There has been much debate on Israel's crimes against humanity, mostly decrying the "excessive force" that Israel has used in its attempt to stop the threat of Hamas' rocket attacks into southern Israel. The prevailing opinion seems to be that Israel is at fault, this always seems to be the prevailing opinion in matters involving Israel and the Palestinians. Recently I have been engaged in a small debate with someone calling himself "Lister." I am lifting his most recent comment to one of my comments on his post here with my answers to his comments, due to the fact that in the interest of free speech and honest debate my friend Lister has decided that comments that offer opinions different than his own should be deleted.
Me:

"There has been no outcry of the qassams from anyone but Israel and people like me.
The world as a whole ignored the issue of Hamas’s crimes against Israel. "

Lister:

"You’re very ignorant, DB,
It only takes a moment on google to prove you wrong."

Ok, Lister where am I wrong?
"

HRW (2005): Hamas must cease
immediately “Qassam”
rocket and mortar attacks against civilian areas, Human Rights Watch said
today.
IHT (Feb 2008 ): UN
humanitarian chief condemns Palestinian rocket attacks"But when statements like
that are made, they don’t cause controversy. So you don’t notice them.

Nice links. Did you bother to read them?
Regarding HRW(2005), this was down at the bottom of the article, I guess it was too much effort to read that far down.

In the past, Israel has retaliated against Qassam attacks with large-scale military operations
that have resulted in the deaths of civilians, leveled land and demolished homes
and other buildings. The most destructive Israeli response to a Qassam attack, a
17-day-long operation in October 2004, named by the Israeli army as “Days of
Penitence,” targeted the Jabalya refugee camp, from where it was believed Hamas launched Qassams resulting in the
death of two Israeli children in the town of Sderot in September 2004. The operation led to the
death of approximately 107 Palestinians, a quarter under the age of 18, and the
injury of 431, as well as the demolition of at least 91 homes. When questioned
by Human Rights Watch about the destruction in October 2004, Israeli General
Israel Ziv could not
articulate a military purpose for the attack, but said the attack was necessary
to punish Jabalya
residents for their support of the armed groups.
Human Rights Watch said that
unlawful attacks committed in response to another unlawful attack are a form of
reprisal, which is a violation of international humanitarian law, and Israel
should refrain from repeating them.

Don't you just hate when an anti-Hamas statement points the finger of guilt at the Israelis?
Regarding IHT(Feb 2008), about halfway down the article, in the middle of it in fact. Maybe your reading skills are a little lacking?

Holmes, however, said the only way to solve the problem is through a peace
agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"At the end of the day, the
only thing that will make a lasting difference is a peace settlement," he said.
"You can't stop these problems militarily. They have to be solved through
negotiations."
Israel is trying to negotiate a peace agreement with the
moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank. At the same time, Israel is
battling the rival Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.

The peace agreement Holmes talks about is a nice option. It would be preferable to all of the needless deaths, but there is a small problem with a "peace agreement." There can be no peace agreement with Hamas. Hamas does NOT want peace. What Hamas wants is the total destruction of Israel and Israelis. To back this claim up, we can merely rely on Hamas' Charter itself:

