Political Fortunes

Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down.  Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain.  Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.

In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step.  Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government. ...

It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.  I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.  I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.

I have said before that no change in political fortunes alters our commitment to stand with the world’s most vulnerable people, and I want to reaffirm that promise.  While our public-private partnership as a refugee resettlement agency is no longer viable, we are hard at work on a church-wide plan to support migrants and refugees ...

-- The Most Reverend Sean W. Rowe, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, in an open letter, "Letter from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Episcopal Migration Ministries" (12 May 2025)

Assange

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 

Case No CR - 24 * 00014

Plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. vs. JULIAN PAUL ASSANGE, Defendant.

Count One: Title 18. U.S.C. § 793(g), Conspiracy To Obtain and Disclose National Defense Information

THE DEFENDANT AND CO-CONSPIRATOR

The defendant, JULIAN PAUL ASSANGE (“ASSANGE"). was not a United States citizen, did not possess a U.S. security clearance, and did not have authorization to possess, access, or control documents, writings, or notes relating to the national defense of the United States, including United States government classified information.

Chelsea Manning ("Manning”) was a United States Army intelligence analyst who held a TOP SECRET U.S. security clearance who was deployed to forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq.

-- Opening paragraphs of the charge to which Julian Assange of WikiLeaks will plead guilty in order to resolve his 14-year legal battle with the United States (24 June 2024)

Reach

For the Commander-in-Chief to reach into the military system and provide a pardon, especially in a preemptive way before a trial and appeal process, is a mistake.  It will undermine our own standards, as junior enlisted personnel try to understand a pardon for doing something we constantly train to avoid.  It strengthens enemy propaganda, as they will correctly say that we do not hold ourselves accountable for our own standards.  It undercuts our relations with allies who have strong systems in place to prevent these kinds of actions.  And it spurs our enemies on to even more barbaric behavior as the battlefield descends into moral chaos on both sides of the line of combat.  This kind of pardon disrespects every single one of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who follow the strict standards of the Code of Conduct.  They do not abuse captives who have surrendered, use torture to interrogate, cause needless casualties to civilians through collateral damage or desecrate corpses.

-- Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.), 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and Operating Executive at The Carlyle Group, Time Magazine, "I Commanded Several of the Servicemen Trump May Pardon.  Letting Them Off Will Undermine the Military", 22 May 2019

3540 Meters

A sniper with Canada’s elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.

The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed Thursday that a member of Joint Task Force 2 made the record-breaking shot, killing an Islamic State insurgent during an operation in Iraq within the last month.

-- The Globe And Mail, 21 June 2017

Tactics And Techniques

I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure. ...  Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again.

-- CIA Director John Brennan in an interview with NBC News, 11 April 2016

A Stain

For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay does not advance our national security. It undermines it.  This is not just my opinion.  This is the opinion of experts.  This is the opinion of many in our military.  It’s counterproductive to our fight against terrorists, because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. ...  Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values.  It undermines our standing in the world.  It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law.

-- President Barack Obama, 23 February 2016

History Will Judge Us

History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say "never again".

-- Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), after the release of a Senate report condemning C.I.A. interrogations, New York Times, 10 December 2014

Again!

I would do it again in a minute.

-- Former Vice President Dick Cheney, defending his advocacy of interrogation techniques that a Senate report last week condemned as inhumane and ineffective, NY Times, 15 December 2014

Imagine

Imagine if we didn't go down that road.  Imagine.  We played into the enemy's hand.  Now we have American hostages in orange jumpsuits because we put people in orange jumpsuits.

-- Ali H. Soufan, a former F.B.I. agent who clashed with the C.I.A. over its interrogation tactics, New York Times, 11 December 2014

A Long Way

It's a long way from being closed.

-- General John F. Kelly, leader of the United States Southern Command, on the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which still houses 149 inmates, New York Times, 1 September 2014

That's Why

My fellow Americans, the world is confronted by many challenges.  And while America has never been able to right every wrong, America has made the world a more secure and prosperous place.  And our leadership is necessary to underwrite the global security and prosperity that our children and our grandchildren will depend upon.  We do so by adhering to a set of core principles.  We do whatever is necessary to protect our people.  We support our allies when they're in danger.  We lead coalitions of countries to uphold international norms.  And we strive to stay true to the fundamental values -- the desire to live with basic freedom and dignity -- that is common to human beings wherever they are.  That's why people all over the world look to the United States of America to lead.  And that's why we do it.

