By Ray McGovern
September 16, 2007
For those still wondering why President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney sent our young men and women into Iraq, the secret is now “largely” out.
No, not from the lips of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It appears we shall have to wait until the disgraced general/diplomat draws nearer to meeting his maker before he gets concerned over anything more than the “blot” that Iraq has put on his reputation.
Read on.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Bush's War Without End
By Robert Parry
September 14, 2007
Let it be noted that the morning after George W. Bush announced an open-ended – possibly permanent – military occupation of Iraq the premier U.S. newspapers ran headlines about the President ordering “troop cuts,” itself a troubling reminder of how the American people got into this mess.
The New York Times’ lead headline read: “Bush Says Success Allows Gradual Troop Cuts.” The Washington Post went with: “Bush Tells Nation He Will Begin to Roll Back ‘Surge.’”
Read on.
September 14, 2007
Let it be noted that the morning after George W. Bush announced an open-ended – possibly permanent – military occupation of Iraq the premier U.S. newspapers ran headlines about the President ordering “troop cuts,” itself a troubling reminder of how the American people got into this mess.
The New York Times’ lead headline read: “Bush Says Success Allows Gradual Troop Cuts.” The Washington Post went with: “Bush Tells Nation He Will Begin to Roll Back ‘Surge.’”
Read on.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
More reader reviews from Amazon.com
Thanks to all who have taken the time to review Neck Deep at Amazon.com.
Below are a few more reviews from our readers:
Honest, in-depth investigative reporting, September 9, 2007
By Avidreader "Pam" (New Zealand)
For anyone who wants to know what has really been happening politically in the US for the past 50 years or more, this book will add considerably to your knowledge. If you want to know how and why the House of Bush seized power and subverted the American electoral process - read this book. Robert Parry and team at Consortiumnews.com are bright stars in the list of American journalists and investigative reporters who can still wear those names with pride. All their books and articles are well worth your time.
Connects the Dots, September 8, 2007
By Ronald G. Defenbaugh "Ron" (Stanberry, MO USA)
The Parrys do their usual fine investigative reporting in this book Neck Deep. They connect the dots from early in GWB's career to the current fiasco we find ourselves in. This book should be bought even if reading time is precious. Save it for history if you have to, for that is what it is - history without the mainline media spin. The authors use some of their previously written articles to point out the previously mis-leading big media accounts of "facts" and their timely accounts of history. I plan to read it ever so often to remember how we really got into this mess. Buy it - then compare it to the spin of other "historians" and to what you see as truly happening.
Top Notch, September 8, 2007
By Charles F. Kaiser Jr. "ckaiserjr" (Minnesota)
As with everything Robert Parry attaches his name to, this is a Top Notch and thoroughly researched piece of investigative journalism. Since I agree with the other reviews posted before mine, I'll keep it short and advise you to read all of his other books, as well as direct you to visit his website at http://www.consortiumnews.com.
To order Neck Deep, please visit the publisher's web site at www.neckdeepbook.com.
To review Neck Deep, please visit Amazon.com.
Below are a few more reviews from our readers:
Honest, in-depth investigative reporting, September 9, 2007
By Avidreader "Pam" (New Zealand)
For anyone who wants to know what has really been happening politically in the US for the past 50 years or more, this book will add considerably to your knowledge. If you want to know how and why the House of Bush seized power and subverted the American electoral process - read this book. Robert Parry and team at Consortiumnews.com are bright stars in the list of American journalists and investigative reporters who can still wear those names with pride. All their books and articles are well worth your time.
Connects the Dots, September 8, 2007
By Ronald G. Defenbaugh "Ron" (Stanberry, MO USA)
The Parrys do their usual fine investigative reporting in this book Neck Deep. They connect the dots from early in GWB's career to the current fiasco we find ourselves in. This book should be bought even if reading time is precious. Save it for history if you have to, for that is what it is - history without the mainline media spin. The authors use some of their previously written articles to point out the previously mis-leading big media accounts of "facts" and their timely accounts of history. I plan to read it ever so often to remember how we really got into this mess. Buy it - then compare it to the spin of other "historians" and to what you see as truly happening.
Top Notch, September 8, 2007
By Charles F. Kaiser Jr. "ckaiserjr" (Minnesota)
As with everything Robert Parry attaches his name to, this is a Top Notch and thoroughly researched piece of investigative journalism. Since I agree with the other reviews posted before mine, I'll keep it short and advise you to read all of his other books, as well as direct you to visit his website at http://www.consortiumnews.com.
To order Neck Deep, please visit the publisher's web site at www.neckdeepbook.com.
To review Neck Deep, please visit Amazon.com.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Petraeus & the 'Central Front' Myth
By Robert Parry
September 12, 2007
As Gen. David Petraeus outlined plans for a long-term U.S. military occupation of Iraq, he relied heavily on two arguments favored by his civilian superiors in the Bush administration but not supported by the facts – that al-Qaeda views Iraq as the “central front” in the war on terror and is eager to drive American forces out.
Iraq “has been regarded by al-Qaeda senior leadership – AQSL – as the central front,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 11. “They’re trying to give us a bloody nose which would be an enormous shot of adrenaline in the arm of the international jihadists.”
Read on.
September 12, 2007
As Gen. David Petraeus outlined plans for a long-term U.S. military occupation of Iraq, he relied heavily on two arguments favored by his civilian superiors in the Bush administration but not supported by the facts – that al-Qaeda views Iraq as the “central front” in the war on terror and is eager to drive American forces out.
Iraq “has been regarded by al-Qaeda senior leadership – AQSL – as the central front,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 11. “They’re trying to give us a bloody nose which would be an enormous shot of adrenaline in the arm of the international jihadists.”
Read on.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Neck Deep: The Real 9/11 Scandal
By Robert, Sam and Nat Parry
September 11, 2007
During the lazy summer of 2001, relatively few Americans had even heard of al-Qaeda, which in Arabic means “the base.” This organization of Islamic extremists had taken shape during the CIA-supported war against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
In the years of the late Cold War, CIA Director William J. Casey and other anti-Soviet hard-liners viewed Islamic fundamentalism as a tool to pry historically Muslim territories in the southern Soviet Union away from Moscow and its atheistic communist government.
Read on.
September 11, 2007
During the lazy summer of 2001, relatively few Americans had even heard of al-Qaeda, which in Arabic means “the base.” This organization of Islamic extremists had taken shape during the CIA-supported war against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
In the years of the late Cold War, CIA Director William J. Casey and other anti-Soviet hard-liners viewed Islamic fundamentalism as a tool to pry historically Muslim territories in the southern Soviet Union away from Moscow and its atheistic communist government.
Read on.
Monday, September 10, 2007
'Swear Him In' Provokes Expulsion
By Raymond McGovern
September 10, 2007
“Swear him in.” That’s all I said in the unusual silence this afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus’s microphone at the hearing before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.
It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had no idea that would be enough to get me thrown out of the hearing.
Read on.
September 10, 2007
“Swear him in.” That’s all I said in the unusual silence this afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus’s microphone at the hearing before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.
It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had no idea that would be enough to get me thrown out of the hearing.
Read on.
Bush 'Kicking Ass' in Congress
By Robert Parry
September 10, 2007
George W. Bush reportedly told Australia’s deputy prime minister that “we’re kicking ass” in Iraq, but the pithy tough talk may fit better with what the President is doing to the Democrats in Congress.
To cover their political beating, some Democratic operatives are advising the party’s leadership to claim a measure of victory when Bush and Gen. David Petraeus agree to make a symbolic troop cut – perhaps 5,000 – from the current levels of about 172,000.
Read on.
September 10, 2007
George W. Bush reportedly told Australia’s deputy prime minister that “we’re kicking ass” in Iraq, but the pithy tough talk may fit better with what the President is doing to the Democrats in Congress.
To cover their political beating, some Democratic operatives are advising the party’s leadership to claim a measure of victory when Bush and Gen. David Petraeus agree to make a symbolic troop cut – perhaps 5,000 – from the current levels of about 172,000.
Read on.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Bush-Bin Laden Symbiosis Reborn
By Robert Parry
September 8, 2007
Just as Sylvester and Tweety Bird achieved lasting Hollywood fame from their comical cartoon chases, the less amusing duo of George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden continue to benefit each other by reviving their long-distance rivalry, one posturing against the other in a way that helps them both.
In a new video, al-Qaeda leader bin Laden again taunts Bush, the United States – and then the Democrats for not forcing an American withdrawal from Iraq, which should help guarantee that the Democrats won’t dare press for a withdrawal from Iraq.
Read on.
September 8, 2007
Just as Sylvester and Tweety Bird achieved lasting Hollywood fame from their comical cartoon chases, the less amusing duo of George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden continue to benefit each other by reviving their long-distance rivalry, one posturing against the other in a way that helps them both.
In a new video, al-Qaeda leader bin Laden again taunts Bush, the United States – and then the Democrats for not forcing an American withdrawal from Iraq, which should help guarantee that the Democrats won’t dare press for a withdrawal from Iraq.
Read on.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Is Petraeus Today's Westmoreland?
By Ray McGovern
September 7, 2007
The killing in Hawijah, Iraq, of 18-year old Corporal Jeremy Shank of Jackson, Missouri (population 12,000) merited an article in his local newspaper, the Southeast Missourian.
Cpl. Shank was killed just over a year ago, on Sept. 6, 2006, and I was in that part of Missouri when his body came home for burial. According to the Pentagon, Shank was on a “dismounted security patrol when he encountered enemy forces using small arms.”
Read on.
September 7, 2007
The killing in Hawijah, Iraq, of 18-year old Corporal Jeremy Shank of Jackson, Missouri (population 12,000) merited an article in his local newspaper, the Southeast Missourian.
Cpl. Shank was killed just over a year ago, on Sept. 6, 2006, and I was in that part of Missouri when his body came home for burial. According to the Pentagon, Shank was on a “dismounted security patrol when he encountered enemy forces using small arms.”
Read on.
Neck Deep reader reviews at Amazon.com
So far, there are two glowing reviews at Amazon.com for our new book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush. If you've read the book (or even if you're just familiar with our work at Consortiumnews.com), please feel free to put your two cents in at Amazon as well. Reader reviews really do have a big impact on whether an Amazon customer decides to buy the book, so if you want to kindly help us out with a review, we'd really appreciate it. Or, if you don't have the time, take a second to give the book five stars! (Of course, only if you think we deserve it... ;)
Anyway, in case you're interested, here are the two reviews that have already been posted:
raymond compton "racom" (kennewick, wa) - See all my reviews
If you are also tired of the DC spin then this is the book for you. Written by a team, family team, of honest to goodness investigative reporters who have documented the unbelievably long list of failed decisions, policies, executive orders, etc of this administration. The failures have come so fast, so sudden, so numerous we can hardly keep abreast. I plan to read this book at least once every year to never forget the many issues that the American public has been failed on. From even before 9/11 the problems were being planned. Today the mistakes are still coming at us, now the disaster in Iraq is being pushed aside to make room for the coming disaster in Iran. I recommend this book to all who question why we are where we are. The Parrys,father and sons team, have produced an excellent work in this book. Tired of the mind numbing politics and DC spin, then you'll want this book. Also if you really want to know the reason for Iranian distrust of US check out 'All the Shah's Men'. We have some bloody history!
D. Webster - See all my reviews
D. Webster - See all my reviews
Robert Parry's book accurately and, for those who count themselves as lovers of liberty, excruciatingly delineates the deceitful, arrogant, and ironic rise of George W. Bush from military coward and failed businessman to President of the United States, via manipulation and coercion of the highest court in the land. Parry's book goes on to reveal that Bush and his political cronies may well have been able to thwart the horrific events of 9/11 had they not been more concerned with personal power and blinded by their hatred of their political opposition. Once again, irony comes to the forefront, in that Bush is looked upon by the American people as a strong and forceful leader in the wake of 9/11, when Parry shows that his bravado was nothing more than a flimsy facade created by a nervous and fearful media. And then, of course, comes the Iraq war, a war actually being fought for oil, but asking for the sacrifice of thousands of brave American soldiers being told they are fighting terrorism. But perhaps the most unforgivable and egregious act committed by George W. Bush during his reign, and revealed by Parry at great length and in minute detail, is Bush's flagrant and criminal disregard for the Constitution of the United States--in essence, making up his own rules as he sees fit, and interpreting the Constitution to suit his own purposes. Reading this book, I found myself asking the question time and time again, "why are we standing still for this, and not demanding reform?" I've since come to the conclusion that we, the American people, no longer deserve our country, and that we must accept whatever fate our lackadaisical attitude and behavior brings us. I commend and admire Robert Parry for having the courage to bring these sad and disastrous facts to light. At least there's still one real American among us.
NYT's Friedman's Addiction to War
By Norman Solomon
September 7, 2007
Nowadays you'll read the NYT's Thomas Friedman decrying the "madness that is Iraq," but the real Friedman is the man who called invading Iraq "one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad."
Reading his "Letter From Baghdad" column in the New York Times this week, you'd never know that Thomas Friedman has a history of enthusiasm for war.
Read on.
