Month: July 2004

Members of the book industry and civil liberties advocates are scratching their heads over why House Republican leaders decided to bully their way out of passing a bipartisan piece of legislation intended to secure the rights of due process and privacy of library patrons and bookstore customers. “It should make people ask, what are they … Continue reading “PATRIOT Act Foes Lose Book Battle”

TORONTO – In the novel 1984, George Orwell depicts a world where powerful and secretive authorities – “Big Brother” – scrutinize the intimate details of citizens’ personal lives. That fiction may be closer to reality than most people think. Earlier this month, for instance, CNN reported that police officers across the United States are carrying … Continue reading “‘Homeland Security’ Beyond US Borders”

Key intelligence used to justify war with Iraq has now been shown to be unreliable, concludes Lord Butler in the British government’s report about the misinformation that caused a pointless war. Nevertheless, says Lord Butler, there is no one to blame for the thousands of deaths, the massive destruction, and subsequent creation of a new … Continue reading “Plenty of Blood, No Foul”

It appears that the fate of the American Empire will not be decided in Iraq, however strange that may sound. Body counts, rising costs and intelligence revelations keep showing that Iraq is an obvious fiasco; it would be more than easy to campaign on that point and oust the Bush administration come November, but for … Continue reading “Decision in the Balkans”

President Bush gave a speech on Tuesday in which he made specific claims about how the United States is safer as a result of his military action. I dispute assertions about particular Middle Eastern or South Asian countries. Bush: “The world is changing for the better because of American leadership. America is safer today because … Continue reading “Bush’s Twisted Idea of ‘Safer’”

Whitewash! Thank you for your succinct article that struck like a hard slap upside my head, causing me to read and reread the sentence ending with the phrase “lack the competence or character for self-rule.” For me, it resounds a truth throughout history with but the mere change of a name and an adjective. My … Continue reading “Backtalk July 15, 2004”

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that suspects imprisoned during the so-called “war on terrorism” could use the American legal system to challenge their detention, lawyers for prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center are moving forward with challenges in U.S. courts while the Department of Defense continues its efforts to further … Continue reading “Government Attempts End-Run on Detainee Rights”

BAGHDAD – Allawi Kathem Abed sat waiting patiently in the Iraqi assistance center in the capital last Saturday, confident things would be solved soon. He had come from the town of Abu Ghraib to Baghdad with a death certificate, a list of stolen property, and an oral promise of compensation from “Colonel Ryan.” On May … Continue reading “Wrongful Death and Everything After”

With almost 900 Americans dead, thousands horribly wounded, and talk of canceling a national election that is taking place in the shadow of terrorism, one has to ask: how did we get here? Seymour Hersh, speaking at the American Civil Liberties Union conference on July 7, gave a pretty good answer: “Rather than deal with … Continue reading “The Cult of Power”

Blame the CIA. That’s a political agenda that has found bipartisan support in Congress. Both the right and the left saw the departure of CIA chief George Tenet as a first step toward improving U.S. intelligence capabilities. This month two bipartisan committees – the independent 9/11 commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee – reviewing U.S. … Continue reading “CIA: From Bad to Worse?”