In The Name Of The Most Merciful Allah
"Ye are the best nation that hath been
raised up unto mankind: ye command that which is just, and ye forbid that which
is unjust, and ye believe in Allah. And if they who have received the scriptures
had believed, it had surely been the better for them: there are believers among
them, but the greater part of them are transgressors. They shall not hurt you,
unless with a slight hurt; and if they fight against you, they shall turn their
backs to you, and they shall not be helped. They are smitten with vileness
wheresoever they are found; unless they obtain security by entering into a
treaty with Allah, and a treaty with men; and they draw on themselves
indignation from Allah, and they are afflicted with poverty. This they suffer,
because they disbelieved the signs of Allah, and slew the prophets unjustly;
this, because they were rebellious, and transgressed." (Al-Imran - verses 109-111).
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it,
just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed
memory).
"The Islamic world is on fire. Each of us should pour some water, no
matter how little, to extinguish whatever one can without waiting for the
others." (Sheikh Amjad al-Zahawi, of blessed
memory).
This is how the Hamas Charter begins, but wait, there is much more
to it.
Praise be unto Allah, to whom we resort for help, and whose
forgiveness, guidance and support we seek; Allah bless the Prophet and grant him
salvation, his companions and supporters, and to those who carried out his
message and adopted his laws - everlasting prayers and salvation as long as the
earth and heaven will last. Hereafter:
O People:Out of the midst of troubles
and the sea of suffering, out of the palpitations of faithful hearts and
cleansed arms; out of the sense of duty, and in response to Allah's command, the
call has gone out rallying people together and making them follow the ways of
Allah, leading them to have determined will in order to fulfill their role in
life, to overcome all obstacles, and surmount the difficulties on the way.
Constant preparation has continued and so has the readiness to sacrifice life
and all that is precious for the sake of Allah.
Thus it was that the nucleus
(of the movement) was formed and started to pave its way through the tempestuous
sea of hopes and expectations, of wishes and yearnings, of troubles and
obstacles, of pain and challenges, both inside and outside.
When the idea was
ripe, the seed grew and the plant struck root in the soil of reality, away from
passing emotions, and hateful haste. The Islamic Resistance Movement emerged to
carry out its role through striving for the sake of its Creator, its arms
intertwined with those of all the fighters for the liberation of Palestine. The
spirits of its fighters meet with the spirits of all the fighters who have
sacrificed their lives on the soil of Palestine, ever since it was conquered by
the companions of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, and
until this day.
This Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), clarifies its
picture, reveals its identity, outlines its stand, explains its aims, speaks
about its hopes, and calls for its support, adoption and joining its ranks. Our
struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere
efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The
Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons
from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah's
victory is realised.
Thus we see them coming on the horizon "and you shall
learn about it hereafter" "Allah hath written, Verily I will prevail, and my
apostles: for Allah is strong and mighty." (The Dispute - verse 21).
"Say to
them, This is my way: I invite you to Allah, by an evident demonstration; both I
and he who followeth
me; and, praise be unto Allah! I am not an idolator." (Joseph - verse 107).

Lister:

"What bothers you is any attempt to understand why Qassams are launched. Any
attempt to lay any blame on Israel."

Actually Lister, I understand why the Qassams are launched, obviously better than you do. What bothers me is any attempt to blame Israel when Hamas deserves all the blame, according to its own Charter, by Allah's command to conquer all that isn't Islam. If the quotes from Hamas' Charter aren't enough sofar, how about some more?

Article One:
The Islamic Resistance Movement: The Movement's programme is
Islam. From it, it draws its ideas, ways of thinking and understanding of the
universe, life and man. It resorts to it for judgement in all its conduct, and
it is inspired by it for guidance of its steps.
Article Two:
The Islamic
Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.
Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the
largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterised by its deep
understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all Islamic
concepts of all aspects of life, culture, creed, politics, economics, education,
society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education, art,
information, science of the occult and conversion to Islam.
Article
Three:
The basic structure of the Islamic Resistance Movement consists of
Muslims who have given their allegiance to Allah whom they truly worship, - "I
have created the jinn and humans only for the purpose of worshipping" - who know
their duty towards themselves, their families and country. In all that, they
fear Allah and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors, so that
they would rid the land and the people of their uncleanliness, vileness and
evils.
"But we will oppose truth to vanity, and it shall confound the same;
and behold, it shall vanish away." (Prophets - verse 18).
Article
Four:
The Islamic Resistance Movement welcomes every Muslim who embraces its
faith, ideology, follows its programme, keeps its secrets, and wants to belong
to its ranks and carry out the duty. Allah will certainly reward such
one.
Article Five:
Time extent of the Islamic Resistance Movement: By
adopting Islam as its way of life, the Movement goes back to the time of the
birth of the Islamic message, of the righteous ancestor, for Allah is its
target, the Prophet is its example and the Koran is its constitution. Its extent
in place is anywhere that there are Muslims who embrace Islam as their way of
life everywhere in the globe. This being so, it extends to the depth of the
earth and reaches out to the heaven.
"Dost thou not see how Allah putteth forth a parable;
representing a good word, as a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed in the
earth, and whose branches reach unto heaven; which bringeth forth its fruit
in all seasons, by the will of its Lord? Allah propoundeth parables unto men, that they may be
instructed." (Abraham - verses 24-25).
Article Five makes clear that Israel
is only the start, after Israel is destroyed, the entire world is to
be destroyed for the sake of Allah. But wait, there is much more to
this.
Article Six:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished
Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is
Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for
under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and
safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned. In the absence
of Islam, strife will be rife, oppression spreads, evil prevails and schisms and
wars will break out.
How excellent was the Muslim poet, Mohamed Ikbal, when he
wrote:
"If faith is lost, there is no security and there is no life for him
who does not adhere to religion. He who accepts life without religion, has taken
annihilation as his companion for life."