September 7, 2007
Nowadays you'll read the NYT's Thomas Friedman decrying the "madness that is Iraq," but the real Friedman is the man who called invading Iraq "one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad."
Reading his "Letter From Baghdad" column in the New York Times this week, you'd never know that Thomas Friedman has a history of enthusiasm for war.
Read on.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Neck Deep: The Real Colin Powell
By Robert Parry
September 6, 2007
Though Colin Powell is still lying low about his role in palming off the Iraq War on a gullible American public, the retired Army general and former Secretary of State is back on the motivational speaking circuit, again raking in big bucks.
For a day-long “Get Motivated” seminar at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6, Powell got star billing for a show also boasting names like Zig Ziglar, Steve Forbes, Robert Schuller and Sugar Ray Leonard. Admission price at the door was $225.
Read on.
September 6, 2007
Though Colin Powell is still lying low about his role in palming off the Iraq War on a gullible American public, the retired Army general and former Secretary of State is back on the motivational speaking circuit, again raking in big bucks.
For a day-long “Get Motivated” seminar at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6, Powell got star billing for a show also boasting names like Zig Ziglar, Steve Forbes, Robert Schuller and Sugar Ray Leonard. Admission price at the door was $225.
Read on.
Questions for General Petraeus
By Brent Budowsky
September 6, 2007
It is fashionable though wrong to state “the surge is working,” but this debate misses the point about the devastation to the United States Army, the destabilization of our global force structures, the near-total destruction of our conventional deterrent capability, the extreme damage to the war in Afghanistan and the collapse of recruitment standards imposed by the status quo policy in Iraq.
When Army Gen. David Petraeus testifies next week, here are the hard questions that the nation deserves to have asked and answered, clearly and unequivocally:
Read on.
September 6, 2007
It is fashionable though wrong to state “the surge is working,” but this debate misses the point about the devastation to the United States Army, the destabilization of our global force structures, the near-total destruction of our conventional deterrent capability, the extreme damage to the war in Afghanistan and the collapse of recruitment standards imposed by the status quo policy in Iraq.
When Army Gen. David Petraeus testifies next week, here are the hard questions that the nation deserves to have asked and answered, clearly and unequivocally:
Read on.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Bowing Before an American Tyranny
By Robert Parry
September 6, 2007
The 9/11 tragedy did become a demarcation point for the United States, although not in the way many Americans understand. Before that date six years ago, there existed an American Republic – albeit one in decline – but afterwards a New Age authoritarian state quickly took shape.
Though some defenders of the old Republic rose up, nobody was strong enough to protect it.
Read on.
September 6, 2007
The 9/11 tragedy did become a demarcation point for the United States, although not in the way many Americans understand. Before that date six years ago, there existed an American Republic – albeit one in decline – but afterwards a New Age authoritarian state quickly took shape.
Though some defenders of the old Republic rose up, nobody was strong enough to protect it.
Read on.
Buzzflash Interviews Robert Parry
Robert Parry Reporting on the Disastrous Bush Presidency, and the News Media's Helping Hand
You don't have liberty if the leader of the country can lock you up without a trial. You don't have liberty if the leader of the country can ignore the ban in the Bill of Rights against cruel and unusual punishment. These are classic definitions of tyranny.
-- Robert Parry, investigative reporter and author of Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush
* * *
Robert Parry is a former AP and Newsweek investigative reporter who now runs the website, Consortiumnews.com. Parry made his reputation reporting on corruption and governmental misdeeds in Central America and Iran-Contra. Now his Consortiumnews is a respected and invaluable online resource exposing the right-wing betrayal of the Constitution and democracy.
Parry's newest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, places the troubling events of the George W. Bush era into the fullest historical context. The book's title references Pete Seeger's anti- Viet Nam war lyric: "We were neck deep in the Big Muddy, and the big fool said to push on." Says Parry of the Bush debacle, "It was a perfect storm that has been building for a quarter of a century. Aggressive Republicans, accommodating Democrats, and a press corps driven more by careerism than a search for truth have caused our country to become what the Founders fought against."
Read the full interview here.Tuesday, September 04, 2007
How VIPs Get 'Brainwashed' on Iraq
By Robert Parry
September 4, 2007
When members of Congress – or pundits and journalists, for that matter – are taken on tightly controlled visits to a war zone like Iraq, they undergo what the late Michigan Gov. George Romney famously referred to as “brainwashing.”
Romney said he had undergone a propaganda blitz when he visited Vietnam in 1965, persuading him that military progress was being achieved. Similarly, recent visitors to Iraq have flown home from August-recess trips with first-hand accounts about signs of success for President George W. Bush’s troop “surge.”
Read on.
September 4, 2007
When members of Congress – or pundits and journalists, for that matter – are taken on tightly controlled visits to a war zone like Iraq, they undergo what the late Michigan Gov. George Romney famously referred to as “brainwashing.”
Romney said he had undergone a propaganda blitz when he visited Vietnam in 1965, persuading him that military progress was being achieved. Similarly, recent visitors to Iraq have flown home from August-recess trips with first-hand accounts about signs of success for President George W. Bush’s troop “surge.”
Read on.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Warner for 'Caretaker' President?
By Robert Parry
September 2, 2007
A political system that was right-side up – rather than upside down – would be debating the need for a “caretaker” U.S. president, not the identity of the likely “caretaker” senator from Idaho.
While few tears will be shed over the resignation of Larry Craig – for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover policeman in an airport men’s room – there’s a far stronger case for sequenced resignations from Dick Cheney and George W. Bush over a host of misjudgments and misdeeds.
Read on.
September 2, 2007
A political system that was right-side up – rather than upside down – would be debating the need for a “caretaker” U.S. president, not the identity of the likely “caretaker” senator from Idaho.
While few tears will be shed over the resignation of Larry Craig – for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover policeman in an airport men’s room – there’s a far stronger case for sequenced resignations from Dick Cheney and George W. Bush over a host of misjudgments and misdeeds.
Read on.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Iraq's Endless 'False Hopes'
By Robert Parry
September 1, 2007
Two-and-a-half years ago at another “turning point” in the Iraq War, columnists at the Washington Post and other leading American newspapers were ecstatic over how the Iraqi national election was finally fulfilling the neoconservative dream of remaking the Muslim world.
Now, however, some of the same columnists who praised the Jan. 30, 2005, election are denouncing it as a failure that must be undone so George W. Bush’s newest “turning point” – the American troop “surge” – can achieve its fullest potential.
Read on.
September 1, 2007
Two-and-a-half years ago at another “turning point” in the Iraq War, columnists at the Washington Post and other leading American newspapers were ecstatic over how the Iraqi national election was finally fulfilling the neoconservative dream of remaking the Muslim world.
Now, however, some of the same columnists who praised the Jan. 30, 2005, election are denouncing it as a failure that must be undone so George W. Bush’s newest “turning point” – the American troop “surge” – can achieve its fullest potential.
Read on.
Last Call: Battle for Empire or Republic
By Robert Parry
August 31, 2007
This fall could be a make-or-break moment for the American Republic: Will the powerful forces that favor an empire abroad and an authoritarian state at home prevail?
Or will the country turn away from George W. Bush’s dark vision and insist instead on a revival of the constitutional Republic that the Founders built for “posterity,” for ours and future generations?
Read on.
August 31, 2007
This fall could be a make-or-break moment for the American Republic: Will the powerful forces that favor an empire abroad and an authoritarian state at home prevail?
Or will the country turn away from George W. Bush’s dark vision and insist instead on a revival of the constitutional Republic that the Founders built for “posterity,” for ours and future generations?
Read on.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Bush Puts Iran in Crosshairs
By Ray McGovern
August 30, 2007
Not another warning about war with Iran! Well, suck it up. President George W. Bush’s speech Tuesday makes clear his plan to attack Iran, and how the intelligence, as was the case before the attack on Iraq, is being “fixed around the policy.”
It’s not about putative Iranian “weapons of mass destruction” — not even ostensibly. It is about the requirement for a scapegoat for U.S. reverses in Iraq, and the felt need to create a casus belli by provoking Iran in such a way as to “justify” armed retaliation — perhaps extending to an attempt to destroy its nuclear-related facilities.
Read on.
August 30, 2007
Not another warning about war with Iran! Well, suck it up. President George W. Bush’s speech Tuesday makes clear his plan to attack Iran, and how the intelligence, as was the case before the attack on Iraq, is being “fixed around the policy.”
It’s not about putative Iranian “weapons of mass destruction” — not even ostensibly. It is about the requirement for a scapegoat for U.S. reverses in Iraq, and the felt need to create a casus belli by provoking Iran in such a way as to “justify” armed retaliation — perhaps extending to an attempt to destroy its nuclear-related facilities.
Read on.
Bush and the Carnage in Iraq
By Robert Higgs
August 30, 2007
The headline of an Aug. 22, 2007, article in the New York Times reads, “Citing Vietnam, Bush Warns of Carnage if U.S. Leaves Iraq.” Readers with live brain cells must be stunned by such a warning.
What, exactly, does President Bush imagine is happening every day in Iraq now? Does he envision scenes of social tranquility and cooperative harmony amid the peaceful palms of Mesopotamia?
Read on.
August 30, 2007
The headline of an Aug. 22, 2007, article in the New York Times reads, “Citing Vietnam, Bush Warns of Carnage if U.S. Leaves Iraq.” Readers with live brain cells must be stunned by such a warning.
What, exactly, does President Bush imagine is happening every day in Iraq now? Does he envision scenes of social tranquility and cooperative harmony amid the peaceful palms of Mesopotamia?
Read on.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Neck Deep: Drowning Accountability
By Robert, Sam and Nat Parry
August 29, 2007
On Aug. 27, 2005, as a powerful hurricane named Katrina surged through the Gulf of Mexico and took aim at New Orleans, most Americans still had confidence in their government’s ability to respond to crises and natural disasters with efficiency and speed.
The country prided itself on its ability to rescue people in danger, to dispatch resources, to rebuild after the worst was over.
Read on.
August 29, 2007
On Aug. 27, 2005, as a powerful hurricane named Katrina surged through the Gulf of Mexico and took aim at New Orleans, most Americans still had confidence in their government’s ability to respond to crises and natural disasters with efficiency and speed.
The country prided itself on its ability to rescue people in danger, to dispatch resources, to rebuild after the worst was over.
Read on.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Favorite Memory: Gonzo on Habeas
By Robert Parry
August 28, 2007
Everyone has their favorite memory of departing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: his endless “do not recalls”; his quibbling definitions of torture; his dismissive attitude toward the “quaint” and “obsolete” Geneva Conventions.
But my personal favorite was his insistence that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t expressly recognize habeas corpus, the great fair-trial legal principle of English law that dates back to the Magna Carta in 1215.
Read on.
August 28, 2007
Everyone has their favorite memory of departing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: his endless “do not recalls”; his quibbling definitions of torture; his dismissive attitude toward the “quaint” and “obsolete” Geneva Conventions.
But my personal favorite was his insistence that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t expressly recognize habeas corpus, the great fair-trial legal principle of English law that dates back to the Magna Carta in 1215.
Read on.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Army Adds Farce to Abu Ghraib Shame
By Sam Provance (NCO at Abu Ghraib from 9/03 to 2/04)
August 27, 2007
Breaking News: The Army officer in charge of the interrogation/torture operation at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 is being court-martialed. My first thought was: Finally an officer is being held accountable. In view of the repeated rebuff to my own attempts to stop the torture and identify those responsible, however, you will perhaps excuse my skepticism that justice will be done.
An Army intelligence analyst, my job at Abu Ghraib was systems administrator (“the computer guy”). But I had the bad luck to be on the 2000 to 0800 night shift. And so I saw the detainees dragged in for interrogation, heard the screams, and saw many of them dragged out.
Read on.
August 27, 2007
Breaking News: The Army officer in charge of the interrogation/torture operation at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 is being court-martialed. My first thought was: Finally an officer is being held accountable. In view of the repeated rebuff to my own attempts to stop the torture and identify those responsible, however, you will perhaps excuse my skepticism that justice will be done.
An Army intelligence analyst, my job at Abu Ghraib was systems administrator (“the computer guy”). But I had the bad luck to be on the 2000 to 0800 night shift. And so I saw the detainees dragged in for interrogation, heard the screams, and saw many of them dragged out.
Read on.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Neck Deep Secret: Gore Was Right
By Robert Parry
August 27, 2007
Having written several books that span periods of years, I’m often surprised how patterns emerge that aren’t apparent to me in day-to-day news coverage. In Neck Deep, our new book about George W. Bush’s presidency, one of those surprises was how often former Vice President Al Gore turned up making tragically prescient comments.
Gore, whose admirers sometimes call him “the Goracle,” comes across more as a Cassandra, warning the nation of looming disasters and finding himself either ignored or mocked by the dominant politicians and media pundits.
Read on.
August 27, 2007
Having written several books that span periods of years, I’m often surprised how patterns emerge that aren’t apparent to me in day-to-day news coverage. In Neck Deep, our new book about George W. Bush’s presidency, one of those surprises was how often former Vice President Al Gore turned up making tragically prescient comments.
Gore, whose admirers sometimes call him “the Goracle,” comes across more as a Cassandra, warning the nation of looming disasters and finding himself either ignored or mocked by the dominant politicians and media pundits.
