Nations had enemies long before George Bush ascended to the Presidency and declared that talking with them is a bad thing (even though his father and a President named Reagan did an awful lot of it). So here's what some others (and other cultures) have had to say about how best to deal with one's enemies:

Cross-posted at The Dead Guy

You would think I wouldn't have to say more. That we have all heard the news. That we all knew what was done was against the law - both domestic and international. One day, maybe soon, we all will know. One day, maybe soon - we'll see our 43rd President, along with current and former members of his administration, hauled before an international court for crimes against humanity in time of war.

In today's interview with ABC News, President Bush admits he was aware and approved of his senior advisers were making decisions, on a case by case basis, on what interrogation techniques (including waterboarding and other extreme inhumane activities) would be utilized.

I was sure I was going to get the opportunity to vote for the first female President of the United States.  And the thought thrilled me.  I am, you see, a 49 year old white southern woman. That should equal 'nuff said.  And then Obama won Iowa and I found myself feeling glad for him.  By the SC Primary,(one of those states that doesn't count and where I grew up) I found myself hoping Obama won.  I didn't know why and I knew virtually nothing about him, but we women tend to listen to our feelings more than men.  

So I spent 2 days scouring the Library of Congress to compile my own comparative lists of their legislative efforts / positions and was very surprised by what I found.  To me, it seemed like Hillary should almost feel ashamed of her own efforts relative to his on the environment, ethics and veterans affairs.  In the process, I also discovered my respect for Russ Feingold, Dianne Feinstein and Ted Kennedy.  You see, I used to be apathetic before I grew so disillusioned and disenfranchised that I finally gave up and moved out of the US 4 years ago.  I am now an expat in South America.

The Bush Republican Bubble has to be popped, stopped, crushed.

"When the last chapter is written,’’ Cheney predicted, "it will be said that our nation became more prosperous and more secure because George Bush was the president of the United States.’’

And the crowd applauded the C in CPAC.

The most prosperous? Secure? In that bubble maybe, but not out here.

Defenders of the Constitution
Are the Greatest of Patriots

Well, the first enemy was definitely the Bush administration, its cohorts and followers.

My mother was killed on September 11th--September 11, 1978--28 years ago today. She died a month short of her 46th birthday, two years younger than I am today. "9-ll" has been a grim sort of anniversary for me for long time, you see.

She and my father had borrowed my motorcycle--a 400cc Suzuki--not one of these lifestyle accessory Harleys you see on the streets these days--for a Sunday afternoon jaunt on the lakeside drive a mile or two from our suburban home. I don't really know whether September 11, 1978 fell on a Sunday, but that's the feeling of the memory.

Bush didn't have a CLUE before the war

Sorry, couldn't help myself to another dishing; but I've been dwelling for close to 12 hours, since I first heard this story reported, and it, perhaps more than most of the daily "shock and awe" that we've come to "normalize," as just a "little naughty," rather than the complete outrage that is deserved for such punishing shots at our own constitution, are, in so many ways, such unconscionable behavior. One finds it difficult and troubling to find little in the way of comparison; the modern presidency, with the small panoply of political elites who have come to symbolize, for better or worse, the recent history of ethics in government and a seasoned sense of the modern geopolitical makeup of the world; one is hard pressed to find peers in the same atmosphere with our dear leader, W. Our George the 2nd, is a site to behold, Holy Freakin' Hell.

Peace, Robert

http://www.hoffmania.com/...
Holy Freakin' Hell...

...Bush didn't have a CLUE before the war. Not a **** CLUE.

 

Back in Tribal days, the enemy was easy to spot, being from another village, and was someone who did not look or dress like you.  you knew who they were

As civilization advanced, conflict became a profession in its own right, and societies chose open fields of battle that were safely away from the royal booty.

Then, when armies increased in size, smaller societies found the new tactic of hiding behind trees rather than standing in the open to be decimated.   The larger societies naturally had to adjust.

now these smaller political units no longer find trees safe, and are taking the tactic of exclusively hiding inside the people.   this is causing all Civil hell to break loose.

C. Rice and D. Rumsfeld played "good cop/bad cop" rough arguments, of maybe Rovian complexity, regarding their authoring of a war that didn't deliver.
Because the public needs some explanations, or at least some fuss about the Iraqi bloody mess unfolding before its eyes. So let Condie play's the soft-on-crime lawyer's part, trying to tie the hands of the courageous policeman in action, here Donald, who knows the nastiness of the culprits.
Apparently they diverge sharply about how to rate the adventure in Iraq : Condie, from London, is quoted recognizing many 'tactical' mistakes, Donald admits none ever ! Looks like the administration want to tie up the whole war debate between those two alternative voices.
But a closer look shows both articulate the same logic under different clouds.
The logic is to shift their responsibility onto untouchable fields.

"Aid and comfort to the enemy" ... you really need us to believe that don't you?

To not reveal the illegal behavior of Mr. Bush is to give aid and comfort to the most dangerous enemy of traditional and legitimate American freedom.

An attorney general who publicly proclaims that Mr. Bush is justified in breaking the law is in effect giving aid and comfort to the most dangerous enemy of traditional and legitmate American freedom.

At what point did we cross the line to become the very thing we've historically and traditionally repudiated?