Does anyone else notice that in all its praise of Islam, and the desire that all should be subjected to Islamic rule, Hamas forgot to mention that all non-muslims would have to pay the jizya. For those who haven't checked, I'm inclined to believe that my friend Lister is one who hasn't bothered to learn about this, the jizya is a tax for not being the "right religion." Muslim countries use it to control non-muslims and make them second-class citizens. While Hamas' Charter does not specifically require the jizya, Allah's teachings do, and Hamas' Charter does require strict Islamic rule.

The Universality of the Islamic Resistance Movement:
Article Seven:
As a
result of the fact that those Muslims who adhere to the ways of the Islamic
Resistance Movement spread all over the world, rally support for it and its
stands, strive towards enhancing its struggle, the Movement is a universal one.
It is well-equipped for that because of the clarity of its ideology, the
nobility of its aim and the loftiness of its objectives.
On this basis, the
Movement should be viewed and evaluated, and its role be recognised. He who
denies its right, evades supporting it and turns a blind eye to facts, whether
intentionally or unintentionally, would awaken to see that events have overtaken
him and with no logic to justify his attitude. One should certainly learn from
past examples.
The injustice of next-of-kin is harder to bear than the smite
of the Indian sword.
"We have also sent down unto thee the book of the Koran
with truth, confirming that scripture which was revealed before it; and
preserving the same safe from corruption. Judge therefore between them according
to that which Allah hath revealed; and follow not their desires, by swerving
from the truth which hath come unto thee. Unto every of you have we given a law,
and an open path; and if Allah had pleased, he had surely made you one people;
but he hath thought it fit to give you different laws, that he might try you in
that which he hath given you respectively. Therefore strive to excel each other
in good works; unto Allah shall ye all return, and then will he declare unto you
that concerning which ye have disagreed." (The Table, verse 48).
The Islamic
Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the
Zionist invaders. It goes back to 1939, to the emergence of the martyr Izz al-Din al Kissam and his brethren
the fighters, members of Muslim Brotherhood. It goes on to reach out and become
one with another chain that includes the struggle of the Palestinians and Muslim
Brotherhood in the 1948 war and the Jihad operations of the Muslim Brotherhood
in 1968 and after.
Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other
and if obstacles, placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of
the fighters obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance
Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that
should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews
(killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones
and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill
him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of
the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

But wait still longer. Article 8 is even better.

The Slogan of the Islamic Resistance Movement:
Article Eight:
Allah is its
target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path
and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.

Lister:

People were dying in Gaza because of the blockade. But you don’t care. You don’t
even think it matters that 800 people have died.

On the contrary Lister, I do care. But I am not willing to point the finger at Israel when Hamas is the guilty party.
You might be interested in this link http://latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-dershowitz10-2009jan10,0,1953549.story It clearly shows that the Palestinian civilians that have been killed were targeted for death, not by Israel, but, rather, by Hamas at Israel's hands. In other words, "death for the sake of Allah" whether you want it or not. If you don't want death for the sake of Allah, Hamas will arrange it for you.
Lister quotes me here:

In September of 2001, we had 3,000 people killed by Al-Qaeda. In response to that
attack we have killed how many?The fact of war is that “proportionate responses”
don’t win.

Lister's response? My friend Lister shows his ignorance of military matters and history now.

The day after 9/11, America had conquered the world. A few wars later and what
have you gained? America’s standing in the world has never been lower. America’s
influence in the world is diminishing, and only a fool would talk about this
being a New American Century.
And you think you’re winning the war?