Read on.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Bob Gates on the Iraq War Hot Seat
By Robert Parry
August 24, 2007
Defense Secretary Robert Gates may be confronting the career decision of a lifetime: Should the former CIA director lash himself to the mast with George W. Bush and risk going down with the foundering Iraq War ship or should he look to a post-Bush period and position himself as a Washington wise man?
Now that President Bush has invited comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, a parallel could be drawn between Gates and Clark Clifford, the Defense Secretary who took over the job in March 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War and persuaded President Lyndon Johnson to start down the road toward a negotiated settlement.
Read on.
August 24, 2007
Defense Secretary Robert Gates may be confronting the career decision of a lifetime: Should the former CIA director lash himself to the mast with George W. Bush and risk going down with the foundering Iraq War ship or should he look to a post-Bush period and position himself as a Washington wise man?
Now that President Bush has invited comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, a parallel could be drawn between Gates and Clark Clifford, the Defense Secretary who took over the job in March 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War and persuaded President Lyndon Johnson to start down the road toward a negotiated settlement.
Read on.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Bush's Bogus Vietnam History Kills
By Robert Parry
August 23, 2007
It is often said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But a much worse fate may await countries whose leaders distort and falsify history. Such countries are doomed to experience even bloodier miscalculations.
That was the case with Germany after World War I when Adolf Hitler’s Nazis built a political movement based in part on the myth that weak politicians in Berlin had stabbed brave German troops in the back when they were on the verge of victory.
Read on.
August 23, 2007
It is often said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But a much worse fate may await countries whose leaders distort and falsify history. Such countries are doomed to experience even bloodier miscalculations.
That was the case with Germany after World War I when Adolf Hitler’s Nazis built a political movement based in part on the myth that weak politicians in Berlin had stabbed brave German troops in the back when they were on the verge of victory.
Read on.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Many Democrats Wrong on Iraq, Again
By Brent Budowsky
August 22, 2007
Here is my answer to Kenneth Pollack, Michael O’Hanlon and the latest tragic evasion and spin on the Iraq War currently circulating in high Democratic circles:
The Aug. 22 story in The Washington Post is accurate and fits with what I am hearing privately. Many Democrats are again missing the first principle of the matter and treating Iraq in political and tactical terms.
Read on.
August 22, 2007
Here is my answer to Kenneth Pollack, Michael O’Hanlon and the latest tragic evasion and spin on the Iraq War currently circulating in high Democratic circles:
The Aug. 22 story in The Washington Post is accurate and fits with what I am hearing privately. Many Democrats are again missing the first principle of the matter and treating Iraq in political and tactical terms.
Read on.
If the Democrats Want to Lose...
By Robert Parry
August 22, 2007
Many national Democrats saw last year’s election as a political turning point. They cheered the voters’ repudiation of a Republican one-party state; they hailed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s ouster the next day; and they were sure that resurgent GOP “realists” would help wind down the Iraq War.
In this Democratic view, George W. Bush was going to be both the lamest of lame ducks and a deadly albatross draped around the neck of the Republican Party in Election 2008. The Democrats believed they could pretty much start measuring their curtains for a move into the White House on Jan. 20, 2009.
Read on.
August 22, 2007
Many national Democrats saw last year’s election as a political turning point. They cheered the voters’ repudiation of a Republican one-party state; they hailed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s ouster the next day; and they were sure that resurgent GOP “realists” would help wind down the Iraq War.
In this Democratic view, George W. Bush was going to be both the lamest of lame ducks and a deadly albatross draped around the neck of the Republican Party in Election 2008. The Democrats believed they could pretty much start measuring their curtains for a move into the White House on Jan. 20, 2009.
Read on.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Bush's New War Drums for Iran
By Ray McGovern
August 21, 2007
It is as though I’m back as an analyst at the CIA, trying to estimate the chances of an attack on Iran. The putative attacker, though, happens to be our own president.
It is precisely the work we analysts used to do. And, while it is still a bit jarring to be turning our analytical tools on the U.S. leadership, it is by no means entirely new. For, of necessity, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) have been doing that for almost six years now—ever since 9/11, when “everything changed.”
Read on.
August 21, 2007
It is as though I’m back as an analyst at the CIA, trying to estimate the chances of an attack on Iran. The putative attacker, though, happens to be our own president.
It is precisely the work we analysts used to do. And, while it is still a bit jarring to be turning our analytical tools on the U.S. leadership, it is by no means entirely new. For, of necessity, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) have been doing that for almost six years now—ever since 9/11, when “everything changed.”
Read on.
Monday, August 20, 2007
NYPD's Homegrown Hysteria
By Nat Parry
August 20, 2007
An influential report by two New York Police Department counterterrorism analysts crosses a dangerous threshold in recasting the “war on terror” as primarily a struggle that requires increased domestic surveillance and pre-emptive action against American Muslims who might become “homegrown terrorists” by visiting Internet sites.
Written by Mitchell Silber and Arvin Bhatt, the Aug. 15 report recommends increased police attention “to identify, pre-empt and thus prevent homegrown terrorist attacks.” The report was promptly hailed in the U.S. news media. (Newsweek called it “insightful.”)
What makes the report troubling to civil libertarians, however, is that it lowers the bar for fighting terrorism to simply the possibility that some domestic Muslims might be influenced by jihadist Web sites, and it applies lax standards to target Americans of a specific religious faith as prospective terrorists.
Read on.
August 20, 2007
An influential report by two New York Police Department counterterrorism analysts crosses a dangerous threshold in recasting the “war on terror” as primarily a struggle that requires increased domestic surveillance and pre-emptive action against American Muslims who might become “homegrown terrorists” by visiting Internet sites.
Written by Mitchell Silber and Arvin Bhatt, the Aug. 15 report recommends increased police attention “to identify, pre-empt and thus prevent homegrown terrorist attacks.” The report was promptly hailed in the U.S. news media. (Newsweek called it “insightful.”)
What makes the report troubling to civil libertarians, however, is that it lowers the bar for fighting terrorism to simply the possibility that some domestic Muslims might be influenced by jihadist Web sites, and it applies lax standards to target Americans of a specific religious faith as prospective terrorists.
Read on.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Bush Fails Upward in 'War on Terror'
By Ivan Eland
August 19, 2007
If a restaurant, dry cleaner, or home repair business provided inferior goods or shoddy services, it is likely that the concern would go belly up. Yet when the U.S. government makes a blunder, the more its citizens reward its failure with further money and authority.
For example, after the Bush administration exacerbated the worldwide threat from Islamic terrorists by invading and occupying two Muslim nations, spied on Americans without warrants—which is both illegal and unconstitutional—to “urgently” combat such terrorism, and then saw its Attorney General dissemble about the espionage program, Congress has actually rewarded the administration for its actions.
Read on.
August 19, 2007
If a restaurant, dry cleaner, or home repair business provided inferior goods or shoddy services, it is likely that the concern would go belly up. Yet when the U.S. government makes a blunder, the more its citizens reward its failure with further money and authority.
For example, after the Bush administration exacerbated the worldwide threat from Islamic terrorists by invading and occupying two Muslim nations, spied on Americans without warrants—which is both illegal and unconstitutional—to “urgently” combat such terrorism, and then saw its Attorney General dissemble about the espionage program, Congress has actually rewarded the administration for its actions.
Read on.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
My Fellow Texan
By Bill Moyers
August 18, 2007
Like the proverbial hedgehog, Karl Rove knew one big thing: how to win elections as if they were divine interventions.
You may think God summoned Billy Graham to Florida on the eve of the 2000 election to endorse George W. Bush just in the nick of time, but if it did happen that way, the Good Lord was speaking in a Texas accent.
Read on.
August 18, 2007
Like the proverbial hedgehog, Karl Rove knew one big thing: how to win elections as if they were divine interventions.
You may think God summoned Billy Graham to Florida on the eve of the 2000 election to endorse George W. Bush just in the nick of time, but if it did happen that way, the Good Lord was speaking in a Texas accent.
Read on.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Rumsfeld's Mysterious Resignation
By Robert Parry
August 17, 2007
The disclosure that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned on Nov. 6, 2006 – the day before the election, not the day after as previously thought – means that he was pushed out of his job the same day he suggested a de-escalation of the Iraq War.
When Rumsfeld’s resignation was announced on Nov. 8, with both his resignation letter and his de-escalation memo still secret, it was widely assumed in Washington political circles that President George W. Bush was reacting to the stinging Republican electoral defeat on Nov. 7 and was appointing Robert Gates as an olive branch to the Democrats.
Read on.
August 17, 2007
The disclosure that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned on Nov. 6, 2006 – the day before the election, not the day after as previously thought – means that he was pushed out of his job the same day he suggested a de-escalation of the Iraq War.
When Rumsfeld’s resignation was announced on Nov. 8, with both his resignation letter and his de-escalation memo still secret, it was widely assumed in Washington political circles that President George W. Bush was reacting to the stinging Republican electoral defeat on Nov. 7 and was appointing Robert Gates as an olive branch to the Democrats.
Read on.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Saudi Arabia's Myth of Moderation
By Barbara Koeppel
August 17, 2007
Almost daily, the Bush administration ratchets up the war-like rhetoric about Iran’s alleged role in destabilizing Iraq. Eerily, like the pre-Iraq War drumbeat, the U.S. press repeats the accusations with little skepticism and Congress marches in lockstep, as a new Middle East villain is marked for punishment.
On Aug. 15, front-page stories in the New York Times, the Washington Post and other leading newspapers described how the Bush administration planned to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a “global terrorist” organization for supporting anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli forces in the Middle East.
Read on.
August 17, 2007
Almost daily, the Bush administration ratchets up the war-like rhetoric about Iran’s alleged role in destabilizing Iraq. Eerily, like the pre-Iraq War drumbeat, the U.S. press repeats the accusations with little skepticism and Congress marches in lockstep, as a new Middle East villain is marked for punishment.
On Aug. 15, front-page stories in the New York Times, the Washington Post and other leading newspapers described how the Bush administration planned to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a “global terrorist” organization for supporting anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli forces in the Middle East.
Read on.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Democrats Need 'Conviction Politics'
By Brent Budowsky
August 15, 2007
The Bush-Rove vision is so daring it is breathtaking.
George Bush and Karl Rove seek one-party domination of American politics, with executive domination over the legislative and judicial branches of the American government.
Read on.
August 15, 2007
The Bush-Rove vision is so daring it is breathtaking.
George Bush and Karl Rove seek one-party domination of American politics, with executive domination over the legislative and judicial branches of the American government.
Read on.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Congress's Orwellian Compromise
By Nat Parry
August 15, 2007
A little over a year ago, I wrote an article called “Washington’s Orwellian Consensus,” which faulted Congress for rubberstamping many of George Bush’s sweeping assertions of presidential power, particularly his claimed right to spy on some American citizens without warrants.
The article noted that “the near-term outlook appears to be for a consolidation of George W. Bush’s boundless vision of his own authority” – but added the caveat, “at least until the November elections.”
It now seems that the caveat was not necessary. The implication that a Democratic victory in the 2006 congressional elections might rein in the authoritarian inclinations of the Bush administration appears to have been unfounded.
Read on.
August 15, 2007
A little over a year ago, I wrote an article called “Washington’s Orwellian Consensus,” which faulted Congress for rubberstamping many of George Bush’s sweeping assertions of presidential power, particularly his claimed right to spy on some American citizens without warrants.
The article noted that “the near-term outlook appears to be for a consolidation of George W. Bush’s boundless vision of his own authority” – but added the caveat, “at least until the November elections.”
It now seems that the caveat was not necessary. The implication that a Democratic victory in the 2006 congressional elections might rein in the authoritarian inclinations of the Bush administration appears to have been unfounded.
Read on.
Monday, August 13, 2007
A Disneyland of Militant Ignorance
By Phil Rockstroh
August 14, 2007
Given the nation's tottering infrastructure, imperial overreach abroad and vandalized constitutional process by a lawless executive branch, what will it take to scare the general public, mainstream press and political classes into immediate action to bring about meaningful change?
At this twilight hour of the American republic, there must come a paradigm shift of seismic proportions or else the republic will perish. I'm less than optimistic.
Read on.
August 14, 2007
Given the nation's tottering infrastructure, imperial overreach abroad and vandalized constitutional process by a lawless executive branch, what will it take to scare the general public, mainstream press and political classes into immediate action to bring about meaningful change?
At this twilight hour of the American republic, there must come a paradigm shift of seismic proportions or else the republic will perish. I'm less than optimistic.
Read on.
New Spying Law Broader Than Thought
By Robert Parry
August 13, 2007
Before the Democratic-controlled Congress caved in on George W. Bush’s warrantless-wiretapping powers, White House lawyers slipped in two provisions to give the President even more authority – and less accountability – than he claimed on his own. And the U.S. press corps largely missed that part of the story.
U.S. news reports mostly parroted the White House claim that the law “modernizes” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance of 1978 and “narrowly” targets overseas terror suspects who call or e-mail their contacts in the United States. But the “Protect America Act of 2007” actually casts the wiretapping net much wider.
