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Obama's power trip

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Obama's power trip

POSTED: Monday, January 28, 2013, 4:31 PM

I guess after President Obama's big inauguration, he's on the top of the world, looking down on creation.

But somebody should tell the president that this is not cool:

WASHINGTON — The United States military command in Africa is preparing plans to establish a drone base in northwest Africa to increase unarmed surveillance missions on the local affiliate of Al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups that American and other Western officials say pose a growing menace to the region.

For now, officials say they envision flying only unarmed surveillance drones from the base, though they have not ruled out conducting missile strikes at some point if the threat worsens.

I guess this just going to be our solution to every international problem going forward -- killer death machines? Where next? Why not Albania? -- it worked in the movies. Now, here's something even less cool:

FORT MEADE, Md. — The State Department on Monday reassigned Daniel Fried, the special envoy for closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and will not replace him, according to an internal personnel announcement. Mr. Fried’s office is being closed, and his former responsibilities will be “assumed” by the office of the department’s legal adviser, the notice said.

The announcement that no senior official in President Obama’s second term will succeed Mr. Fried in working primarily on diplomatic issues aimed at repatriating or resettling detainees appeared to signal that the administration does not currently see the closing of the Guantánamo Bay prison as a realistic priority, despite repeated statements that it still intends to do so.

I've said this several times before, but I noted last fall that America's best hope was a) defeat "Mr. 47 Percent" in November and b) start pressuring "Captain Drone" here to do the right thing, starting in January. It's time to put that plan into action.

Will Bunch @ 4:31 PM Permalink | 2 comments

2 comments

Comments (2)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:58 PM, 01/28/2013

Thanks, CNN! "Deadline for the Philadelphia Inquirer"

cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/18/deadline-for-the-philadelphia-inquirer

— Another_1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:45 PM, 01/28/2013

//does not currently see the closing of the Guantánamo Bay prison as a realistic priority, despite repeated statements that it still intends to do so.///

How's that prison in Bagram coming along? Still "keeping an eye" on it?

— General Turgidson

The day the Obama administration went Nixon on us
Before Obama probed the AP, the right wing tried to destroy it
Kochs, coke and an American dystopia in Detroit
And then they came for Fox News
God's messenger comes down to remind us of the true meaning of scandal
What would Ayn Rand say about Bryz
If the Gosnell trial was supposed to make you anti-abortion, I guess the Daily News didn't get the memo
UPDATED: Who said it?
Dept. of I Told You So
UPDATED: Today's scandal scorecard: May 13, 2013

About this blog

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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