Thursday, February 5, 2009

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: No Cole Charges - Dandy

It's not been officially announced, but it sounds like an alleged terrorist held at Guantanamo (alleged Naval base?) won't be charged, after all. There's evidence that Al Qaeda bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri had a hand in bombing the USS Cole a few years ago. The good news is that he's supposed to be held in prison, anyway.

This is probably a great triumph for something, but I can't say that I'm very happy about the development. In my youth, and the years that followed, it seemed that the American judicial system was, at least in part, dedicated to protecting those who hurt others from facing the logical consequences of their acts, and punishing those who tried to protect themselves. This news reminds me of those 'good old days.'

The White House decision may not be completely daft, though: "...Obama administration officials told The Associated Press that the charges against al-Nashiri will be dismissed without prejudice. That means new charges can be brought again later. He will remain in prison for the time being...." (AP)

America: A Nation of Law

Judges interpreting the law may on occasion seem delusional: finding "penumbras, formed by emanations" that few others can see. But I am banking on checks and balances built into the American government, real-world phenomena related to actuarial data, and the occasional spasms of common sense that visit even the highest echelons of America's leadership, to keep American law from becoming a farce.

There's no doubt that American law isn't perfect: but with occasional exceptions the American legal system has been intended as a method of determining what's true, what's not, and, in criminal cases, who (if anybody) is guilty. I'll take what we've got over my ancestors' methods of settling disputes any day. "Njal's Saga"1 is, in its own way, an inspiring tale of courage and determination. But I'm grateful for some of the changes in custom and jurisprudence which have come during the last millennium.

My point is that (generally speaking) American courts don't make decisions based on what the judge feels like that day, and that there is a complex - sometimes maddeningly so - process that by and large brings out facts and identifies baseless assumptions.

I trust that this process will be carried out, for al-Nashiri and the hundreds of other probable terrorists who are now in 'Gitmo.'

Sympathy, Common Sense, and American Leadership

My sympathy is for the families and friends of the 17 American sailors killed aboard the USS Cole. I hope that they can face another disappointment with dignity and fortitude.

As for America's leaders, I sincerely hope that they can consider the strong possibility that outfits like Al Qaeda and the Taliban are a real threat to America - and anyone else who doesn't follow what they think Islam is.

And, that Congress, the courts, and whoever is in the Oval Office for the next few decades can remember that, for all their human failings, the CIA and FBI are not our enemies.

What do I Have Against Yemen?

Since a quick look at the 'related posts' down there might give the idea that I have a low opinion, at best, about Yemen, I thought I'd sketch out how I see the territory.

Last year, after reading more about Yemen, I came to the conclusion that parts of the Yemeni national government are more-or-less allied with America. I still think that this is likely. That doesn't mean that I think that traveling in Yemen is a good idea, or that many of the country's people have gotten used to the 12th century yet.

As I wrote last year: "From what I've read, I think it would be more accurate to say that the Yemeni national government is an ally of America in the war on terror.

"The tribesmen of Yemen, who haven't gotten used to the idea of nation-states yet, don't seem to pay much attention to what the national government wants. My guess is that it's more important for them that Osama bin Laden's family came from Yemen. Besides, Al Qaeda says that they're protecting Islam from unbelieving foreigners: and America is just simply crawling with foreigners...."

More-or-less related posts: In the news:
1 Njal's Saga (also called "The Story of Burnt Njal," Njáls saga, and other names) is an account of a dispute among Icelanders that led to Nyaal (yet another spelling in American English), an upstanding man, being trapped in his house with his wife and child (I'm oversimplifying here).

The hero of the story gets burned alive? about halfway through? And I call this an "inspiring tale of courage and determination" ?!

Yes: Because of the way Njal faced death. Njal was not a young man. He and part of his family were trapped in their house. There was no way out. If they left the house, they would be killed. If they stayed inside, they would be killed.

It was an unpleasant situation.

I'll pick up the action in Njal's house, by now surrounded by enemies of Njal, who have arson on their minds.

"There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there. Njal told the steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so.

"So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the cross, and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was the last word that men heard them utter...." ("Njal's Saga, as translated by Sir George W. DaSent (London, 1861))

The way I see it, Njal decided to make a statement: that his enemies were of so little consequence to him that he would ignore them, and take his death lying down. Or, 'you can kill me, but you can't make me take you seriously.'

Burning (relatively) defenseless people alive wasn't high on the list of things a Viking can brag about. Actually, it wasn't even on the list. (" 'We shall have to boast of something else than that Njal has been burnt in his house,' says Flosi, 'for there is no glory in that.' ")

I have great respect for the courage and determination of people like Njal. I'm also profoundly glad that my ancestors, and the rest of Western civilization, found other methods of resolving disputes.

8 comments:

ajeet kumar said...

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thanks keep bloging

ajeet kumar said...

www.sintuhack.blogspot.com
this is my blog .give me some suggetion about bloging
thanku

Brian H. Gill said...

sintu,

Thanks for the good words.

I took a quick look at your blog, www.sintuhack.blogspot.com. You asked for some suggestion about blogging. I was unable to follow your sintu.soft contact, so I'm leaving my comment here.

Your content and design are pretty good, but: the posts' body text is (on my monitor) black on a rather dark olive-green background.

That's relatively low contrast. The color combination is attractive, but not easy to read.

If I were running your blog, I would consider either making the post body text white on the existing background, or making the body text background considerably lighter.

sintu said...

THANKS
FOR THIS SUGGESTION.

ajeet kumar said...

hallo sir u have already given me some usefule tip for bloging
www.googlisearch.blogspot.com this is my second blog.so please see this blog and give me comment

Brian H. Gill said...

ajeet kumar,

I remember.

Some very quick impressions, about http://www.googlisearch.blogspot.com/ -

Appearance

Bold, eye-catching, easy to read, should be easy to remember. In this context, that's good.

English-Language and Title Conventions

This is nit-picking, but you asked:

"WHO IS THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE"

A more conventional way of putting that would be "WHAT IS THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE?"

Or, using Cap/lower case: "What is the Best Search Engine?"

I don't mind the all-cap in headlines, although I generally don't use it myself.

The use of "who" to describe an organization, entity, or service, is sometimes done in American English - but the term is generally reserved as a reference to people.

Of course, people run the search engines - so if you're emphasizing that, okay.

"GOOGLE>>>>YAHOO>>>ASK>>MSN" ("Sunday, August 2, 2009) - The use of 'greater than' signs as separators between words has been used (and sometimes still is) in web page navigation as an indication of hierarchy, or as a 'trail of crumbs' to show where a visitor has been.

You clearly didn't mean to indicate a hierarchical relationship - like (Google (Yahoo (Ask (MSN)))) - but that's how it 'read' to me, at first glance.

Bear in mind, however, that I started working with computers in the mid-eighties, and have been using the Internet and Web since the mid-nineties. I'm probably older than your target audience.

Bottom line: Looks good, what I skimmed over was easy to read. And, I think, should be of general interest.

Best wishes.

sintu said...

halo

nice collection and huge visitors you have.i think your collection on content really good.some sort of word i didnt understand in your blog.but i enjoy read your blog

Brian H. Gill said...

>>>>> Copy of text only >>>>>

sintu said...

halo

nice collection and huge visitors you have.i think your collection on content really good.some sort of word i didnt understand in your blog.but i enjoy read your blog

August 3, 2010 8:56 AM

>>>>> end of copy >>>>>

Sintu,

Thank you for the kind words.

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.