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Guantanamo Bay, where the rights of habeas corpus and due process could be denied, will close. The CIA will be prohibited from maintaining overseas detention centers (aka, rendition), all of President George W. Bush's legal orders and opinions on interrogations since 9/11 have been canceled, and severe interrogation techniques are now limited to no undue discomfort, i.e., discussion about the weather and offers of Kool Aid.
I was assigned to military intelligence when I was on active duty in the Army in the mid-'50s. My secondary Military Occupational Specialty was POW interrogator. Intelligence gathering at that time was an important component of warfare.
Today, intelligence gathering in the "war on terror" is crucial. The war on terror cannot be conducted without timely, accurate, and reliable intelligence. According to a recent Washington Post story: "Bush's ‘war on terror'" is over. But based on my training and experience the intelligence community's wherewithal has been gutted and the war on terror for the United States is over, period.
The U.S. Constitution, Section I, Article 8, pertaining to the responsibilities of the Congress states that: "The Congress shall have the power to provide for calling forth the militia and repel invasions." No where in the Constitution does it say that the United States shall be the world's policeman and wage war in foreign countries or destroy foreign countries for that matter.
If our service members are not allowed to fight the war on the enemy's standards of ethics and morality, they will surely lose and be in great danger. Now, since we can no longer be effective at waging war, would it not be a good time to return to the Constitution and bring our troops back from the far corners of the globe and stand by to repel invaders?
Rep. Ron Paul has this concept. I have written Rep. Nathan Deal and asked him to work with Paul to introduce legislation to bring our troops home and out of harm's way. Without good intel, our service men and women cannot be effective and are in grave danger.
And, oh by the way, the citizens of the United States are now open to grave danger from this same lack of intelligence. That's why we need our troops here. If we can't have the information to tell us the terrorists are coming, then we need to guard our borders to keep them out. I think that's what the framers intended when they wrote the Constitution. If you agree or not, write to your congressman, tell him what you think.
Zeb Blanchard
Blairsville
Media should refer to president respectfully
Our president must be called President Obama, not Obama or the African-American president, as journalists still refer to him. He must be called President Obama the same as his predecessors, President Bush, President Clinton, President Kennedy, etc.
The way the media is doing, referring to him in a such improper way, it shows lack of respect, and it is far from being patriotic, and gives a bad impression about us to the rest of the world.
God bless him and God bless America.
Helena Nichols
Gainesville
Editor's note: The Times and many other news agencies follow The Associated Press Stylebook in referring to the president, which calls for his full name and title on first reference and last name thereafter.