats: Iran and North Korea. "Given al-Qaeda's continued quest for nuclear weapons, Iran's ongoing nuclear efforts, and North Korea's proliferation, this focus is appropriate and, indeed, an essential change from previous" policy, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. While the new policy rules out new nuclear weapons or testing, it calls for setting aside billions of dollars to "modernize" existing U.S. weaponry. The new strategy, though a major shift, isn't as far-reaching as liberals had hoped nor as radical as conservatives had feared, said analysts. It contains initiatives sought by both sides, including those of Republican senators whose votes Obama will need in order for the new arms reduction treaty with Russia to be ratified. Articles by Dan De Luce for Agence France Presse, Jonathan S. Landay and Margaret Talev for McClatchy Newspapers, and Robert Burns and Anne Flaherty for Associated Press

barack obama al qaeda nuclear weapons north korea iran nuclear strategy robert gates

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Heightened conflict plagues Pakistan

11 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The disciples locked the doors where they were staying, fearing for their safety after Jesus' death, we read in this Sunday's gospel. Pakistani militants attacked the U.S. consulate in Peshawar with rocket launchers and a bomb Monday afternoon. Officials said up to eight attackers armed with guns, grenades, and two car bombs tried and failed to breach the heavily fortified compound. All of the attackers as well as five security guards died in the attacks. Hours earlier a suicide bomber killed 45 people and wounded more than 70 at a political rally by the secular Awami National Party in the northwest Lower Dir district. The party has supported recent Pakistani army offensives in the region close to Afghanistan, where the United States has launched months of drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. Militants say they attacked in response to the stepped-up campaign of strikes and promised more such attacks on U.S. targets. The heightened bombing has battered al-Qaeda and its Pakistani and Afghan allies in the area, according to a mid-ranking militant and supporters of the government there. They have cast a pall of fear over an area that was once a free zone for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, forcing militants to abandon satellite phones, all terrain vehicles, and large gatherings in favor of communicating by courier and moving stealthily in small groups, sources said. While unpopular among the Pakistani public in general, the drone strikes became a weapon of choice for the Obama administration after the Pakistani Army rebuffed pleas to mount a ground offensive to take on the militants who use the area to strike at U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. In public the Pakistani government opposes the drone attacks as a violation of sovereignty. Under U.S. pressure, however, the Pakistani intelligence agency has provided important intelligence for targets, American and Pakistani officials said. Source: Articles by Jane Perliez and Pir Zubair Shah for the New York Times and Lehaz Ali for Agence France Presse

al qaeda taliban peshawar pakistan militants consulate suicide bomber lower dir

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Christian minority under attack in Iraq

07 Nov 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s first reading relates a terrifying scene of religious persecution and violence targeting Jewish people because of their faith. An al Qaeda attack that killed 58 worshippers and wounded scores more in a Catholic church in Baghdad last Sunday was aimed at driving the embattled Christian minority out of the country, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Survivors of the attack recounted tales of hiding in the church vestry after gunmen burst into the building during evening Mass and began shooting worshippers. Two priests were among the dead in what was clearly designed to terrorize Iraq’s already dwindling Christian minority. Madeline Mikhal survived the siege and offered reporters details of the harrowing attack. She was among more than 70 people who pressed together in the priests' vesting room after it began. The group blocked the door with a dresser and knocked out the fluorescent lights and waited in the dark. In the sanctuary parishioners dived beneath the pews seeking cover. But the dozen or so gunmen, some wearing vests covered with explosives and carrying grenades and other weapons, took aim at the scrambling congregation. "Those who couldn't find a place to hide were killed," Mikhal said. A priest, whom Mikhal identified as “Father Rafael,” had taken shelter with them and later shielded her from the shrapnel of a grenade tossed into their midst by one of the terrorists, sustaining serious injuries in the process. The Christian community in Iraq, which once numbered nearly 1.5 million, has dwindled by at least two thirds. Hundreds of thousands have fled the country amid the sectarian violence unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion. The community has been hounded by Islamic militants who view them as U.S. collaborators. The attack was widely denounced. Pope Benedict XVI called it "senseless violence, made even more ferocious because it struck defenseless people who were gathered in the house of God." Source: Articles by Ahmed Rasheed for Reuters, Raheem Salman and Ned Parker for the Los Angeles Times, Martin Chulov for Guardian.co.uk, Brian Hutt for christianitytoday.com, John Leland and Anthony Shadid for the New York Times, and thetablet.co.uk

iraq terrorism benedict xvi baghdad al qaeda christians

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Cargo shipments latest terrorist target

