"Terrorist Groups of Global Reach"→"Global War on Terror"→"Global War on Radicals and Extremists"

more reason, as if any were needed, why our president and his posse need to be expeditiously removed...

[T]he war against “terrorist groups of global reach,” which became the “global war on terrorism,” now has morphed into what might be called the “global war on radicals and extremists,” a dramatic escalation of the war’s ambitions with nary a comment from the U.S. news media.

So, under Bush’s new war framework, the enemy doesn’t necessarily have to commit or plot acts of international terrorism or even local acts of terrorism. It only matters that Bush judges the person to be a “radical” or an “extremist.”

While the word “terrorism” is open to abuse – under the old adage “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” – the definition of “radical” or “extremist” is even looser. It all depends on your point of view.

and this should concern us because...?

Bush’s decision to set wider parameters for this global war also represents a grave threat to the American Republic because Bush has asserted that he, as Commander in Chief, must hold “plenary” – or unlimited – powers as long as the conflict continues.

In effect, Bush’s theories of unlimited presidential power obviate the rule of law, congressional checks and balances, and the “unalienable rights” – such as habeas corpus guarantees to a fair trial – built into the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

By stretching the definition of the “war on terror” into something so elastic that it has no discernable shape and no determinable end, Bush and his successors will get to set aside the Constitution indefinitely, essentially creating an American autocratic system for the foreseeable future.

wake up, people... the situation is as bad or worse than it was before the november elections... cheney (the REAL president) has already made it clear that nothing congress can do will slow things down... and, let's get real... they've got two more years to continue to accrue power and finish their job of, as robert parry puts it, "deforming the u.s. government beyond recognition..."

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