Will Harold Koh rap Obama's knuckles on multilateralism and bin Laden?

Updated on Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 10:48AM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Who could forget leftwing furor over President George W. Bush’s prosecution of the War on Terror? From Code Pink to human rights wonks at the UN, Bush was assailed at every turn. There was a push to haul the US president before the International Court on issues like detainee interrogations, the prison at Guantanamo Bay and rendition.

What a difference the Oval Office makes. Last time I looked, Gitmo was still intact. Furthermore, I'm betting if he'd been given a choice, as soon as he saw those Navy SEALs, Osama bin Laden would've screamed, "Rendition, please?"

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NATO's proposed 'Courageous Restraint' medal – another victory for our enemies

By Chris Carter

The military's rules of engagement (ROE) in Afghanistan have become so emasculated that commanders are now considering the creation of a medal awarded for not using lethal force during war.

NATO Commander General Stanley McChrystal is currently reviewing the “Courageous Restraint” medal, which was suggested by British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter following an incident where U.S. soldiers fired on a bus carrying Afghan civilians.

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September 11 observed—like it or not it is a war on terror

Updated on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 4:27PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

By Kay B. Day

View of New York City from the Empire State Building. A George Washington University report said Manhattan experienced $50-70 billion in insured losses after the September 11, 2001 attack on America. There is no way to gauge the exact cost for all sectors and interests. [Photo by Kay B. Day, 2005]

This morning networks showed footage of planes crashing into buildings, a moment etched into personal history 8 years ago for every one of us. It’s similar to the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated—we remember where we were and what we were doing. I had just returned from taking my youngest daughter to school.

Over the next couple years I read the books that emerged. Lawrence Wright’s ‘The Looming Tower’ is one of the best. For newly established president George W. Bush, the day was the defining moment of his presidency. Bush’s administration was delayed by Al Gore’s court challenges and a lack of cooperation from President Bill Clinton’s minions in the transition. Meanwhile the welfare of the Republic hung in the balance. Terrorists had planned their attacks for years.

Leftwingers blame Bush for America’s global image. Nothing could be less truthful. Wade through foreign and domestic newspaper archives, read analytical books and talk to experts in national security. Our image began to erode long before Bush, even before Clinton.

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Mumbai rampage a grim reminder to the US: War of ideology thrives

NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai in late November. (Photo NATO website)In the U.S. we welcomed family and friends for Thanksgiving, but the usual weekend emphasis on football was usurped by victims of terrorists in Mumbai. For many of us, the parallels to 9/11 were unavoidable. Innocents who decided to have dinner in a restaurant or to board a train were gunned down in cold blood by strangers. Within days a fragile peace between India and Pakistan began to unravel—precisely the outcome the terrorists desire. Both Western and Eastern media suggested responsibility lay with the terror group Lashkar-i-tayyaba (LET). Many media said LET trained in Pakistan. But by Monday, the Taliban was issuing new threats.

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U.S. should consider revenue potential after prosecuting terror cases

In December, 2001, the Holy Land Foundation was ranked the largest Muslim charitable organization in the U.S.[Photo FBI news release](Dallas, Tex.)—The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced in a news release on Tuesday that the agency’s fight against terrorism funding paid a big dividend when five former leaders of a U.S.-based Muslim charity were convicted of funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Guilty verdicts on all 108 counts against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development were announced in federal court in Dallas. The release also says the FBI first got involved in the Holy Land case nearly 15 years ago. In 1994, the agency began looking into the organization’s financial ties to Hamas. During the investigation, agents traveled the globe to conduct more than 100 interviews, to sort through hundreds of boxes of documents (including many Arabic documents), to view hundreds of video and audio tapes in Arabic, and to review thousands of pages of bank records. Now it's time to show us the money. Are we sending Hamas a bill?

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