Month: July 2004

In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in U.S. history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion. A Florida-based company, Seisint, Inc., created the database shortly after the terror attacks of Sept. … Continue reading “Welcome to the Matrix”

Mohammed ElBaradei – Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency – was in Israel last week. Pakistan next week? Or maybe India? Or North Korea? All in pursuit of a nuke-free world. But getting rid of nukes is not ElBaradei’s job. True, the IAEA was assigned the collateral duty of Safeguards “inspectorate” by Article … Continue reading “ElBaradei’s Clintonian Mission”

LONDON – The ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague that the "security wall" Israel is building in the West Bank is illegal marks a major victory for Palestinians. The ruling is not binding. Officially it is termed only an "advisory opinion" offered by the court. Israeli officials briefing media while the … Continue reading “Palestinian Win Rises Higher Than Israeli Wall”

I love the sharp tongue of the British. A former legal adviser to the British Foreign Office has said George Bush’s war on terrorism is “legal nonsense” and confers no more power on the United States to detain people than the war against obesity. That’s true. The British lady, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, is quite correct, too, … Continue reading “Legal Nonsense”

A U.S. Army counterintelligence agent who accused fellow National Guardsmen of abusing Iraqi detainees says that his own commander coerced an Army psychiatrist into diagnosing him as “delusional.” According to Sergeant Greg Ford, his commanding officer confronted psychiatrist Angelina Madera, a captain with the 30th Medical Support Element, after she had initially assessed Ford to … Continue reading “Army Whistleblower Says Superiors Hid Torture”

Media attention in late June focused on the European Union summit in Ireland, the NATO summit in Turkey, and the surprise early transfer of “sovereignty” to the Iraqi interim government. As noteworthy as each of these might have been, equally significant events were occurring or being planned in East Asia, ones that, in an interdependent … Continue reading “The Butterfly Effect, From Iraq to Asia”

While the Pentagon claims that it is trying to expedite the implementation of last week’s decision by the Supreme Court to provide fair reviews of the status of some 594 terrorist suspects held at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, human rights groups are concerned that the Pentagon is trying to subvert the decision. … Continue reading “Rights Groups: Pentagon Subverting Court’s Decision”

Friends are always accusing me of being overly Pollyannaish, of relentlessly seeing the bright side when the dark side is much more likely to prevail. So take these observations with whatever rations of salt seem appropriate. Nonetheless, I do think it is possible that the foray into aggression in the Iraq war might just have … Continue reading “Inoculated for a While?”

All this folderol about how the neoconservative moment is over, and the War Party totally discredited, is just so much wishful thinking, as the prospect of John F. Lehman‘s nomination as CIA chief makes all too clear. Rumor has it that Porter Goss is out – too partisan – and Lehman is leading the pack. … Continue reading “Neocon Coup at CIA?”

LONDON – Saddam Hussein looks set to hand over to the British the one thing they love most – a palace coup. Read for that Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown taking over from Prime Minister Tony Blair. Not immediately, not even very soon perhaps. But there are few who will say any more that … Continue reading “Blair’s Troubles Multiply”