(np) big O, say it isn't so...

[Michael Bailey]

Henry wrote:
> of the people that they oppose.  I've always detested that "if you ain't
> with us, you're against us" bully-talk BS.
>

good, because I'm not at all in accord with drone attacks, mercenary
armies, persecuting medical marijuana smokers, or torturing
journalists -  but I'm not necessarily against Obama, per se.

afaik, nobody's perfect, ergo nobody should be above criticism.

Personal intervention to keep a journalist behind bars merits a closer look.

The champion of open government should be delighted to respond to
journalistic revelations.  If the Big O believes this was necessary,
he should say so, publicly.

this lovely blog page examines Kevin Drum's defense of Obama's action
(which itself is based on conjecture but brings up good points)

http://fredtopeka.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/shaye-and-obama/

the gist of that is this:
"Shaye is considered a legitimate reporter by other reporters in the
area and in the US; this bombing and the fact that it was done by the
US seems to have had major repercussions in Yemem and the US wants the
central government of Yemen to stay in power (although they don’t
especially like some of the people in power or the structure); the
lack of media coverage in the US works both ways in an argument.

"Here’s my take: Shaye has caused major problems for the Yemeni
government and they would like to keep him in jail but are pressed to
release him. President Obama is able to give them a reason with no
real repercussions to himself. This would make this a classic case of
real politik. If the Yemen government falls then al Qaeda might then
have a safe haven, which would then allow them to step up
international attacks–what’s one journalist against that?

"For me, the main problem here is that Shaye has been imprisoned with
no real evidence  and now is kept in prison because the US asserts
that it has evidence that can not be shown because it’s secret. Kevin
has often shown that he is very much against this for US citizens, but
now says he doesn’t care as much if it happens in other countries:"


("Kevin" is Kevin Drum, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Drum,
quoted earlier in the blog post)