Mukasey Asks Congress to Legitimize the "War on Terror"

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 3:03 PM on July 23, 2008.

Congress should explicitly declare a state of armed conflict with al Qaeda to make clear the United States can detain suspected members as long as the war on terrorism lasts, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said on Monday.

Mukasey urged Congress to make the declaration in a package of legislative proposals to establish a legal process for terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo, in response to a Supreme Court ruling last month that detainees had a constitutional right to challenge their detention.

"Any legislation should acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us," Mukasey said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.

As I wrote yesterday, this is nothing but a transparent attempt to get bipartisan buy in, before the election, to the Global War on Terror. They need to keep the torture, rendition and concentration camp regime under wraps and ensure that a larger ongoing war narrative, which favor conservatives no matter who runs the government, remains firmly in place.

It would be a political mistake of epic proportions for the Democrats to agree to anything like this, setting the table for possible decades of being pressured and intimidated into supporting wars and military interventions against the best interests of the country and the world -- not to mention their own political interests. It is not a winner for liberals to help the conservatives pursue their imperial goals. There's no political need for this, so if they do it, one can only assume it's because they actually support the Orwellian concept of endless war.

We've been here before, during the Cold War, which was a real existential threat, at least in the beginning. It's unbelievably foolhardy to do it again.

Tagged as: u.s. attorney general muk, global war on terror, cold war, congress, bipartisan buy

Digby is the proprietor of Hullabaloo.