On the anniversary of 9/11, a writer for the the Daily Beast spoke to Ali Soufan, the former FBI agent, security consultant, and author of the award-winning Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against Al Qaeda to get his take on the Obama counterterror doctrine. How would he sum it up in a sentence?
“Total elimination of al Qaeda.” Soufan said. “They are hitting leaders of al Qaeda, and anyone who is known to be plotting against the United States. But at the same time they are trying to stop all the incubating factors that help terrorist recruitment, funding, P.R. and so forth. They are hitting them on different levels. A lot of people see the success of the drones … but the global partnerships that have been created have been effective—and that includes law enforcement, diplomacy, economic aid, educational programs, and definitely boots on the ground when needed, i.e., killing Osama bin Laden. So I think it’s more comprehensive in nature.”
For more information about Ali Soufan and his extensive background working on cases like the bombing of the USS Cole, Guantanamo and 9/11 check the amazing episode of Frontline’s: The Interrogator:
“What we Americans go through to pick a president is not only crazy and unnecessary but genuinely abusive. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in a craven, cynical effort to stir up hatred and anger on both sides. A decision that in reality takes one or two days of careful research to make is somehow stretched out into a process that involves two years of relentless, suffocating mind-warfare, an onslaught of toxic media messaging directed at liberals, conservatives and everyone in between that by Election Day makes every dinner conversation dangerous and literally divides families.”
"Mitt Romney would never live on Sesame Street. It would freak him out—all that remarkable diversity, all that collective creativity, all those good public works being done without someone owning, eliminating, or profiting from it all. Given his ruthless record in both the private and public sectors, it’s no wonder Mitt Romney would cut funding to support a place like this."
This is definitely not a coincidence. The Mitt Romney camps is going through a stage five crisis management mode right now.
That Mother Jones video was so epically good yet horrible for Mitt Romney and he knows full well how bad it makes him look, so let the topic of conversation change as soon as they possible can.
It seems Mitt Romney needs to be reminded that when your running for president, you don’t use moments like what happened in Libya yesterday to politicize. See example.
"”We’re striking for a lot of reasons. If you just see what’s in the mainstream media, all they talk about is that teachers want more money. But that’s really far from the truth. We’re fighting for reasonable class sizes. We’re fighting for wraparound services for our students. I teach in a school with a thousand students; we don’t even have one social worker in that building for most of those kids. So we’re fighting for the education our students deserve in Chicago. We’re fighting against reforms that we see, from the classroom level, are not going to work."
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DemocracyNow.org is the best source for media coverage. They are an independent public news outlet by the people and for the people. I knew the media coverage of the Chicago teacher’s strike was rigged making the teachers look like the bad
guy. It didnt even take me much to figure out the news and information I was getting was biased. Especially the average salary of a teacher, $71k, what a random number, what the equation behind that? How many years of service teaching? Does that include elementary and h.s. teachers?
Ask yourself if a teacher doesn’t deserve to be paid anywhere near $71k educating your child to the best of their ability with a curriculum they are given by the board of education with over 30 children, working over 8 hours a day, then how come an athlete, or an entertainer deserve to make millions?
We have completely disconnected ourselves from what really matters in this world and our students, teachers and parents are paying for it. Thanks to everyone not paying attention to politics, news, etc.
If we are still living in a democracy, let’s start acting like one.
More reasons than one why I love twitter but this is a really good one, you get to talk to people like Oliver Stone. What are the odds of that in the real world…lol..only through social media do you get the opportunity to speak to such famous and well respected people like him.
I couldn’t agree more on his answer, yes Howard Zinn is in a class all by himself. Have you ever read “A People’s History of the United States’? If not, your missing on a lot of the real history of the united states through the voices of the everyday people —whether its the soldier who fought for his country, slaves who escaped their masters, women who fought for equal rights and the list goes on. This is not a book about any president, monarch or “man in charge” because that’s not what any history book should be about, it should be about the everyday people who are sacrificing the most and working the hardest at living a decent and valued life. Check it out you won’t be disappointed…..well maybe just in the way this country has been governed.
Here’s another great documentary by Howard Zinn called, “The People Speak”
"He is a great actor, and an even better director. I think the last few movies that he’s made have been terrific. One thing about being president or running for president, if you’re easily offended, you should probably choose another profession."
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- President Barack Obama, on Clint Eastwood’s ‘skit’ at the Republican National Convention, to USA Today
Wow. Nothing but a gentleman. Just another reason to vote Obama
As if we needed anymore reasons to prove how the media failed America, I think I will let Will McAvoy tell us how.
First, it started with the pilot episode of The Newsroom when a student in the audience asked, “Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?”