Read on.
August 13, 2007
Before the Democratic-controlled Congress caved in on George W. Bush’s warrantless-wiretapping powers, White House lawyers slipped in two provisions to give the President even more authority – and less accountability – than he claimed on his own. And the U.S. press corps largely missed that part of the story.
U.S. news reports mostly parroted the White House claim that the law “modernizes” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance of 1978 and “narrowly” targets overseas terror suspects who call or e-mail their contacts in the United States. But the “Protect America Act of 2007” actually casts the wiretapping net much wider.
Read on.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Battle for Democrats' Spine and Soul
By Brent Budowsky
August 11, 2007
Howard Dean in the 2004 campaign; Al Gore as the effective leader of the Loyal Opposition; and now Barack Obama challenging the tired and decadent national security establishment — these are the first true voices of 21st century politics.
If you believe supporting the Iraq war for five years was right; that America is safer under George Bush; and that special-interest lobbyists are the heart of America who do not buy laws with money, Hillary Clinton, the leader of the old establishment, is your girl (as she said).
Read on.
August 11, 2007
Howard Dean in the 2004 campaign; Al Gore as the effective leader of the Loyal Opposition; and now Barack Obama challenging the tired and decadent national security establishment — these are the first true voices of 21st century politics.
If you believe supporting the Iraq war for five years was right; that America is safer under George Bush; and that special-interest lobbyists are the heart of America who do not buy laws with money, Hillary Clinton, the leader of the old establishment, is your girl (as she said).
Read on.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Spinning the Iraq War Death Toll
By Robert Parry
August 10. 2007
Mindful of the political fallout from a rising American death toll in Iraq, the U.S. military has pulled back from widespread use of aggressive tactics on the ground this summer, helping to explain a modest reduction in the number of soldiers killed in July, according to intelligence and military sources.
The number of U.S. military fatalities declined to 80 in July after three months of a death toll in the triple digits (104 in April, 126 in May, and 101 in June). The lower death toll has been cited by some U.S. commanders in Iraq and Bush administration supporters in Washington as a sign that President George W. Bush’s “surge” of U.S. troops is working.
Read on.
August 10. 2007
Mindful of the political fallout from a rising American death toll in Iraq, the U.S. military has pulled back from widespread use of aggressive tactics on the ground this summer, helping to explain a modest reduction in the number of soldiers killed in July, according to intelligence and military sources.
The number of U.S. military fatalities declined to 80 in July after three months of a death toll in the triple digits (104 in April, 126 in May, and 101 in June). The lower death toll has been cited by some U.S. commanders in Iraq and Bush administration supporters in Washington as a sign that President George W. Bush’s “surge” of U.S. troops is working.
Read on.
Consortiumnews.com's Home Stretch
By Robert Parry
August 9, 2007
We’re trying to wrap up our mid-year fundraiser, but we’re still about $10,000 short of our goal. So here are some reasons why it’s important to help us:
Perhaps the biggest threat to the American Republic has come from the disinformation, propaganda and false historical narratives that are fed to the American people through the national media.
This “perception management” – as the neocons like to call it – has tricked many Americans into supporting misguided policies and left many others paralyzed by confusion.
Read on.
August 9, 2007
We’re trying to wrap up our mid-year fundraiser, but we’re still about $10,000 short of our goal. So here are some reasons why it’s important to help us:
Perhaps the biggest threat to the American Republic has come from the disinformation, propaganda and false historical narratives that are fed to the American people through the national media.
This “perception management” – as the neocons like to call it – has tricked many Americans into supporting misguided policies and left many others paralyzed by confusion.
Read on.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death'
By Brent Budowsky
August 8, 2007
Patrick Henry’s words ring hollow after Congress passed, and the president signed, a law of enormous constitutional and security importance in an atmosphere of fear, without any semblance of serious debate. Again.
While many members of the House and Senate and leading legal scholars did not fully understand this as the roll was called, this law expands the reach of surveillance of American citizens, on American soil, communicating with those “reasonably” targeted while abroad, without protections that have long existed.
Read on.
August 8, 2007
Patrick Henry’s words ring hollow after Congress passed, and the president signed, a law of enormous constitutional and security importance in an atmosphere of fear, without any semblance of serious debate. Again.
While many members of the House and Senate and leading legal scholars did not fully understand this as the roll was called, this law expands the reach of surveillance of American citizens, on American soil, communicating with those “reasonably” targeted while abroad, without protections that have long existed.
Read on.
Bush, Colombia & Narco-Politics
By Andres Cala
August 8, 2007
George W. Bush’s strategy of countering Venezuela’s leftist president Hugo Chávez by strengthening ties to Colombia’s rightist government has been undercut by fresh evidence of high-level drug corruption and human rights violations implicating President Alvaro Uribe’s inner circle.
These new allegations about Colombia’s narco-politics have tarnished Uribe’s reputation just as Bush has been showcasing the Harvard- and Oxford-educated politician as a paragon of democratic values and an alternative to the firebrand Chávez, who has used Venezuela’s oil wealth to finance social programs for the poor across the region.
Read on.
August 8, 2007
George W. Bush’s strategy of countering Venezuela’s leftist president Hugo Chávez by strengthening ties to Colombia’s rightist government has been undercut by fresh evidence of high-level drug corruption and human rights violations implicating President Alvaro Uribe’s inner circle.
These new allegations about Colombia’s narco-politics have tarnished Uribe’s reputation just as Bush has been showcasing the Harvard- and Oxford-educated politician as a paragon of democratic values and an alternative to the firebrand Chávez, who has used Venezuela’s oil wealth to finance social programs for the poor across the region.
Read on.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Bush Gets Spying Blank Check
By Robert Parry
August 5, 2007
Eager to leave for its August recess, Congress handed George W. Bush another blank check on executive power, letting him order up spying directives against a vast number of people, including Americans, if they are physically outside the United States.
The “Protect America Act of 2007” sets the standard for a surveillance order – which can last for up to one year – as simply that it be “directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.”
The bill’s advocates claim it is intended to intercept communications when at least one party is linked to a terrorist group or a terrorist affiliate and is outside the United States. But the bill’s language doesn’t limit the surveillance to “terrorists” or “enemy combatants” – indeed those words are not mentioned in the legislation.
Read on.
August 5, 2007
Eager to leave for its August recess, Congress handed George W. Bush another blank check on executive power, letting him order up spying directives against a vast number of people, including Americans, if they are physically outside the United States.
The “Protect America Act of 2007” sets the standard for a surveillance order – which can last for up to one year – as simply that it be “directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.”
The bill’s advocates claim it is intended to intercept communications when at least one party is linked to a terrorist group or a terrorist affiliate and is outside the United States. But the bill’s language doesn’t limit the surveillance to “terrorists” or “enemy combatants” – indeed those words are not mentioned in the legislation.
Read on.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Neck Deep in the [Alternative] Media!
Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, just published by the Media Consortium, is making a splash in the alternative media. Author Robert Parry has been appearing on several radio programs to discuss the book and the general issues that it covers, particularly the disastrous war in Iraq. You may want to check him out on Radio Chaos, based in Austin Texas: Scott Horton Interviews Robert Parry.
Also, BuzzFlash.com has a review of the book online that may be of interest.
Read The Full Review >>>
And don't forget to check us out on MySpace. If you're on the MySpace network, please do add us as a friend.
Also, BuzzFlash.com has a review of the book online that may be of interest.
Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush (Paperback & Hardcover)
By Robert Parry, Sam Parry and Nat Parry
BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
Just released, the BuzzFlash copies of "Neck Deep" are signed by the lead author, Robert Parry.
Parry is a former AP and Newsweek reporter, who runs one of our favorite websites, Consortiumnews.com. Parry is a mainstream journalist who came in from the cold, having seen the duplicity and buried truth that came out of governmental misdeeds in Central America and Iran-Contra.
Consortiumnews, launched way back in 1995, has been a key source of analytical commentaries exposing the right wing for their betrayal of the Constitution and democracy.
"A real-life who-done-it, Neck Deep unravels what may become one of history's great mysteries: Who killed the American Republic?
How did plutocrat George W. Bush come to lead the United States at the start of the 21st century - and how did he get away with using the 9/11 tragedy to overwhelm the constitutional safeguards that had protected the nation's liberties for more than two centuries?
Neck Deep shows how this crime was committed and then lines up the suspects - aggressive Republicans, accommodating Democrats, abrasive pundits, careerist journalists - for an assessment of collective guilt."
A solid overview of the nightmarish years known as the Bush Administration.
"It was a perfect storm that has been building for a quarter of a century," says Parry. "Aggressive Republicans, accommodating Democrats,and a press corps driven more by careerism than a search for truth have caused our country to become what the Founders fought against."
Read The Full Review >>>
And don't forget to check us out on MySpace. If you're on the MySpace network, please do add us as a friend.
Hillary's Nuclear 'Tough-Gal-ism'
By Robert Parry
August 3, 2007
For years now – arguably for decades – the dominant ideology of Washington has been what could be called “tough-guy-ism,” which usually consists of politicians and pundits competing for the most belligerent pose on any given foreign policy issue.
Sometimes the results can be comical, with arm-chair warriors who have never been near a real battlefield spouting military jargon and threatening America’s “enemies.” Other times, the consequences can be tragic, as when the Washington Rambos get their way and send someone else or someone else’s kids off to kill or be killed in a misguided war.
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is now indulging in what might be called “tough-gal-ism” as she berates rival contender Barack Obama for allegedly showing his inexperience by not brandishing nuclear weapons against possible al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Read on.
August 3, 2007
For years now – arguably for decades – the dominant ideology of Washington has been what could be called “tough-guy-ism,” which usually consists of politicians and pundits competing for the most belligerent pose on any given foreign policy issue.
Sometimes the results can be comical, with arm-chair warriors who have never been near a real battlefield spouting military jargon and threatening America’s “enemies.” Other times, the consequences can be tragic, as when the Washington Rambos get their way and send someone else or someone else’s kids off to kill or be killed in a misguided war.
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is now indulging in what might be called “tough-gal-ism” as she berates rival contender Barack Obama for allegedly showing his inexperience by not brandishing nuclear weapons against possible al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Read on.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Collapsing Bridges vs. War in Iraq
By Stephen Crockett
August 3, 2007
The kind of money being spent by the Bush Republicans can result in saved or lost lives.
We all can see the results in the case of Iraq. Launching his optional war against Saddam Hussein, in the way he did, Bush has directly cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and maybe a hundred thousand mostly innocent Iraqi civilians. We have failed as a nation to come to terms with the massive costs that are less direct and obvious but just as real.
Read on.
August 3, 2007
The kind of money being spent by the Bush Republicans can result in saved or lost lives.
We all can see the results in the case of Iraq. Launching his optional war against Saddam Hussein, in the way he did, Bush has directly cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and maybe a hundred thousand mostly innocent Iraqi civilians. We have failed as a nation to come to terms with the massive costs that are less direct and obvious but just as real.
Read on.
Bush's Secret Spying on Americans
By Robert Parry
August 2, 2007
The dispute over whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales committed perjury when he parsed words about George W. Bush’s warrantless surveillance program misses a larger point: the extraordinary secrecy surrounding these spying operations is not aimed at al-Qaeda, but at the American people.
There has never been a reasonable explanation for why a fuller discussion of these operations would help al-Qaeda, although that claim often is used by the Bush administration to challenge the patriotism of its critics or to avoid tough questions.
Read on.
August 2, 2007
The dispute over whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales committed perjury when he parsed words about George W. Bush’s warrantless surveillance program misses a larger point: the extraordinary secrecy surrounding these spying operations is not aimed at al-Qaeda, but at the American people.
There has never been a reasonable explanation for why a fuller discussion of these operations would help al-Qaeda, although that claim often is used by the Bush administration to challenge the patriotism of its critics or to avoid tough questions.
Read on.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Impeachment & the Constitution
By Stephen Crockett
July 31, 2007
The United States has been in a prolonged Constitutional crisis since the Supreme Court showed it had been corrupted by partisan politics when the Bush vs. Gore ruling was issued in December 2000.
The Bush Administration began by Republican politicians thumbing their noses at the rule of law. The past seven years have been an unending assault on Constitutional government, American political traditions and personal freedom.
It is time to place impeachment fully on the table for the top members of the Bush White House and Cabinet.
Read on.
July 31, 2007
The United States has been in a prolonged Constitutional crisis since the Supreme Court showed it had been corrupted by partisan politics when the Bush vs. Gore ruling was issued in December 2000.
The Bush Administration began by Republican politicians thumbing their noses at the rule of law. The past seven years have been an unending assault on Constitutional government, American political traditions and personal freedom.
It is time to place impeachment fully on the table for the top members of the Bush White House and Cabinet.
Read on.
Monday, July 30, 2007
NYT's New Pro-War Propaganda
By Robert Parry
July 30, 2007
No need to wait until September. It’s already obvious how George W. Bush and his still-influential supporters in Washington will sell an open-ended U.S. military occupation of Iraq – just the way they always have: the war finally has turned the corner and withdrawal now would betray the troops by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
At one time, the Iraq story line was how many schoolrooms had been painted or how well the government security forces were doing. Now there are new silver linings being detected that will justify a positive progress report in September – and the U.S. news media is again ready to play its credulous part.
