I watched a couple of hours of Rand Paul’s filibuster last night and found it inspiring: At last an elected official is trying to politicize drone strikes. It was great that Ron Wyden, a Democrat, joined Paul; and I was thrilled when Paul, who opposed the Iraq war, spoke respectfully of Vietnam-era dissent: of Jane Fonda on the seat of an anti-aircraft gun in North Vietnam, of University of Michigan students raising money for the Vietcong. Paul said that by the Obama administration’s logic, and the Bush administration’s before that, the U.S. might have been justified in killing Jane Fonda. By the administration’s standards of enemy sympathy, it would have had to target “elite” universities across the United States. Wonderful– and “dissent” and “dissension” were Paul’s words.
Furthermore, when Paul was deriding the criteria by which the U.S. chooses to undertake assassinations in foreign lands, he spoke often of the innocents who are killed in these operations merely for being in a “caravan” with alleged malefactors, or for being associates of the person, or whose own patterns match a “signature” assigned to terrorists’ movements. Paul warned that Hitler was elected– and some future American president might arrogate the powers that Obama is seeking to consolidate and use them to ill purposes, for instance, targeting certain “ethnic groups.”
Then there was Paul’s focus on administrative detention. Another important issue: he is against indefinite administrative detention of alleged criminals. He spoke often of the right of due process. And the two countries that I heard him cite as violators were the U.S. and Egypt. The Egyptian revolutionaries got “hopping mad” in Tahrir Square over the Mubarak regime’s abuse of an administrative detention provision that had been used to crush dissent, and the U.S. government has abused an administrative detention loophole to send people off to Guantanamo for years.
I wish that Rand Paul would have described Israel’s role in elaborating many of these measures. Targeted assassination and administrative detention have both been used by Israel to crush Palestinian resistance to occupation and ethnic cleansing. The University of Michigan dissidents who got away with supporting the Vietnamese anticipate the Holy Land Foundation, Arab-Americans who have been imprisoned for sending funds to Palestinians under occupation, they say for humanitarian purposes.
Of course, Paul went to Israel last month and has issued militant statements about Iran. There are always exceptions to every principle.
I said before….Paul is a hard guy to pigeon hole.
This not the first time he has stood up, he had a knock- down- drag- out fight with Lindsey Graham over Graham denying Gitmo prisoners the right to a trial and legal representation.
I don’t how much importance to attach to his recent Israel statements. I think Paul is quite capable of ‘using” Isr support to get where he wants to go –to a even more power position or possibily even the WH —-and then dumping Israel.
That’s exactly what I would do in the current Israeli occupied US politics to get to the place where I then had the power to sink I Firstdom.
Paul strikes me as the kind who if he ever gained executive power would use it without regard to any other opinions except his own.
I guess, if you hope to be POTUS, you have to say any attack on Israel is an attack on the USA. It’s a step up from Hagel’s new slot, for which Hagel publicly took back all he said in the past that was critical of Israel and the Israel Lobby. Beiden likely has his eye on POTUS slot too–He spewed more heavy pure zionist hasbara than any Israeli leader has at the recent AIPAC Conference. He even said his own countrymen were a threat to America’s Jews.
Phil, let’s not be one of those “he didnt mention my issue” cats, OK?
The dude did an unbelievable service to the country yesterday – the whole country, let’s not go sectarian. As a democrat, or a democratic voter, you should be much more concerned by Dick Durbins antics or the near total lack of solidarity on this issue from the democrats. Where was Bernie “Mr D.O.D.” Sanders”? that guy is so full of shit, if he had an enema you could bury him in a matchbox. He’s worried about seniors so he says, but he’s awash in defense contracts in his state, so he’s a ghost for probably the most pressing issue of our political time. I’d call the democrats cowards, but Annie would get pissed…….
Did Paul do a service?
I actually would argue he merely demonstrated the truism that you’re allowed to criticize American military actions in Congress, but similar criticisms of Israel are verboten.
I’m not impressed. In addition, the man is making a transparent attempt to regain some credibility after following the neo-cons on Hagel.
Nicaragua? No?
Ummmm…..ok I got it, Senegal!
Wrong, again?
Ummm….let’s see….no, hold on. Don’t tell me, I got this one.
Ummmm ….Saudi Arabia!
What? Again?
Crap. Why don’t you just tell me, which country?
Israel? How can that be? Israel would NEVER do such a thing……
Oh it has?
Oh.
That’s….ah…..that’s news to me.