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mmcirvinYou say you don't have any good reasons to vote for John Kerry, as opposed to just voting against George W. Bush?
Well, for one, there's BCCI. At the time I remember thinking this was an incredibly murky and difficult-to-follow story, maybe vaguely connected to the Iran-contra scandal. The gist of it, though, is that there was a bank with an explicitly anti-Western agenda that was money-laundering for terrorists, drug runners and tyrants the world over; and, against heavy opposition, Kerry led the 1989-1991 investigation that busted it wide open. We're better at fighting terrorist organizations because of it, and they would have been incalculably better off had it not happened.
Actually, I find it odd that this isn't a centerpiece of Kerry's campaign. It's pretty much his greatest achievement as a senator, in my opinion, and especially relevant to today's world. His strategists may figure that the details of dismantling a criminal financial web don't make a good story, or sound wimpy when compared to fighting two wars. But, really, operations like the BCCI investigation are crucial to the sort of next-generation "netwar" that everyone was talking about in late 2001 as the right way to fight decentralized, often stateless terrorist organizations. You find their sources of money and shut them down.
Well, for one, there's BCCI. At the time I remember thinking this was an incredibly murky and difficult-to-follow story, maybe vaguely connected to the Iran-contra scandal. The gist of it, though, is that there was a bank with an explicitly anti-Western agenda that was money-laundering for terrorists, drug runners and tyrants the world over; and, against heavy opposition, Kerry led the 1989-1991 investigation that busted it wide open. We're better at fighting terrorist organizations because of it, and they would have been incalculably better off had it not happened.
Actually, I find it odd that this isn't a centerpiece of Kerry's campaign. It's pretty much his greatest achievement as a senator, in my opinion, and especially relevant to today's world. His strategists may figure that the details of dismantling a criminal financial web don't make a good story, or sound wimpy when compared to fighting two wars. But, really, operations like the BCCI investigation are crucial to the sort of next-generation "netwar" that everyone was talking about in late 2001 as the right way to fight decentralized, often stateless terrorist organizations. You find their sources of money and shut them down.
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Date: 2004-08-22 04:15 pm (UTC)I think it's a subject both sides have agreed not to mention.
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Date: 2004-08-22 04:54 pm (UTC)The people who believe Clinton murdered 200 people while he was in office, would have no trouble discrediting this. The people who have no trouble inventing "facts" about his Vietnam service will have no trouble making it look like he was incompetent, maybe let people get away, I don't know. And very smart voters will believe it.
It's not mudslinging, so it won't be mentioned in this election.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-22 07:37 pm (UTC)It reminds me a lot of the Unification Church's dealings in Washington, actually... or the Scientologists' in Hollywood.
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Date: 2004-08-22 11:17 pm (UTC)I will admit to a certain bewilderment, though...how did this tough, persistent, driven person turn into the waffle king we know today?
Dav2.718
no subject
Date: 2004-08-23 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-27 03:54 pm (UTC)Before raising the car tax, th
Date: 2004-09-15 12:20 am (UTC)