Read on.
July 30, 2007
No need to wait until September. It’s already obvious how George W. Bush and his still-influential supporters in Washington will sell an open-ended U.S. military occupation of Iraq – just the way they always have: the war finally has turned the corner and withdrawal now would betray the troops by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
At one time, the Iraq story line was how many schoolrooms had been painted or how well the government security forces were doing. Now there are new silver linings being detected that will justify a positive progress report in September – and the U.S. news media is again ready to play its credulous part.
Read on.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Iraq & the Non-Withdrawal Withdrawal
By Norman Solomon
July 27, 2007
Last week, a media advisory from “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” announced a new series of interviews on the PBS show that will address “what Iraq might look like when the U.S. military leaves.”
A few days later, Time magazine published a cover story titled “Iraq: What will happen when we leave.”
But it turns out, what will happen when we leave is that we won’t leave.
Read on.
July 27, 2007
Last week, a media advisory from “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” announced a new series of interviews on the PBS show that will address “what Iraq might look like when the U.S. military leaves.”
A few days later, Time magazine published a cover story titled “Iraq: What will happen when we leave.”
But it turns out, what will happen when we leave is that we won’t leave.
Read on.
A Gathering Storm
With Congress issuing subpoenas relating to its investigation of the Bush administration's firing of nine U.S. attorneys, the latest target being Bush's top political aide Karl Rove, the ominous question that hangs in the air is whether the authoritarian foundations that George Bush has laid over the past several years have overwhelmed America's system of government to the point that it should properly be called a dictatorship rather than a republic. With the administration boldly refusing to cooperate in any way with the congressional investigation, it appears that Bush's strategy may be to simply stonewall and wait until the matter makes its way through the Federal courts, which have been stacked with conservative allies who generally embrace a broad view of presidential power. With this in mind, there seems to be a real possibility that the president's unprecedented assertion of executive privilege may become the standard by which all future presidents operate.
Not only is the administration asserting a claim of executive privilege that is so sweeping that it lacks historical precedent, it also cites this executive privilege in arguing that Congress has no power to compel a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in cases relating to the prosecutor firings.
Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration's stance "astonishing."
"That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers," Rozell said.
What he left unsaid though is whether the United States still actually has a system of separation of powers, with three co-equal branches of government that serve as checks and balances on each other. Depending on the outcome of the current showdown, we will find out whether the rule of law still applies to those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, depending on the outcome of this showdown, high school civics textbooks that claim that "no man is above the law" in America may have to be amended to read, "no man is above the law, except in the Executive Branch."
With Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) now warning that there is a "cloud over this White House and a gathering storm," it should be pointed out that had Congress put up a bigger fight in the past regarding confirming Bush appointees to both Cabinet-level positions and the Federal courts, it's possible that the nation wouldn't be facing this potential constitutional crisis. Although Democrats did not have control of the Senate -- which is responsible for confirming presidential appointees -- from 2003 until 2007, there were numerous chances to put significant challenges to Bush's authoritarian view of Executive power. For instance, even with officials such as Alberto Gonzales on record as supporting policies of torture and the inapplicability of the Geneva Conventions in the "war on terror," the Senate easily confirmed the former White House lawyer to the position of Attorney General, the highest law enforcement official in the land. Four Democrats broke ranks to vote to confirm Gonzales, with three abstaining.
Congress again deferred to Bush's broad view of executive power when the president nominated a key architect of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program – former NSA director Michael Hayden – to become CIA director. Hayden was waved through after a polite round of hearings and a resounding 78-15 confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate. Bush Supreme Court nominations have also received similar deference in the Senate. Samuel Alito, for example, was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court despite his unorthodox views on the “unitary executive.”
At a Federalist Society symposium in 2001, Judge Alito recalled that when he was in the Office of Legal Counsel in Ronald Reagan’s White House, “we were strong proponents of the theory of the unitary executive, that all federal executive power is vested by the Constitution in the President.”
In 1986, Alito advanced this theory by proposing “interpretive signing statements” from presidents to counter the court’s traditional reliance on congressional intent in assessing the meaning of federal law. Bush has issued more than 750 “signing statements” since 2001, effectively rejecting legal restrictions especially as they bear on presidential powers. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Alito & the Point of No Return.”]
These views were well-known at the time of Alito's nomination, yet, he was confirmed by a party-line vote of 58-42. While Democrats held firm in their opposition to Alito, they nevertheless refused to exercise the filibuster option, which may have prevented Alito from making his way onto the court. Now, with this "gathering storm" that Sen. Leahy warns about, these past concessions to the White House may prove to be the unravelling of America's system of checks and balances. Congress can issue as many subpoenas to the White House as it likes, but if the courts come to endorse Bush's sweeping assertion of executive privilege, the constitutional separation of powers may in effect be permanently revoked. For these reasons and others, some critics are arguing that going after officials like Gonzales and Rove is not nearly enough.
For instance, as attorney Shahid Buttar observes at Commondreams, "the Administration’s policy failures need not serve as the only basis for impeachment proceedings, because the threat to the Republic posed by Executive self-aggrandizement is far more dangerous and worthy of congressional rebuke. Despite all the recent attention on the Attorney General, the nation seems to casually overlook the White House’s ongoing assault on the Separation of Powers. ...
"Congress should absolutely demand - and if necessary, bring to effect - the Attorney General’s departure from office. But it should not stop there. Only the impeachment of the Vice President and President can restore the Rule of Law to the United States."
Not only is the administration asserting a claim of executive privilege that is so sweeping that it lacks historical precedent, it also cites this executive privilege in arguing that Congress has no power to compel a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in cases relating to the prosecutor firings.
Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration's stance "astonishing."
"That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers," Rozell said.
What he left unsaid though is whether the United States still actually has a system of separation of powers, with three co-equal branches of government that serve as checks and balances on each other. Depending on the outcome of the current showdown, we will find out whether the rule of law still applies to those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, depending on the outcome of this showdown, high school civics textbooks that claim that "no man is above the law" in America may have to be amended to read, "no man is above the law, except in the Executive Branch."
With Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) now warning that there is a "cloud over this White House and a gathering storm," it should be pointed out that had Congress put up a bigger fight in the past regarding confirming Bush appointees to both Cabinet-level positions and the Federal courts, it's possible that the nation wouldn't be facing this potential constitutional crisis. Although Democrats did not have control of the Senate -- which is responsible for confirming presidential appointees -- from 2003 until 2007, there were numerous chances to put significant challenges to Bush's authoritarian view of Executive power. For instance, even with officials such as Alberto Gonzales on record as supporting policies of torture and the inapplicability of the Geneva Conventions in the "war on terror," the Senate easily confirmed the former White House lawyer to the position of Attorney General, the highest law enforcement official in the land. Four Democrats broke ranks to vote to confirm Gonzales, with three abstaining.
Congress again deferred to Bush's broad view of executive power when the president nominated a key architect of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program – former NSA director Michael Hayden – to become CIA director. Hayden was waved through after a polite round of hearings and a resounding 78-15 confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate. Bush Supreme Court nominations have also received similar deference in the Senate. Samuel Alito, for example, was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court despite his unorthodox views on the “unitary executive.”
At a Federalist Society symposium in 2001, Judge Alito recalled that when he was in the Office of Legal Counsel in Ronald Reagan’s White House, “we were strong proponents of the theory of the unitary executive, that all federal executive power is vested by the Constitution in the President.”
In 1986, Alito advanced this theory by proposing “interpretive signing statements” from presidents to counter the court’s traditional reliance on congressional intent in assessing the meaning of federal law. Bush has issued more than 750 “signing statements” since 2001, effectively rejecting legal restrictions especially as they bear on presidential powers. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Alito & the Point of No Return.”]
These views were well-known at the time of Alito's nomination, yet, he was confirmed by a party-line vote of 58-42. While Democrats held firm in their opposition to Alito, they nevertheless refused to exercise the filibuster option, which may have prevented Alito from making his way onto the court. Now, with this "gathering storm" that Sen. Leahy warns about, these past concessions to the White House may prove to be the unravelling of America's system of checks and balances. Congress can issue as many subpoenas to the White House as it likes, but if the courts come to endorse Bush's sweeping assertion of executive privilege, the constitutional separation of powers may in effect be permanently revoked. For these reasons and others, some critics are arguing that going after officials like Gonzales and Rove is not nearly enough.
For instance, as attorney Shahid Buttar observes at Commondreams, "the Administration’s policy failures need not serve as the only basis for impeachment proceedings, because the threat to the Republic posed by Executive self-aggrandizement is far more dangerous and worthy of congressional rebuke. Despite all the recent attention on the Attorney General, the nation seems to casually overlook the White House’s ongoing assault on the Separation of Powers. ...
"Congress should absolutely demand - and if necessary, bring to effect - the Attorney General’s departure from office. But it should not stop there. Only the impeachment of the Vice President and President can restore the Rule of Law to the United States."
Dangers of a Cornered George Bush
By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and Dr. Justin Frank
July 27, 2007
Recent events have put a great deal more pressure on President George W. Bush, who has shown little regard for the constitutional system bequeathed to us by the Founders. Having bragged about being commander in chief of the “first war of the 21st century,” one he began under false pretenses, success in Iraq is now a pipedream.
The “new” strategy of surging troops in Baghdad has simply wasted more lives and bought some time for the president. His strategy boils down to keeping as many of our soldiers engaged as possible, in order to stave off definitive defeat in Iraq before January 2009.
Read on.
July 27, 2007
Recent events have put a great deal more pressure on President George W. Bush, who has shown little regard for the constitutional system bequeathed to us by the Founders. Having bragged about being commander in chief of the “first war of the 21st century,” one he began under false pretenses, success in Iraq is now a pipedream.
The “new” strategy of surging troops in Baghdad has simply wasted more lives and bought some time for the president. His strategy boils down to keeping as many of our soldiers engaged as possible, in order to stave off definitive defeat in Iraq before January 2009.
Read on.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
John Conyers Is No Martin Luther King
By Ray McGovern
July 24, 2007
What do Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and President George W. Bush have in common? They both think they can dis Cindy Sheehan and count on gossip columnists like the Washington Post’s David Milbank to trivialize a historic moment.
I’ll give this to President Bush. He makes no pretence when he disses. He would not meet with Sheehan to define for her the “noble cause” for which her son Casey died or tell her why he had said it was “worth it.”
Read on.
July 24, 2007
What do Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and President George W. Bush have in common? They both think they can dis Cindy Sheehan and count on gossip columnists like the Washington Post’s David Milbank to trivialize a historic moment.
I’ll give this to President Bush. He makes no pretence when he disses. He would not meet with Sheehan to define for her the “noble cause” for which her son Casey died or tell her why he had said it was “worth it.”
Read on.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Neck Deep's 'Flap' Language
By Robert Parry
July 23, 2007
Often, before buying a book, I like to read the “flap” language, what’s written on the dust jacket that folds inside the front and back covers. So, below you will find the “flap” language for our new book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush:
“The rain pelted down in icy-cold droplets, chilling both the protesters in soaked parkas and the well-dressed celebrants bent behind umbrellas to shield their furs and cashmere overcoats. Drawn to this historic moment – a time of triumph for some and fury for others – the two opposing groups jostled and pushed their way through security checkpoints, joining the tens of thousands pressing against rows of riot police lining Pennsylvania Avenue.
Read on.
July 23, 2007
Often, before buying a book, I like to read the “flap” language, what’s written on the dust jacket that folds inside the front and back covers. So, below you will find the “flap” language for our new book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush:
“The rain pelted down in icy-cold droplets, chilling both the protesters in soaked parkas and the well-dressed celebrants bent behind umbrellas to shield their furs and cashmere overcoats. Drawn to this historic moment – a time of triumph for some and fury for others – the two opposing groups jostled and pushed their way through security checkpoints, joining the tens of thousands pressing against rows of riot police lining Pennsylvania Avenue.
Read on.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
The Logic of Impeachment
By Robert Parry
July 21, 2007
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken impeachment “off the table,” in line with Official Washington’s view that trying to oust George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would be an unpleasant waste of time. But there is emerging a compelling logic that an unprecedented dual impeachment might be vital to the future of the United States.
If some historic challenge is not made to the extraordinary assertions of power by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the United States might lose its status as a democratic Republic based on a Constitution that adheres to the twin principles that no one is above the law and everyone is endowed with inalienable rights.
Read on.
July 21, 2007
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken impeachment “off the table,” in line with Official Washington’s view that trying to oust George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would be an unpleasant waste of time. But there is emerging a compelling logic that an unprecedented dual impeachment might be vital to the future of the United States.
If some historic challenge is not made to the extraordinary assertions of power by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the United States might lose its status as a democratic Republic based on a Constitution that adheres to the twin principles that no one is above the law and everyone is endowed with inalienable rights.
Read on.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Bush Is al-Qaeda's Strategic Ally
By Robert Parry
July 19, 2007
U.S. officials have finally admitted what has long been obvious: that George W. Bush’s “global war on terror” has been an expensive failure, costing hundreds of billions of dollars and claiming possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, but making the world no safer and quite likely more dangerous.
