Barack Obama

Barack Obama, Debra Burlingame, Eric Holder, Joe Connor

Senate Judiciary Committee hides dissent, objections to AG-nominee Eric Holder

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In addition to Joe Connor’s verbal testimony in opposition to Eric Holder becoming the Attorney General, his written testimony was accepted into the record. They also accepted Debra Burlingame’s written testimony.

But the Senate Judiciary Committee’s web page shows only letters of support of the nomination. (Note: On that page, use the ‘find’ command and the keywords ‘Connor’ and ‘Burlingame’ to confirm my assertion.) One caveat: using their search box and the keywords ‘Joseph Connor’ you can find and read a transcript of his verbal testimony.

President Barack Obama should also admonish those committee chairmen in Congress who deliberately hide within their records the voices of dissent here at home — the loyal opposition — from the American people.

Update, January 23, 2009: They still do not list the written testimony in opposition to Eric Holder’s nomination by Joseph Connor and Debra Burlingame. If you have Real Player, you can watch the full hearings from last week. While no new hearings are currently secheduled, the Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination on January 28.

Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Taliban

President Obama extends a hand towards many clenched fists

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I note that many editorials in newspapers this morning quote from or allude to one paragraph of President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech:

“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” [emphasis added mine]

President Obama intentionally lumped together “the Muslim world” with “leaders … who seek to sow conflict” and “the silencing of dissent.” Editors and commentators believing that he can convince the 57 Muslim nations to become less autocratic seems the epitome of naiveté; within them, secular democracy is the wrong side of history, immodest, and threatening.

Pakistan, Lebanon, Indonesia, and Egypt all allow dissent and Islamic radicalism continues to rise in those nations. There are no signs that dissidents here in America mistakenly believe he was redressing petro-rich Arab nations for using vasts sums to support the spread of sharia law. If he was appealing to dissidents in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Pakistan’s tribal areas, they have already replied:

The Taliban on Tuesday killed four Pakistanis and two Afghan nationals they accused of spying for the US in North Waziristan. The bodies of three Pakistanis – Muhammad Nisar, Shahideen Khattak, Shadar – and Khanu Afghani, an Afghan refugee, were found on Tehsil Road, 25 kilometres from Mir Ali. Meanwhile, the bodies of Gul Zali, an Afghan national, and Majeed Khattak, a local, were found in Miranshah. A not [sic] found next to the bodies read that the bodies were “a gift for US President Barack Obama, Afghan President Karzai and President Asif Ali Zardari”.

Most likely, President Obama was offering his hand — with preconditions — to Iran and Syria where gathering radicals together and exporting them in the form of Islamic terrorism is foreign policy. If he unilaterally removes the military option from the table, it will be interesting to see how those nations respond.