Actually, the day after 9/11 we hadn't conquered the world. That was the day we dug our dead out of the rubble. That same day we vowed to exact our revenge on the murdering sons of bitches that killed our friends, family and neighbors. To be honest, we don't really care about "our standing in the world." We believe it is more important to be alive than to be liked. England wants to be nice to the Islamists, where has it gotten them? The London subway bombings can tell you whsat London gained. Also the fact that London is now facing the very real threat of sha'ria law. Indonesia is another good example. They wanted to be "nice" to the Islamists. What happened there? Oh yeah, the Bali nightclub bombings happened. How about France? They were nice to the Islamists. Paris almost burned to the ground for it. Denmark? They got rioting over a stupid cartoon. China has had problems with the Islamists. The Philippines have had problems with the Islamists.
America's "standing" in the world may be at its lowest point, but let me ask you a question, Lister. When was the last attack on American soil? The answer is simple, we haven't since the 9/11 attacks. Why not? Because we Because until now we have had a President that understands the threat and understands how to deal with it. Because we weren't concerned with a "proportionate response," we were concerned with getting the revenge we wanted. I never heard anyone but you talk about a "New American Century," we aren't really looking for a new American century. We just want to terrorists and Islamists to understand that they can't conquer us.
Are we winning the war? So far, yes. It is you self-righteous "go along to get along" idiots that are loosing. When the fighting ends and you have to face Mecca five times a day to pray, while we go on living our lives with the religion we choose, you will understand. Unfortunately, it will be too late for you to change the outcome then.

Lister quotes me again here:

All wars are one and lost the same way, one side kills more of the other side
than the losing side can stand leading the losing side to quit the fight.

Lister's response?

"That is simplistic rubbish. Wars are won by the side that achieves their
aims."

Ok, Lister I have a question for you, why did Germany surrender after WWII? Because we achieved our goal of carpet bombing Berlin and killing enough Germans that they lost their stomach for the fight. How about Japan? They gave up the fight because they proved their point to us? No, they gave up the fight because we dropped two nuclear bombs that killed enough people they lost their stomach to fight, as well. Why did the British give up at the end of our Revolutionary War? Their goal was to keep the colonies under British rule. Did they quit because we achieved our goal of killing more British troops than they had the stomach to lose? Actually, yes, that was exactly the reason the gave up on the fight.
Broken down to its most basic nature, there are only two goals in a war, conquer or avoid being conquered. These two goals are achieved by killing. The way to achieve these goals is, like I said, to kill more of the enemy than the enemy can stomach to lose. They will always quit the fight before they face extinction.
Lister, again with the "New American Century":

That’s how things are measured. There is no New American Century so Cheney and
his pals have failed.

Cheney wasn't the President, Bush was, how about we get a grip on reality, Lister? As I said earlier, we haven't been hit by another Terror attack on American soil yet, so we really haven't failed.
Me again:

I am surprised that you would use wiki as a source, anyone can put anything on
wiki, leading it to be full of inconsistant, and even false, “facts.”

Lister:

That’s a cop-out. Check its sources.

Ok Lister, let's get this right. Wiki's sources are anyone who wants to post on a subject. I could go on wiki and post alot of gibberish about quantum physics, I know nothing about quantum physics, but I can post on them on wiki.
Me again, I'm sure all get the idea that I don't really care for Hamas by now:

To be honest, no I don’t protest the deaths of the Palestinians, they are the
ones that knowingly elected a terrorist organization who declares that Israel
has no right to exist and vows to destroy Israel. It was the Palestinians that
let Hamas fire rockets into Israel, with the full support of the citizens. It
was the Palestinians that let Hamas hid weapons and fighters within the civilian
community, using the civilians as human shields.

Lister:

When I get comments like that, I always link to Chomsky. I’m sure that
most of those I respond to do not recognise themselves in bin Laden’s words.
But, believe me, you and bin Laden are two of a kind.
On February 12, the
statements of Osama bin Laden were reviewed in the New York Times by NYU law
professor Noah Feldman. He described bin Laden’s descent into utter barbarism,
reaching the depths when he advanced “the perverse claim that since the United
States is a democracy, all citizens bear responsibility for its government’s
actions, and civilians are therefore fair targets.” Utter depravity, no
doubt.
Two days later, the lead story in the Times casually reported that the
United States and Israel are joining bin Laden in the lower depths of
depravity.
Palestinians offended the masters by voting the wrong way in a
free election. The population must therefore be punished for this crime. The
“intention,” the correspondent observed, “is to starve the Palestinian Authority
of money and international connections” so that President Mahmoud Abbas will be
“compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so
unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and
chastened Fatah movement.” Mechanisms of punishment of the population are
outlined. The article also reports that Condoleezza Rice will visit the oil
producers to ensure that they do not relieve the torture of the Palestinians. In
short, bin Laden’s “perverse claim”; but when the United States advances the
claim, it is not ultimate evil but rather righteous dedication to “democracy
promotion.”
You are a terrorist.You are willing to punish innocent people for
the actions of their government.