Bush’s top counterterrorism advisers acknowledged as much on July 17 in releasing a summary of a National Intelligence Estimate that represented the consensus view of the U.S. intelligence community.
Read on.
July 19, 2007
U.S. officials have finally admitted what has long been obvious: that George W. Bush’s “global war on terror” has been an expensive failure, costing hundreds of billions of dollars and claiming possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, but making the world no safer and quite likely more dangerous.
Bush’s top counterterrorism advisers acknowledged as much on July 17 in releasing a summary of a National Intelligence Estimate that represented the consensus view of the U.S. intelligence community.
Read on.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Bush's Wooden-Headedness Kills
By Ray McGovern
July 18, 2007
President George W. Bush is convinced, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that he is on the right course in the war in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism. He says he will not change his mind.
Thus, we are at an historic moment; and we would be well advised to see what light historians might shed on our current predicament in Iraq and the basic (but unanswered) question as to why so many people resort to terrorism against us.
Read on.
July 18, 2007
President George W. Bush is convinced, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that he is on the right course in the war in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism. He says he will not change his mind.
Thus, we are at an historic moment; and we would be well advised to see what light historians might shed on our current predicament in Iraq and the basic (but unanswered) question as to why so many people resort to terrorism against us.
Read on.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Payback for NATO Expansion
By Ivan Eland
July 18, 2007
Those of us who opposed the expansion of NATO in 1999 (admitting Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic) and 2004 (Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and the former Soviet republics of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania) warned that it would lead to problems with Russia. Those problems have arrived.
A resurgent Russia—flush with oil revenues and a strong leader who is using accumulated anti-U.S. resentments to become even more autocratic—has just suspended the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty in retaliation for U.S. abrogation of the Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and U.S. plans to put components of a missile defense system into Poland and the Czech Republic.
Read on.
July 18, 2007
Those of us who opposed the expansion of NATO in 1999 (admitting Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic) and 2004 (Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and the former Soviet republics of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania) warned that it would lead to problems with Russia. Those problems have arrived.
A resurgent Russia—flush with oil revenues and a strong leader who is using accumulated anti-U.S. resentments to become even more autocratic—has just suspended the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty in retaliation for U.S. abrogation of the Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and U.S. plans to put components of a missile defense system into Poland and the Czech Republic.
Read on.
If the Democrats Want to Win...
By Robert Parry
July 18, 2007
If the Democrats really want to prevail over George W. Bush on the Iraq War and on his authoritarian vision of presidential powers, they would put back on the table two options that their leaders have removed: a cut-off of war funding and impeachment.
Rather than all-night debates about resolutions that will go nowhere, the Democrats would make the case to the American people that Bush has trampled on the Constitution; he has ensnared the nation in a catastrophic war by lying; and he has his eyes set on more dangerous chicanery in the months ahead.
Read on.
July 18, 2007
If the Democrats really want to prevail over George W. Bush on the Iraq War and on his authoritarian vision of presidential powers, they would put back on the table two options that their leaders have removed: a cut-off of war funding and impeachment.
Rather than all-night debates about resolutions that will go nowhere, the Democrats would make the case to the American people that Bush has trampled on the Constitution; he has ensnared the nation in a catastrophic war by lying; and he has his eyes set on more dangerous chicanery in the months ahead.
Read on.
Please Order "Neck Deep" Now!
By Robert Parry
July 17, 2007
Our new book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, is due back from the printers in the next few days. The first copies will be available to Consortiumnews.com readers only through the publisher’s Web site at http://www.neckdeepbook.com/.
For every purchase made through the publisher’s Web site, $5 will go to support Consortiumnews.com and the journalism you read here. So, it’s important that as many readers as possible, order the book through the Web site. If we sell 2,500 books this way, we will meet our mid-year fundraising goal without any further nagging.
Read on.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
July 14, 2003: A Day of Infamy
By Ray McGovern
July 14, 2007
For those tracking the long train of abuses and usurpations of a modern-day George who would be King and his eminence grise behind the throne, July 14 has a resonance far beyond the fireworks of Bastille Day.
Four loosely related events on this day four years ago throw revealing light on key ingredients of the debacle in Iraq.
Read on.
July 14, 2007
For those tracking the long train of abuses and usurpations of a modern-day George who would be King and his eminence grise behind the throne, July 14 has a resonance far beyond the fireworks of Bastille Day.
Four loosely related events on this day four years ago throw revealing light on key ingredients of the debacle in Iraq.
Read on.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Misreading Iraq, Again
By Robert Parry
July 13, 2007
George W. Bush and his neoconservative supporters are hailing some signs of cooperation between Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders and U.S. forces in rooting out al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar Province as proof that Bush’s military occupation of Iraq is finally working and should not be ended by Congress.
“Finally,” wrote neoconservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer on July 13, “after four terribly long years, we know what works.” He, like Bush, cited the Anbar example as reason to reject growing public and congressional demands for a prompt U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.
But the Anbar evidence could be read almost exactly the opposite way: that it is the growing belief among Sunnis that the American occupation is nearing its end that has caused some of them to view the U.S. military as a lesser evil and position themselves for what they perceive as the next phase of the conflict.
Read on.
July 13, 2007
George W. Bush and his neoconservative supporters are hailing some signs of cooperation between Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders and U.S. forces in rooting out al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar Province as proof that Bush’s military occupation of Iraq is finally working and should not be ended by Congress.
“Finally,” wrote neoconservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer on July 13, “after four terribly long years, we know what works.” He, like Bush, cited the Anbar example as reason to reject growing public and congressional demands for a prompt U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.
But the Anbar evidence could be read almost exactly the opposite way: that it is the growing belief among Sunnis that the American occupation is nearing its end that has caused some of them to view the U.S. military as a lesser evil and position themselves for what they perceive as the next phase of the conflict.
Read on.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Overstating Iraq Pullout Worries
By Ivan Eland
July 11, 2007
As Congress begins to consider the Iraq War funding bill, defections by important Republican senators have caused a White House debate on whether to try to get ahead of the onrushing train to leave Iraq.
In the Bush administration’s surreal parallel universe, this “post surge redeployment”—normal people would call this a withdrawal after a failed attempt at escalation—would consist of halving the number of U.S. combat forces policing dangerous areas in Iraq and letting the remainder conduct the less dangerous missions of guarding Iraq’s borders, training Iraqi security forces, and keeping al Qaeda off balance in the country.
Read on.
July 11, 2007
As Congress begins to consider the Iraq War funding bill, defections by important Republican senators have caused a White House debate on whether to try to get ahead of the onrushing train to leave Iraq.
In the Bush administration’s surreal parallel universe, this “post surge redeployment”—normal people would call this a withdrawal after a failed attempt at escalation—would consist of halving the number of U.S. combat forces policing dangerous areas in Iraq and letting the remainder conduct the less dangerous missions of guarding Iraq’s borders, training Iraqi security forces, and keeping al Qaeda off balance in the country.
Read on.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Novak's Limited Plame-gate Hang-out
By Robert Parry
July 10, 2007
Right-wing columnist Robert Novak has played a complex game in advancing the Bush administration’s “Plame-gate” cover-up. Novak was the one who first published the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame; he then answered a few questions before going silent; now, he is making a series of misleading arguments via his columns.
Novak’s deceptions and the complicity of major news organization that publish his column without demanding clarifications may be unprecedented in the history of U.S. journalism. Theoretically at least, news organizations are expected to ferret out government wrongdoing, not act as accomplices in the crime and then abettors of the cover-up.
Read on.
By Robert Parry
July 10, 2007
Right-wing columnist Robert Novak has played a complex game in advancing the Bush administration’s “Plame-gate” cover-up. Novak was the one who first published the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame; he then answered a few questions before going silent; now, he is making a series of misleading arguments via his columns.
Novak’s deceptions and the complicity of major news organization that publish his column without demanding clarifications may be unprecedented in the history of U.S. journalism. Theoretically at least, news organizations are expected to ferret out government wrongdoing, not act as accomplices in the crime and then abettors of the cover-up.
Read on.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
NYT on Iraq: Better Late Than Never?
By Robert Parry
July 8, 2007
In an extraordinary full-length editorial, the New York Times has called for an end to the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, a step that some anti-war Americans may praise as a turning-point while others will be left wondering why it took the nation’s leading newspaper more than four years – and scores of thousands of dead – to figure this out.
To its credit, the Times does acknowledge that its previous pro-occupation positions – favoring rebuilding what the U.S. invasion had destroyed and worrying about the dire consequences that might result from a U.S. withdrawal – were faulty.
Read on.
By Robert Parry
July 8, 2007
In an extraordinary full-length editorial, the New York Times has called for an end to the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, a step that some anti-war Americans may praise as a turning-point while others will be left wondering why it took the nation’s leading newspaper more than four years – and scores of thousands of dead – to figure this out.
To its credit, the Times does acknowledge that its previous pro-occupation positions – favoring rebuilding what the U.S. invasion had destroyed and worrying about the dire consequences that might result from a U.S. withdrawal – were faulty.
Read on.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
How the U.S. Media Loved the War
By Norman Solomon
July 7, 2007
Many of America's most prominent journalists want us to forget what they were saying and writing more than four years ago to boost the invasion of Iraq. Now, they tiptoe around their own roles in hyping the war and banishing dissent to the media margins.
The media watch group FAIR (where I'm an associate) has performed a public service in the latest edition of its magazine Extra. The organization's activism director, Peter Hart, drew on FAIR's extensive research to assemble a sample of notable quotations from media cheerleading for the Iraq invasion.
Read on.
By Norman Solomon
July 7, 2007
Many of America's most prominent journalists want us to forget what they were saying and writing more than four years ago to boost the invasion of Iraq. Now, they tiptoe around their own roles in hyping the war and banishing dissent to the media margins.
The media watch group FAIR (where I'm an associate) has performed a public service in the latest edition of its magazine Extra. The organization's activism director, Peter Hart, drew on FAIR's extensive research to assemble a sample of notable quotations from media cheerleading for the Iraq invasion.
Read on.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Why They Really 'Hate Us'
By Ivan Eland
July 6, 2007
When U.S. government officials and foreign policy pundits discuss terrorism, they usually focus on the characteristics, personnel, history, tactics, targets, objectives and effects of terrorist organizations. They rarely talk about motives.
To fully understand Islamic terrorism, one needs to understand what triggers this extraordinary rage. And throughout history one factor stands out above all else: the occupation of Muslim land by non-Muslim forces.
Read on.
July 6, 2007
When U.S. government officials and foreign policy pundits discuss terrorism, they usually focus on the characteristics, personnel, history, tactics, targets, objectives and effects of terrorist organizations. They rarely talk about motives.
To fully understand Islamic terrorism, one needs to understand what triggers this extraordinary rage. And throughout history one factor stands out above all else: the occupation of Muslim land by non-Muslim forces.
Read on.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
The Libby Cover-up Completed
By Robert Parry
July 3, 2007
President George W. Bush’s decision to spare former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from jail marks the final act of a crime and cover-up that began four years ago when Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials launched a campaign to discredit a critic of the Iraq War.
That campaign started with the leaking of sensitive classified information, the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, destroying her career and jeopardizing the lives of her agents in other countries. That was followed by White House lies being told to both investigators and the public in order to shield the President from dangerous political fallout.
Read on.
July 3, 2007
President George W. Bush’s decision to spare former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from jail marks the final act of a crime and cover-up that began four years ago when Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials launched a campaign to discredit a critic of the Iraq War.
That campaign started with the leaking of sensitive classified information, the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, destroying her career and jeopardizing the lives of her agents in other countries. That was followed by White House lies being told to both investigators and the public in order to shield the President from dangerous political fallout.
Read on.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Will the Press Idiocy Ever Stop?
By Robert Parry
July 2, 2007
If someone submitted an op-ed to The Washington Post that quoted Marie Antoinette saying about starving Parisians “let them eat cake,” the Post’s editors surely would strike the apocryphal quote – and the op-ed author would be lucky to escape with a tongue-lashing about factual sloppiness.
But different rules continue to apply to made-up quotes for Al Gore. In a June 27 op-ed, Post columnist Ruth Marcus couldn’t resist tossing in one of the favorite joke lines of Campaign 2000, a reference to Gore having declared, “I invented the Internet.”
Read on.
July 2, 2007
If someone submitted an op-ed to The Washington Post that quoted Marie Antoinette saying about starving Parisians “let them eat cake,” the Post’s editors surely would strike the apocryphal quote – and the op-ed author would be lucky to escape with a tongue-lashing about factual sloppiness.
But different rules continue to apply to made-up quotes for Al Gore. In a June 27 op-ed, Post columnist Ruth Marcus couldn’t resist tossing in one of the favorite joke lines of Campaign 2000, a reference to Gore having declared, “I invented the Internet.”
Read on.
Unimpeachably Impeachable
By Ray McGovern
July 2, 2007
Last week’s four-part Washington Post feature on Vice President Dick Cheney removed any doubt in my mind as to whether he and President George W. Bush have committed the kinds of high crimes and misdemeanors that warrant impeachment.
