Thursday, January 08, 2009

Obama Picks a Conscience for the CIA

By Ray McGovern
January 8, 2009

At long last. Change we can believe in.

Read on.

WPost Finds Second Side to Gaza War

By Robert Parry
January 8, 2009

Twelve days into Israel’s punishing war on Gaza, the Washington Post editorial section finally has published an op-ed suggesting that there might be two sides to the dispute, an article by former President Jimmy Carter who presented both Israeli and Palestinian concerns and noted Israel’s failure to live up to the goals of last year’s truce agreement.

Read on.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Conyers Seeks Probe of Bush Crimes

By Jason Leopold
January 7, 2009

In one of the first acts of the 111th Congress, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers proposed legislation to create a blue-ribbon panel of outside experts to probe the “broad range” of policies pursued by the Bush administration “under claims of unreviewable war powers,” including torture of detainees and warrantless wiretaps.

Read on.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Bush Spins Scandalous Neglect of Vets

By Jason Leopold
January 6, 2009

It’s not uncommon for Presidents to embellish their accomplishments upon leaving office, but George W. Bush, who will exit the White House leaving the country in the worst shape since Herbert Hoover, has gone a step further, moving past exaggeration into outright lying.

Read on.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

WPost Columnist Excuses Torture

By David Swanson
January 4, 2009

According to Albert Camus, "It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners." But Washington Post editorial writer Ruth Marcus has joined the side of the executioners and provided a clear example of how that is respectably done in our time and place.

Read on.

Israel's Looming Catastrophe

By Robert Parry
January 4, 2009

For the past three decades, Israel has charted a course that invites its own destruction by relying on two risky propositions: first, that it could extend its security perimeter beyond the reach of a devastating missile attack, and second, that it could permanently control the political debate inside its crucial ally, the United States.

Read on.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Making 'Duck Soup' Out of Today

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
January 2, 2009

As 2008 ends and this New Year begins, with all its fledgling promise despite turmoil and crisis, it’s also that time when the media offers its lists of ten best or worst this and that of the previous year, an exercise that simultaneously entertains and infuriates.

Read on.

Pity the Poor Neocons

By Robert Parry
January 2, 2009

As bloody and grotesque as Israel’s pounding of Gaza has been, it marks a bitterly disappointing end for seven-plus years of neoconservative dominion over U.S. foreign policy, a period that was supposed to conclude with the dismantling of Israel’s Muslim enemies in the region.

Read on.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Torture & the Crime of Aggressive War

By Peter Dyer
December 31, 2008

The U.S. government’s torture of detainees in the “war on terror” can be traced directly to a Feb. 7, 2002, memo signed by President George W. Bush.

Read on.

GOP Judge Gives Bush a Gitmo Victory

By Robert Parry
December 31, 2008

Civil libertarians hailed last June’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring habeas corpus hearings to justify indefinite detentions at Guantanamo Bay, but there remained the question of which federal judges would hear the evidence. It was clear that many would be right-wing Republican appointees.

Read on.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

How Hypocrisy on 'Terrorism' Kills

By Robert Parry
December 30, 2008

Israel, a nation that was born out of Zionist terrorism, has launched massive airstrikes against targets in Gaza using high-tech weapons produced by the United States, a country that often has aided and abetted terrorism by its client military forces, such as Chile’s Operation Condor and the Nicaraguan contras, and even today harbors right-wing Cuban terrorists implicated in blowing up a civilian airliner.

Read on.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Henry Kissinger: Eminence Noire

By Robert Parry
December 28, 2008

The recent release of 40-year-old tape recordings of President Lyndon Johnson complaining about “treason” by Richard Nixon’s campaign for sabotaging Vietnam peace talks in 1968 also reflects darkly on one of Washington’s enduring Wise Men, a person whose views are still sought and respected: former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Read on.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Dilemma That Is Gaza

By Morgan Strong
December 27, 2008 (Republished in view of new Israeli bombing raids)

Gaza was and is an anomaly, a piece of land left over from the calamity of history, created it seems in a moment of distraction.

Read on.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Two Dangerous Bush-Cheney Myths

By Robert Parry
December 26, 2008

As George W. Bush and Dick Cheney make their case for some positive legacy from the past eight years, two arguments are playing key roles: the notion that torturing terror suspects saved American lives and the belief that Bush’s Iraq troop “surge” transformed a disaster into something close to “victory.”

Read on.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Washington Needs a Makeover

By Robert Parry
December 24, 2008

In four weeks, the long national nightmare of George W. Bush’s presidency will come to an end, but the big question then will be whether much will change – even with a solid Democratic majority in Congress and the nation’s first African-American President in the White House.

Read on.

'Gran Torino': Clint Eastwood in Winter

By Lisa Pease
December 24, 2008

Clint Eastwood stars in and directs this amazing film. Fresh and original, hilarious and heart-rending, this film will seize a hold of your heart and not let go. And if you enjoy snappy dialog, consider "Gran Torino" this year's "Juno."

Read on.

'Australia' Makes Worthy Apology

By Lisa Pease
December 22, 2008

Baz Luhrmann, the creative force behind "Moulin Rouge" and "Strictly Ballroom," has written and directed an epic valentine to 1940s-style films with his latest effort, "Australia."

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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Democrats Need Their Own Cheney

By Brent Budowsky
December 23, 2008

Dick Cheney is what Margaret Thatcher called a conviction politician. Yes, with some luck, that may become a play on words, since I believe torture and warrantless eavesdropping violate the law – and the Vice President has proudly announced his role in those decisions by the Bush administration.

Read on.

Cheney Defends Waterboarding Order

By Jason Leopold
December 23, 2008

Vice President Dick Cheney, in another stunning admission during his campaign to burnish the Bush administration’s legacy, said he personally authorized the “enhanced interrogations” of 33 suspected terrorist detainees and approved the waterboarding of three so-called “high-value” prisoners.

Read on.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Cheney's Contempt for the Republic

By Robert Parry
December 22, 2008

As Vice President Dick Cheney goes public in exit interviews about his vision of expansive executive powers, it's getting clearer how close the American Republic came to suffering major deformity – if not destruction – in the past eight years.

Read on.