-- President Obama, announcing limited military action in Iraq against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), 7 August 2014

Maybe There Is No Solution

I think the same questions could be asked of those who supported the Iraq War.  You know, were they right in their predictions?  Were there weapons of mass destruction there?  That's what the war was sold on.  Was democracy easily achievable?  Was the war won in 2005, when many of these people said it was won?  Um, they didn't really, I think, understand the civil war that would break out.  And what's going on now, I don't blame on President Obama.  Has he really got the solution?  Maybe there is no solution.  But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East.  I also blame those who are for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran.  These are the same people now who are petrified of what Iran may become, and I understand some of their worry.

-- Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), when asked, "Do you think Dick Cheney is a credible critic of this president?" by Host David Gregory on NBC's Meet the Press, 22 June 2014

For over the last decade, our nation has spent well over a trillion dollars on war, exploding our deficits and constraining our ability to nation build here at home.  Our service-members and their families have sacrificed far more on our behalf.  Nearly 7,000 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice.  Many more have left a part of themselves on the battlefield, or brought the shadows of battle back home.  From our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects, the decisions we are making will define the type of nation -- and world -- that we leave to our children.

So America is at a crossroads.  We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us, mindful of James Madison's warning that "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." Neither I, nor any President, can promise the total defeat of terror.  We will never erase the evil that lies in the hearts of some human beings, nor stamp out every danger to our open society.  What we can do -- what we must do -- is dismantle networks that pose a direct danger, and make it less likely for new groups to gain a foothold, all while maintaining the freedoms and ideals that we defend.

-- Barack Obama, in a speech at National Defense University, 23 May 2013

Not Being Charged

There is something fundamentally wrong with a system where not being charged with a war crime keeps you locked away indefinitely and a war crime conviction is your ticket home.

-- Morris Davis, retired USAF Colonel, former Chief Prosecutor for the terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay, 29 April 2013

Mark The End

We're here to mark the end of this war, to honor the sacrifices of all those who made this day possible, and to turn the page, begin a new chapter in the history between our two countries -- a normal relationship between sovereign nations, an equal partnership based on mutual interests and mutual respect.

-- President Barack Obama, after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, 12 December 2011

Panetta Channels Bush/Cheney

The reason you guys are here is because on 9/11 the United States got attacked. And 3,000 Americans - 3,000 not just Americans, 3,000 human beings, innocent human beings - got killed because of Al Qaeda. And we've been fighting as a result of that.

-- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaking to troops in Iraq, contradicting the White House, the 9/11 Commission, and independent specialists who have said there is no evidence Al Qaeda had a presence in Iraq before the US-led invasion in 2003, Washington Post, 12 July 2011

Our Justice System

Had this case proceeded in Manhattan or in an alternative venue in the United States, as I seriously explored in the last year, I am confident that our justice system could have performed with the same distinction that has been its hallmark for over 200 years. Now, unfortunately, since I made that decision, members of Congress have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing any Guantanamo detainees to trial in the United States, regardless of the venue. As the President has said, those unwise and unwarranted restrictions undermine our counter-terrorism efforts and could harm our national security.

-- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on his decision to go forward with military tribunals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others accused in the attacks of 11 September 2001, 4 April 2011

Head Examined

In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should "have his head examined," as General MacArthur so delicately put it.

-- Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, in a speech to West Point cadets, New York Times, 26 February 2011

FABulous

I had a problem with the Saddam regime. I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance. ... They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. ... Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities.

-- Former Baghdad-based chemical engineer Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball", in an interview with the Guardian newspaper admitting that he fabricated claims of mobile biological weapons and clandestine factories that were used to justify the Iraq War, 15 February 2011

A Little More Stressful

When it comes to the point where you occasionally look forward to being in prison on the basis that you might be able to spend a day reading a book, the realization dawns that perhaps the situation has become a little more stressful than you would like.

-- Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowers' Web site, New York Times, 24 October 2010