While President George W. Bush bears the ultimate responsibility, the nature of the evidence against Cheney and his closest associates is so specific and overwhelming that it makes sense to impeach and bring him to trial first.
Read on.
July 2, 2007
Last week’s four-part Washington Post feature on Vice President Dick Cheney removed any doubt in my mind as to whether he and President George W. Bush have committed the kinds of high crimes and misdemeanors that warrant impeachment.
While President George W. Bush bears the ultimate responsibility, the nature of the evidence against Cheney and his closest associates is so specific and overwhelming that it makes sense to impeach and bring him to trial first.
Read on.
Friday, June 29, 2007
The New Bush-Blair Vanity Play
By Robert Parry
June 30, 2007
Upon learning that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would become a new envoy intervening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a former senior Israeli intelligence official confided to an old colleague a two-word comment in English: “It’s nuts.” One can only imagine what the Palestinians said in private.
Rarely in recent history have a man and an assignment matched up as poorly as this one: an officious and deceitful Brit who collaborated on a disastrous scheme to invade an Arab country and who is blamed for the deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, now intervenes in another Arab land to get the Palestinians to shape up.
Read on.
June 30, 2007
Upon learning that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would become a new envoy intervening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a former senior Israeli intelligence official confided to an old colleague a two-word comment in English: “It’s nuts.” One can only imagine what the Palestinians said in private.
Rarely in recent history have a man and an assignment matched up as poorly as this one: an officious and deceitful Brit who collaborated on a disastrous scheme to invade an Arab country and who is blamed for the deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, now intervenes in another Arab land to get the Palestinians to shape up.
Read on.
Lockerbie Ruling Revisited
By William Blum
Reposted June 29, 2007 (Original article posted Feb. 5, 2001)
The newspapers were filled with pictures of happy relatives of the victims of the 1988 bombing of PanAm 103.
A Libyan, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, was found guilty of the bombing by a Scottish court in the Hague, his co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, being acquitted. At long last there was going to be some kind of closure for the families.
So what's wrong with this picture?
Read on.
Reposted June 29, 2007 (Original article posted Feb. 5, 2001)
The newspapers were filled with pictures of happy relatives of the victims of the 1988 bombing of PanAm 103.
A Libyan, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, was found guilty of the bombing by a Scottish court in the Hague, his co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, being acquitted. At long last there was going to be some kind of closure for the families.
So what's wrong with this picture?
Read on.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Next Generation of 'Family Jewels'?
By Robert Parry
June 27, 2007
The CIA’s belated release of its infamous “Family Jewels” sheds light on U.S. intelligence abuses during the CIA’s first quarter century, but this openness may actually obscure a darker reality – that the subsequent three-plus decades have witnessed worse national-security crimes committed under the cloak of greater secrecy and deception.
Washington’s current conventional wisdom is that the “bad ol’ days” of the 1950s and 1960s couldn’t recur because a formal system of congressional oversight was put in place after press reports first disclosed CIA abuses in the mid-1970s.
Read on.
June 27, 2007
The CIA’s belated release of its infamous “Family Jewels” sheds light on U.S. intelligence abuses during the CIA’s first quarter century, but this openness may actually obscure a darker reality – that the subsequent three-plus decades have witnessed worse national-security crimes committed under the cloak of greater secrecy and deception.
Washington’s current conventional wisdom is that the “bad ol’ days” of the 1950s and 1960s couldn’t recur because a formal system of congressional oversight was put in place after press reports first disclosed CIA abuses in the mid-1970s.
Read on.
The Right Sharpens Knives for 'Sicko'
By Jay Diamond
June 27, 2007
Do a search on "Hannity 'Sicko'" or "Romney 'Sicko''' on any search engine and you will find an assortment of You Tube excerpts of Sean Hannity recycling talking points off the panicked presses of the Heritage Foundation, CEI, AEI, Manhattan Institute, etc., bearing dire warnings of the health care terror Michael Moore and other evil progressives are preparing to inflict on America.
But in all their truculent and fear-mongering invocations of the purported evils of "socialized medicine," there is curiously something that Romney, Hannity, and all the other American rightists consistently omit; and in that deliberate omission is an important lesson in the way America's hard right works their deceptions.
Read on.
June 27, 2007
Do a search on "Hannity 'Sicko'" or "Romney 'Sicko''' on any search engine and you will find an assortment of You Tube excerpts of Sean Hannity recycling talking points off the panicked presses of the Heritage Foundation, CEI, AEI, Manhattan Institute, etc., bearing dire warnings of the health care terror Michael Moore and other evil progressives are preparing to inflict on America.
But in all their truculent and fear-mongering invocations of the purported evils of "socialized medicine," there is curiously something that Romney, Hannity, and all the other American rightists consistently omit; and in that deliberate omission is an important lesson in the way America's hard right works their deceptions.
Read on.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Bush/Cheney or the Republic
By Stephen Crockett
June 25, 2007
The recent claim by Dick Cheney to have both executive privilege and not to be part of the executive branch of government seems to amount to a claim that Cheney is simply above the rule of law.
It appears that both Bush and Cheney think they rule by divine right like the absolute monarchs of medieval Europe or the dictators of the old Soviet Bloc. Both need to be impeached.
Read on.
June 25, 2007
The recent claim by Dick Cheney to have both executive privilege and not to be part of the executive branch of government seems to amount to a claim that Cheney is simply above the rule of law.
It appears that both Bush and Cheney think they rule by divine right like the absolute monarchs of medieval Europe or the dictators of the old Soviet Bloc. Both need to be impeached.
Read on.
The Iraq-gate Cover-up Continues
By Robert Parry
June 25, 2007
In another show trial for Saddam Hussein’s compatriots – followed by more death sentences – an unnoted success for George W. Bush was how the U.S. press corps has continued to avert its eyes from the role of Westerners, including Bush’s father, in aiding and abetting Hussein’s murderous regime.
Major U.S. newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, reported on the June 24 death sentences meted out to Ali Hassan al-Majeed and two other senior Hussein aides without a single mention of the American role in helping arm and protect the Iraqi regime in the 1980s.
Read on.
June 25, 2007
In another show trial for Saddam Hussein’s compatriots – followed by more death sentences – an unnoted success for George W. Bush was how the U.S. press corps has continued to avert its eyes from the role of Westerners, including Bush’s father, in aiding and abetting Hussein’s murderous regime.
Major U.S. newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, reported on the June 24 death sentences meted out to Ali Hassan al-Majeed and two other senior Hussein aides without a single mention of the American role in helping arm and protect the Iraqi regime in the 1980s.
Read on.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Is Obama Getting 'Colin-ized'?
By Robert Parry
June 23, 2007
Sen. Barack Obama’s decision to seek foreign policy advice from former Secretary of State Colin Powell has boosted the Democratic presidential hopeful in the eyes of Washington’s insider crowd, but the move suggests that Obama is positioning himself as a conciliator rather than a battler, which may unnerve the party’s “base.”
Powell remains a beloved figure among Washington pundits and journalists despite his controversial role in selling the Iraq invasion with a deceptive speech to the United Nations. Many insiders forgive Powell that transgression, in part, because they also clambered aboard the Iraq War bandwagon in 2003.
Read on.
June 23, 2007
Sen. Barack Obama’s decision to seek foreign policy advice from former Secretary of State Colin Powell has boosted the Democratic presidential hopeful in the eyes of Washington’s insider crowd, but the move suggests that Obama is positioning himself as a conciliator rather than a battler, which may unnerve the party’s “base.”
Powell remains a beloved figure among Washington pundits and journalists despite his controversial role in selling the Iraq invasion with a deceptive speech to the United Nations. Many insiders forgive Powell that transgression, in part, because they also clambered aboard the Iraq War bandwagon in 2003.
Read on.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sen. Levin's False History & Logic
By Robert Parry
June 21, 2007
If you’re wondering why the Iraq War is likely to continue indefinitely despite mounting public outrage and a failed military strategy, part of the answer can be found in two words: Carl Levin.
Levin, a low-key Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has wedded himself to a line of thinking that is both historically wrong and logically unsound. Yet, his faulty reasoning, if maintained, virtually guarantees that George W. Bush will keep winning every war-funding round with Congress through the end of his presidency.
Read on.
June 21, 2007
If you’re wondering why the Iraq War is likely to continue indefinitely despite mounting public outrage and a failed military strategy, part of the answer can be found in two words: Carl Levin.
Levin, a low-key Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has wedded himself to a line of thinking that is both historically wrong and logically unsound. Yet, his faulty reasoning, if maintained, virtually guarantees that George W. Bush will keep winning every war-funding round with Congress through the end of his presidency.
Read on.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Bush's Mafia Whacks the Republic
By Robert Parry
June 20, 2007
In years to come, historians may look back on U.S. press coverage of George W. Bush’s presidency and wonder why there was not a single front-page story announcing one of the most monumental events of mankind’s modern era – the death of the American Republic and the elimination of the “unalienable rights” pledged to “posterity” by the Founders.
The historians will, of course, find stories about elements of this extraordinary event – Bush’s denial of habeas corpus rights to a fair trial, his secret prisons, his tolerance of torture, his violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches, his “signing statements” overriding laws, the erosion of constitutional checks and balances.
Read on.
June 20, 2007
In years to come, historians may look back on U.S. press coverage of George W. Bush’s presidency and wonder why there was not a single front-page story announcing one of the most monumental events of mankind’s modern era – the death of the American Republic and the elimination of the “unalienable rights” pledged to “posterity” by the Founders.
The historians will, of course, find stories about elements of this extraordinary event – Bush’s denial of habeas corpus rights to a fair trial, his secret prisons, his tolerance of torture, his violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches, his “signing statements” overriding laws, the erosion of constitutional checks and balances.
Read on.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The Iraq War's Nuclear Boomerang
By Ivan Eland
June 20, 2007
The Bush administration may live in a bubble of “unreality,” regarding its foreign policy in Iraq, but neo-conservatives inhabit a parallel universe on Iran.
Unbelievably, despite the fact that the U.S. quagmire in Iraq has greatly weakened the U.S. position vis-Ã -vis Iran, the neocons are pushing for military action against that theocratic regime.
Read on.
June 20, 2007
The Bush administration may live in a bubble of “unreality,” regarding its foreign policy in Iraq, but neo-conservatives inhabit a parallel universe on Iran.
Unbelievably, despite the fact that the U.S. quagmire in Iraq has greatly weakened the U.S. position vis-Ã -vis Iran, the neocons are pushing for military action against that theocratic regime.
Read on.
Is WP's Cohen the Dumbest Columnist?
By Robert Parry
June 19, 2007
Granted it would be quite a competition, but is Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen the dumbest columnist ever?
In his June 19 op-ed, Cohen joined the latest Inside-the-Beltway craze, the neoconservative media riot over the 30-month jail sentence facing former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
Read on.
June 19, 2007
Granted it would be quite a competition, but is Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen the dumbest columnist ever?
In his June 19 op-ed, Cohen joined the latest Inside-the-Beltway craze, the neoconservative media riot over the 30-month jail sentence facing former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
Read on.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Begging for Libby's Pardon
By Bill Moyers
June 19, 2007
We have yet another remarkable revelation of the mindset of Washington's ruling clique of neoconservative elites-the people who took us to war from the safety of their Beltway bunkers.
Even as Iraq grows bloodier by the day, their passion of the week is to keep one of their own from going to jail.
Read on.
June 19, 2007
We have yet another remarkable revelation of the mindset of Washington's ruling clique of neoconservative elites-the people who took us to war from the safety of their Beltway bunkers.
Even as Iraq grows bloodier by the day, their passion of the week is to keep one of their own from going to jail.
Read on.
How Not to Counter Terrorism
By Coleen Rowley & Other Intelligence Veterans
June 18, 2007
Given the effort that many of us have put into suggestions for reform, how satisfying it would be, were we able to report that appropriate correctives have been introduced to make us safer. But the bottom line is that the PR bromide to the effect that we are “safer” is incorrect. We are not safer. What follows will help explain why.
Wrong-headed actions and ideas had already taken root before that Senate hearing on June 6, 2002. Post 9/11 dragnet-detentions of innocents, official tolerance of torture (including abuse of U.S. citizens like John Walker Lindh), and panic-boosting color codes, had already been spawned from the mother of all slogans—“The Global War on Terror”—rhetorically useful, substantively inane. GWOT was about to spawn much worse.
Read on.
June 18, 2007
Given the effort that many of us have put into suggestions for reform, how satisfying it would be, were we able to report that appropriate correctives have been introduced to make us safer. But the bottom line is that the PR bromide to the effect that we are “safer” is incorrect. We are not safer. What follows will help explain why.
Wrong-headed actions and ideas had already taken root before that Senate hearing on June 6, 2002. Post 9/11 dragnet-detentions of innocents, official tolerance of torture (including abuse of U.S. citizens like John Walker Lindh), and panic-boosting color codes, had already been spawned from the mother of all slogans—“The Global War on Terror”—rhetorically useful, substantively inane. GWOT was about to spawn much worse.