07 Nov 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s second reading promises that the Lord will “guard you from the evil one.” It appears that a Yemen-based plot to bomb U.S.-bound cargo planes was disrupted at the last moment by an al Qaeda defector who was once a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. He alerted Saudi officials to the plot to bomb planes headed to Chicago, and intelligence agencies managed to find bombs hidden in planes in Dubai and London before they took off. Informant Jabr al-Faifi is reportedly one of several former detainees at Guantanamo Bay who were returned to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation in December, 2006. After the rehabilitation program he rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen before deciding he wanted to go home to Saudi Arabia for good. He turned himself in to Saudi authorities several weeks ago and apparently brought with him news of the bomb plot underway. The foiling of the plot was a sobering reminder to officials around the world that quick response to timely intelligence rules the day. Despite the billions of dollars governments have spent on elaborate airport technology to guard against terrorism threats, the packages would probably have been loaded onto the planes had it not been for the intelligence tip. “We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you are doing and will continue to do,” says the author of 2 Thessalonians. That has not been the case with regard to 2007 legislation that mandated all air cargo to be inspected before it is loaded onto passenger planes. As of the August, 2010 deadline for compliance, only about 65 percent of the cargo headed to the United States on passenger planes from abroad is inspected--and a far smaller proportion coming to the U.S. on all cargo flights is physically checked, because these planes are not subject to the mandate. Even when the cargo is checked, air carriers in certain countries use equipment like X-ray detection devices or a visual check by an airport worker that often cannot identify packages with bombs because the small amount of explosive material needed can be carefully hidden inside a routine electronic device like a computer printer. Both bombs used in the latest plot were hidden inside printer toner cartridges and contained the powerful plastic explosive PETN, which is difficult to detect. Source: Articles by Kim Ghattas for BBC News and Mark Mazzetti, Robert F. Worth, and Eric Lipton for the New York Times

terrorism al qaeda bombings cargo planes yemen jabr al-faifi

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Efforts to liberate Libya draw fire

03 Apr 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The rod and staff of the Lord gives the psalmist courage this Sunday. The Western air campaign against the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has encouraged rebel fighters to continue efforts to oust him. Monday night President Barack Obama delivered a high-stakes speech on the purpose of the campaign and the U.S. role in it. While the president’s speech seemed to momentarily mute political criticism of the military intervention, the key question raging in Washington midweek was whether or not Western nations should supply weapons to the rebels. Many are fearful that taking such a step would deepen American involvement in a civil war and support rebels who may have links to Al Qaeda. The debate has prompted an urgent call for intelligence about the ragtag band of rebels who are waging a town-by-town battle against Gadhafi from a base in eastern Libya long suspected of supplying terrorist recruits. Fears about the rebels surfaced publicly on Capitol Hill Tuesday when the military commander of NATO, Adm. James G. Stavridis, told a Senate hearing that there were “flickers” in intelligence reports about the presence of Al Qaeda and Hezbollah members among the anti-Qaddafi forces. No full picture of the opposition has emerged, Stavridis said. While eastern Libya was the center of Islamist protests in the late 1990s, it is unclear how many groups retain ties to Al Qaeda. The question of how best to support the opposition dominated an international conference about Libya on Tuesday in London. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Western leaders made it clear that the NATO-led operation would end only with the removal of Col. Qaddafi, even if that was not the stated goal of the United Nations resolution authorizing force. On the diplomatic front, Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa arrived in the U.K. on Wednesday and is resigning from his post, Britain's government said, though Gadhafi supporters deny the claim. If true it would represent a significant political blow to the regime. Source: Articles by Mark Landler, Elisabeth Bumiller, and Steven Lee Myers for the New York Times,Nicholas Blanford for the Christian Science Monitor, and HuffingtonPost.com

barack obama nato al qaeda hezbollah moammar gadhafi libya james g stavridis moussa koussa

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At long last, bin Laden located

08 May 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

After Jesus' death it took the disciples on the road to Emmaus a while to recognize that the risen Lord was right in front of them. It took U.S. intelligence services many years to discover that Osama bin Laden was hiding not in a remote cave but in a prosperous Pakistani city where three army regiments with thousands of soldiers are based. In a sober speech Sunday night announcing the special military operation that killed bin Laden, President Barack Obama emphasized that the U.S. "is not, and will never be, at war with Islam. . . . bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims." “My heart is glad and my soul rejoices,” we proclaim with the psalmist this Sunday. In commenting on bin Laden’s death, the president said justice had been served and it was “a good day for America.” Spontaneous celebrations broke out at Ground Zero in New York City and elsewhere as the news broke. Americans of all backgrounds, including many Muslims, expressed relief at the news, hoping it represents a dawn of a new era of better interfaith relations. "American Muslims have kind of been in a kettle, a boiling kettle, and the fire has been this terrorism," said Ihsan Bagby, an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky. "Hopefully, the demise of [al-]Qaeda and this terrorist philosophy will put out the fire." On Thursday the president visits Ground Zero to lay a wreath and meet with 9/11 families and first responders. Source: Articles by Mark Landler, Helene Cooper, Scott Shane, and Charlie Savage for the New York Times,Kimberly Dozier and Erica Werner for the Associated Press, and Raja Abdulrahim and Mitchell Landsbert for the Los Angeles Times

Muslims barack obama al qaeda osama bin laden ihsan bagby

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