Lister you tried hard, but your logic escapes me. When did the US hide weapons in the World Trade Center? When did we use those weapons to fire on Al-Qaeda? Answer: we didn't. That is the difference between us and Bin Laden, and the difference between Israel and the Palestinians and Hamas. We are not talking about punishing innocent people, we are talking about two things here. The Israelis have to take out the weapons and Hamas, because of how Hamas hides behinds the skirts of women and the children, the only way to get those weapons and terrorists is to endanger the women and children. Hamas does this on purpose, their goal is to draw Israel into killing innocents to fire up other Islamists against Israel and her allies. If Israel doesn't want to kill the innocent women and children of Gaza, how do you propose they get rid of the rockets being fired into Israel? One other question, why don't you say anything about the rockets fired into Israel? Why don't you care about the innocent Israeli women and children that are killed, and have been killed since 1948?
No, I'm not a terrorist, this isn't a terrorist attack. I don't support terrorism. I don't support what Hamas has done, I don't support the "innocent civilians that allow Hamas to do what they do from the homes of the "innocent civilians." I do, however, support Israel's right to defend their "innocent civilians."
Lister's last word on this matter?

"Consider that the last word on this matter. I will delete any further posts you
make."

Ok, Lister, but you can't delete this. Free speech always finds a way, and so do I.

Making Change Happen, The Obama Way

President-elect Obama has promised change. Change is what he'll deliver. Conservatives have pointed to Obama's cabinet picks and pointed out that there was no sign of change there. To be honest, Most of Obama's picks are an indication of his desire to go back to the Clinton era way of doing things.

Leon Panetta has been tapped to be the next CIA director. Even fellow Democrats are unhappy about this choice. Leon Panetta worked in the Clinton administration, for a while as Chief of Staff, and helped push the Clinton way. With Panetta's help, Clinton damaged America's intelligence agencies almost to the point of no return. The CIA and the FBI could not talk to each other, they could not exchange necessary information, they were forced to stand by and watch helplessly while terrorists trained for a fatal mission at flight schools in Florida. With Panetta's help Clinton made it impossible for the CIA to gain information from "less than reputable" persons, as if the more reputable people had the information we needed to keep our nation safe. Who could have possibly known that shopkeepers and construction workers would not have been able to tell us about whether Saddam Hussein was attempting to aquire nuclear weapons, how could we have known that we needed to talk to terrorists and illegal weapon suppliers to find out what he was up to? But at least the world knew that we didn't get bad information from disreputable sources. Leon Panetta has come out against coersive interrogation tactics or, as he refers to them, torture. It will be alot easier to get the needed intelligence from the terrorists when we can just fix them a nice bowl of humus and simply ask them what they were planning and who is involved with them. Mr. Panetta knows better than any of us just how accommadating the terrorists are, if we are just nice and polite to them. With all of his experience in questioning terrorists, Mr. Panetta would be the first to tell us that the terrorists are really very nice people that want to help us in our war againts terrorism.

Mr. Obama also chose Eric Holder to be the Attorney General. Another fine choice, to be sure. Eric Holder was in the Justice Department during the Clinton Administration. Eric Holder was instrumental in securing pardons from Bill Clinton for 16 FALN terrorists that had been convicted bank robbery, explosives possession and participating in a seditious conspiracy. Mr. Holders experience in these matters make him a fantastic judge of character, he recognized that these were not bad people but rather innocent victims mistakenly caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, obviously deserving of a pardon. Holder was also the architect of the Marc Rich pardon. Rich was the commodities trader that left the country in 1983 to avoid prosecution for tax evasion, racketeering and trading with the enemy. Eric Holder knew it was just a misunderstanding, an upstanding citizen such as Marc Rich would never have gotten himself involved in these atrocities; this was just another case of an innocent victim that was in the wrong place at the wrong time that got accidentally sucked into some slightly criminal activity through no fault of his own. Eric Holder was involved in the Elian Gonzalez case. Elian Gonzalez was the six year old Cuban child whose mother died attempting to reach the United States. According to American law, he should have been sent home to his father immediately upon his release from the hospital in Florida based on two American laws. The first law would be the "wet foot, dry foot" policy. Since he never made it to American soil before he was plucked from the ocean he was supposed to go back to Cuba. The second law that would govern his return was America's child custody laws, since his father had never been proven to be unfit as a father, when Elian's mother died, according to law custody went to his father. Bill Clinton and Eric Holder couldn't do the right thing until they knew what public sentiment was, this led to a process that ended when the FBI raided the home of Elian's mother's distant relatives to take the child at gun point. That entire nightmare could and should have been avoided by doing the right thing from the start, but Eric Holder knew better than anyone else.