Read on.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Silence of the Bombs
By Norman Solomon
June 14, 2007
Three years have passed since most Americans came to the conclusion that the Iraq war was a "mistake." Reporting the results of a Gallup poll in June 2004, USA Today declared: "It is the first time since Vietnam that a majority of Americans has called a major deployment of US forces a mistake."
And public opinion continued to move in an antiwar direction. But such trends easily coexist with a war effort becoming even more horrific.
Read on.
June 14, 2007
Three years have passed since most Americans came to the conclusion that the Iraq war was a "mistake." Reporting the results of a Gallup poll in June 2004, USA Today declared: "It is the first time since Vietnam that a majority of Americans has called a major deployment of US forces a mistake."
And public opinion continued to move in an antiwar direction. But such trends easily coexist with a war effort becoming even more horrific.
Read on.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
America's Fragile Republic
By Robert Parry
June 13, 2007
By a two-to-one margin, a federal appeals court has repudiated George W. Bush’s right to snatch a civilian off the streets of America and hold the person indefinitely without trial. But the makeup of the three-judge panel was a fluke, with two Clinton appointees comprising the majority.
The proportion of Republican appointees to Democrats on the full U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, is the opposite, eight-to-four Republican. So, the Bush administration retains high hopes that the full court will agree to review the case of Ali al-Marri and grant the President the authority he wants.
Read on.
June 13, 2007
By a two-to-one margin, a federal appeals court has repudiated George W. Bush’s right to snatch a civilian off the streets of America and hold the person indefinitely without trial. But the makeup of the three-judge panel was a fluke, with two Clinton appointees comprising the majority.
The proportion of Republican appointees to Democrats on the full U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, is the opposite, eight-to-four Republican. So, the Bush administration retains high hopes that the full court will agree to review the case of Ali al-Marri and grant the President the authority he wants.
Read on.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Leaving Iraqi Refugees in the Lurch
By Ivan Eland
June 12, 2007
The Iraq War has made refugees of millions of Iraqis. They have been ethnically cleansed or displaced to other locations both inside the country, to neighboring countries, and overseas. Yet the Bush administration, the creator of the chaos and mayhem in Iraq, has done little to help them.
According to NBC News, since April 2003, when the initial U.S. military action was over, the United States has taken in a scant 535 Iraqi refugees. In contrast, European countries, many of which opposed the Bush administration’s invasion, have taken in 18,000.
Read on.
June 12, 2007
The Iraq War has made refugees of millions of Iraqis. They have been ethnically cleansed or displaced to other locations both inside the country, to neighboring countries, and overseas. Yet the Bush administration, the creator of the chaos and mayhem in Iraq, has done little to help them.
According to NBC News, since April 2003, when the initial U.S. military action was over, the United States has taken in a scant 535 Iraqi refugees. In contrast, European countries, many of which opposed the Bush administration’s invasion, have taken in 18,000.
Read on.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Powell Belies 'Commander Guy' Bush
By Robert Parry
June 10, 2007
For the past several months, the Washington press corps has dutifully reported George W. Bush’s attack on Democrats as politicians who wish to impose their Iraq War judgments on the military commanders in the field.
According to Bush, the Democrats think that U.S. commanders in Iraq should “take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.,” while he by contrast is “a commander guy” who follows the advice of military men on the front lines.
Read on.
June 10, 2007
For the past several months, the Washington press corps has dutifully reported George W. Bush’s attack on Democrats as politicians who wish to impose their Iraq War judgments on the military commanders in the field.
According to Bush, the Democrats think that U.S. commanders in Iraq should “take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.,” while he by contrast is “a commander guy” who follows the advice of military men on the front lines.
Read on.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Thompson Courts the Right-Wing Base
By Richard L. Fricker
June 9, 2007
Timothy Griffin, the Karl Rove protégé at the center of the federal prosecutor scandal, is negotiating for a senior position on Fred Thompson’s Republican presidential campaign, another sign that the actor and former senator is positioning himself as the reddest of red-meat candidates appealing to the right-wing base.
A litmus test among devoted followers of George W. Bush remains an instinctive rejection of all scandals considered important by liberals, from the deceptive intelligence behind the Iraq War to the torture of terror suspects to the exposure of CIA officer Valerie Plame to the politicization of the U.S. Attorneys.
Read on.
June 9, 2007
Timothy Griffin, the Karl Rove protégé at the center of the federal prosecutor scandal, is negotiating for a senior position on Fred Thompson’s Republican presidential campaign, another sign that the actor and former senator is positioning himself as the reddest of red-meat candidates appealing to the right-wing base.
A litmus test among devoted followers of George W. Bush remains an instinctive rejection of all scandals considered important by liberals, from the deceptive intelligence behind the Iraq War to the torture of terror suspects to the exposure of CIA officer Valerie Plame to the politicization of the U.S. Attorneys.
Read on.
Friday, June 08, 2007
GOP/Media Rewrite Iraq War History
By Robert Parry
June 8, 2007
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and radio personality Jay Diamond are right to wonder why Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney got away with rewriting a key chapter of the Iraq War history without political reporters raising a peep.
At the June 5 Republican debate, co-sponsored by CNN, Romney defended George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in March 2003 on the grounds that Saddam Hussein refused to let United Nations weapons inspectors in to search for WMD.
Read on.
June 8, 2007
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and radio personality Jay Diamond are right to wonder why Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney got away with rewriting a key chapter of the Iraq War history without political reporters raising a peep.
At the June 5 Republican debate, co-sponsored by CNN, Romney defended George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in March 2003 on the grounds that Saddam Hussein refused to let United Nations weapons inspectors in to search for WMD.
Read on.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Iraq Parallels Vietnam, Not Korea
By Ivan Eland
June 7, 2007
The Bush administration has decided its new model for a long-term solution in Iraq is Korea. It’s an attempt to stifle the inevitable comparisons of the Iraq quagmire to Vietnam and a way to justify the eventual reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq (to take the heat off of Republican candidates in the 2008 elections), while retaining a substantial U.S. military presence by establishing three or four long-term major military bases.
The plan would ultimately be a disaster for the United States.
Read on.
June 7, 2007
The Bush administration has decided its new model for a long-term solution in Iraq is Korea. It’s an attempt to stifle the inevitable comparisons of the Iraq quagmire to Vietnam and a way to justify the eventual reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq (to take the heat off of Republican candidates in the 2008 elections), while retaining a substantial U.S. military presence by establishing three or four long-term major military bases.
The plan would ultimately be a disaster for the United States.
Read on.
Last Plamegate Worry for Bush/Cheney
By Robert Parry
June 6, 2007
It’s a well-worn talking point for George W. Bush’s supporters to say there was no underlying crime beneath former White House aide I. Lewis Libby’s conviction for obstructing justice, a debatable point itself. But the evidence is clear there was a larger cover-up conspiracy – and it could still unravel.
The problem for prosecutors has been that the cover-up conspiracy involves the top two executive officers of the U.S. government, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, meaning that the standards of proof required and concerns over the nation’s well-being if charges were brought have risen to near prohibitive levels.
Read on.
June 6, 2007
It’s a well-worn talking point for George W. Bush’s supporters to say there was no underlying crime beneath former White House aide I. Lewis Libby’s conviction for obstructing justice, a debatable point itself. But the evidence is clear there was a larger cover-up conspiracy – and it could still unravel.
The problem for prosecutors has been that the cover-up conspiracy involves the top two executive officers of the U.S. government, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, meaning that the standards of proof required and concerns over the nation’s well-being if charges were brought have risen to near prohibitive levels.
Read on.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
The New Assault on Al Gore
By Robert Parry
June 5, 2007
An irony about Al Gore’s new book, The Assault on Reason, is that the former Vice President blames TV much more than the print media for America’s drift into the world of the irrational.
Yet, while author Gore has encountered mostly respectful interviews on TV, his book has been savaged by major newspapers and print reviewers, often distorting the contents and resurrecting one of the favorite press themes of Campaign 2000, that Gore is an obnoxious pedant.
Read on.
June 5, 2007
An irony about Al Gore’s new book, The Assault on Reason, is that the former Vice President blames TV much more than the print media for America’s drift into the world of the irrational.
Yet, while author Gore has encountered mostly respectful interviews on TV, his book has been savaged by major newspapers and print reviewers, often distorting the contents and resurrecting one of the favorite press themes of Campaign 2000, that Gore is an obnoxious pedant.
Read on.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Bush's Global Warming Foot-Dragging
By Robert Parry
June 1, 2007
George W. Bush snared front-page attention for his supposed shift on global warming, but the President’s tepid “aspirational goals” – and comments from his NASA chief that a hotter planet might actually be beneficial – continue to reflect Bush’s long-held doubts about the urgency of the problem.
Since running for the presidency in 2000, Bush has justified his foot-dragging on the issue, in part, through reliance on coal-industry-financed research embracing the same notion expressed by Bush’s NASA administrator Michael Griffin, that global warming may turn out to be a good thing.
Read on.
June 1, 2007
George W. Bush snared front-page attention for his supposed shift on global warming, but the President’s tepid “aspirational goals” – and comments from his NASA chief that a hotter planet might actually be beneficial – continue to reflect Bush’s long-held doubts about the urgency of the problem.
Since running for the presidency in 2000, Bush has justified his foot-dragging on the issue, in part, through reliance on coal-industry-financed research embracing the same notion expressed by Bush’s NASA administrator Michael Griffin, that global warming may turn out to be a good thing.
Read on.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
The Hariri Case & Double Standards
By Robert Parry
May 31, 2007
A terrible crime has been committed in the Middle East. Many innocent people have died. International law may have been violated. The United Nations is determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. An extraordinary international tribunal will be organized with the authority to assess guilt and recommend punishments.
Read on.
May 31, 2007
A terrible crime has been committed in the Middle East. Many innocent people have died. International law may have been violated. The United Nations is determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. An extraordinary international tribunal will be organized with the authority to assess guilt and recommend punishments.
Read on.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Dem Consultants: Calculations of War
By Brent Budowsky
May 30, 2007
Now we read in the Boston Globe how John Kerry, preparing to campaign to be Commander in Chief, voted in 2002 for the Iraq War after his political consultants informed the would-be leader of the free world that he would not be “politically viable” unless he voted yes.
This followed the disclosure that Bob Shrum advised John Edwards to send young men and women to die as a way of improving his weak national-security resume in 2002.
Read on.
May 30, 2007
Now we read in the Boston Globe how John Kerry, preparing to campaign to be Commander in Chief, voted in 2002 for the Iraq War after his political consultants informed the would-be leader of the free world that he would not be “politically viable” unless he voted yes.
This followed the disclosure that Bob Shrum advised John Edwards to send young men and women to die as a way of improving his weak national-security resume in 2002.
Read on.
How Bush Risks an Islamist Bomb
By Ivan Eland
May 30, 2007
The Bush administration has failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden or to win the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the administration has also missed the chance to maintain a stable nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Like the U.S. policy toward the Shah’s Iran in the 1960s and 1970s, the Bush administration, despite a rhetorical commitment to spread democracy around the world, has put all of its eggs in the basket of an autocrat unlikely to survive—in this case, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Read on.
May 30, 2007
The Bush administration has failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden or to win the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the administration has also missed the chance to maintain a stable nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Like the U.S. policy toward the Shah’s Iran in the 1960s and 1970s, the Bush administration, despite a rhetorical commitment to spread democracy around the world, has put all of its eggs in the basket of an autocrat unlikely to survive—in this case, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Read on.
Bush's Killer Iraq Talking Points
By Robert Parry
May 30, 2007
It’s an old military adage that bad intel can get soldiers killed, but it now turns out that false talking points may be even more lethal, a lesson that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney continue to teach the world as the death toll mounts in Iraq.
In pounding the Democratic-controlled Congress into submission on Iraq War funding last week, the President and Vice President let loose a withering barrage of non-sequiturs, appeals to fear, long-discredited canards and personal attacks on critics for endangering U.S. troops.
Read on.
May 30, 2007
It’s an old military adage that bad intel can get soldiers killed, but it now turns out that false talking points may be even more lethal, a lesson that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney continue to teach the world as the death toll mounts in Iraq.
In pounding the Democratic-controlled Congress into submission on Iraq War funding last week, the President and Vice President let loose a withering barrage of non-sequiturs, appeals to fear, long-discredited canards and personal attacks on critics for endangering U.S. troops.
Read on.
Monday, May 28, 2007
No Celebration This Memorial Day
By Mary MacElveen
May 28, 2007
As I sat here visiting a non-political chat room which I tend to do from time-to-time just to escape this ugly war and the world of politics, someone asked in the room if we were enjoying this holiday weekend.
I just sat there with an anger rising since I do not see this and recent Memorial Day weekends as being holidays. In reading where 3,451 soldiers are now dead due to President Bush’s lies and his lust for power and greed; just how can one treat this as a normal holiday weekend?
Read on.
May 28, 2007
As I sat here visiting a non-political chat room which I tend to do from time-to-time just to escape this ugly war and the world of politics, someone asked in the room if we were enjoying this holiday weekend.
I just sat there with an anger rising since I do not see this and recent Memorial Day weekends as being holidays. In reading where 3,451 soldiers are now dead due to President Bush’s lies and his lust for power and greed; just how can one treat this as a normal holiday weekend?
Read on.
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