When we think of terrorism, we usually envision a suicide bomber or a mass shooter or perhaps someone who hijacks a plane and flies it into a skyscraper. But there's another, even more dangerous, kind of terrorist: The terrorist who exploits such acts for political gain. Last week's attack in San Bernardino is bringing the latter kind of terrorist out of the woodwork.
Republican presidential campaign rhetoric is red-hot regarding Islamic terrorism, with Sen. Cruz suggesting the use of nuclear weapons to see "if sand can glow in the dark," a threat even more troubling than Donald Trump's call to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S., writes Robert Parry.
Oh, no! Not another American war against evil! This time, it's the Islamic State (IS). After the attacks in Paris, Barack Obama, spokesman-in-chief for the United States of America, called that crew "the face of evil." Shades of George W. Bush. The "evildoers" are back. And from every mountaintop, it seems, America now rings with calls to ramp up its war machine.
Obama presumes he will get the authorization he seeks. And he may be right. But no matter what the decision by the House and Senate, Congress must take up this issue. The US Constitution is clear: The power to declare wars rests with Congress, not the president. Yet this president, like his predecessors, has waged war without adequate congressional authorization.
Kerry's first recent offense came in October, when he linked extremist violence to Israeli settlement building. In this appearance at Harvard on October 13, you will see that he went directly from the greatest challenge of our generation being international terrorism, to the need for Palestinian statehood.