Tom Daschle is Obama's choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Another fine selection. Daschle has a plan to make health care more affordable, less effective but more affordable(we can't have everything). His most recent plan would begin with the formation of a Federal Health Board. The FHB would be similar to the Federal Reserve but geared towards health care rather than the economy, this woulfd be a great idea considering how effective the Federal Reserve has been on the economy. The FHB would compare the effectiveness of various medical procedures and drugs. They would reduce health costs by prohibitibng procedures and drugs that are deemed to expensive for their effectiveness. Daschle's plan would be based on Britain's National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence(NICE). "NICE considers treatments to be cost-effective if their cost-effectiveness ratio is $34,000 per QALY(quality adjusted life year)." One QALY is one year of healthy life expectancy. In other words, if your treatment exceeds $34,000 and it is a very slim chance that you will make a year or more of life expectancy, you won't get treatment. There's "Big Brother" for you, they will get to decide how long you can live and if you can have treatment that you need.

Obama wants Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security. Another great choice. In her position at Homeland Security, Ms. Napolitano will be in charge of border security among other things. While Ms. Napolitano supports a "virtual" fence, she is opposed to an actual fence that would help to stem the flow of illegals into the US. She also opposes the Real ID Act. But she is in favor of immigration reform, a temporary worker program and a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens who have already shown a disregard for American law by coming here illegally.

These are just some of the key positions that need to be filled and the people that Obama wants to fill these positions. With these people Obama will bring about the "change" he has promised. Amongst those changes will be the closing of Guantanamo's GITMO detention center where we hold our battlfield combatants. Rep. Diane Feinstein said,"the president-elect has clearly stated that he wishes to close Guantanamo and end the use of torture in interrogations. I look forward to working with the new president to achieve these goals." With the help of the Democratically controlled Congress Obama will achieve his goal at the detriment of the nation. Without GITMO and some more coersive interrogation techniques we will never gain the intelligence that Panetta lacks the experience to properly and effectively interpret. This failure will lead to attacks in this country that Bush's team has so far avoided since the first attack on 9/11/01. Add in Janet Napolitano's border plan and we will have a new way for the terrorists to get here so we won't even know they are here until we have another 3,000 dead Americans. On the plus side, there is Secretary Daschle with his health care plan. With this genius we can be assured that noone will be able to get health care when the terrorists do attack us, thereby killing any who might otherwise have survived the upcoming attacks.

Nobody can doubt that Obama means well. It would be impossible to believe that a man would suffer the indignaties of a presidential campaign with the goal of intentionally harming the nation from the vantage point of the Oval Office. What we, as a nation, must doubt is his ability to understand the risks we face as a nation in these trying times. Obama's cabinet choices only act to accentuate his failing to comprehend and effectively deal with the nation's most urgent security risks. His offer to speak to our most dangerous enemy, Iran, without preconditions and, most recently, with Hamas only reaffirms any belief that Obama lacks the judgement needed to be president in these times. Obama said in a speech to the US Senate in March 2007,"We are here to do the work that ensures no other family members will have to lose a loved one to a terrorist who turns a plane into a missile, a terrorist who straps a bomb around her waist and climbs aboard a bus, a terrorist who figures out how to set off a dirty bomb in one of our cities. This is why we are here: to make our country safer and make sure the nearly 3,000 who were taken from us did not die in vain; that their legacy will be a more safe and secure nation."

That sounds good for a speech. He also said in another speech, this time in front of the Chicago Foreign Affairs Council in April, 2007,"Our country's greatest military asset is the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States. When we do send our men and women into harm's way, we must also clearly define the mission, prescribe concrete political and military objectives, seek out the advice of our military commanders, evaluate the intelligence, plan accordingly, and ensure that our troops have the resources, support, and equipment they need to protect themselves and fulfill their mission."

Anyone can tell that president-elect Obama can read a teleprompted speech better than any person in politics today. The problem will come when he is sitting in the Oval Office, with no speech to make, but faced with a decision that could mean the death of hundreds, thousands or millions of Americans if he makes a mistake. Mr. Obama should show us some wisdom. He should look at what George W. Bush has managed to accomplish, while he admittedly has very low approval ratings, Bush has prevented additional terrorist attacks on American soil using the techniques that Obama wants to avoid in the future.