Month: January 2006

Just when you thought this administration couldn’t get any more blatant in its effrontery about claiming and wielding power, along comes the surveillance blitz. I’ve talked to people who think it’s because even the administration people know their legal case is shaky and want to get ahead of public opinion. What’s fascinating and distressing is … Continue reading “Breathtaking Power Grab”

According to numerous reports and audits released by entities such as the inspectors general (IGs) of agencies that deal with national security and various presidential commissions, today, more than four years after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, almost all our national security related agencies are in disarray, riddled with incompetence, corruption, and in … Continue reading “Domestic Spying Hurts Our National Security”

The stunning victory of the Islamist Hamas party in parliamentary elections Wednesday in the Palestinian Authority (PA) poses stark new challenges to U.S. President George W. Bush’s hopes of advancing an Israeli-Palestinian peace process and promoting democracy throughout the Arab Middle East. Hamas, which gained 76 seats in the new Palestinian parliament compared to only … Continue reading “Hamas Upset Rattles Bush Strategy”

Amid all the howls of pain and gnashing of teeth over the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian elections, one fact remains relatively obscure, albeit highly relevant: Israel did much to launch Hamas as an effective force in the occupied territories. If ever there was a clear case of “blowback,” then this is it. As … Continue reading “Hamas, Son of Israel”

As the Bush administration tub-thumps for imposing democracy upon the entire world, many Americans have forgotten the long and bloody history of the U.S. government forcibly spreading “self-government.” The following discussion, from the “Messianic Democracy” chapter of my new book, Attention Deficit Democracy, illustrates how Bush is not even close to the first U.S. president … Continue reading “Killing in the Name
of Democracy”

The newspapers and airwaves today are replete with the ominous vibes of global nuclear proliferation, with Iran and North Korea the nuclear bêtes noires du jour. Nevertheless, by far the greatest threat to civilization does not reside in rogue nukes ensconced in distant lands. Today, 15 years after the fall of the USSR, the abiding … Continue reading “How the Bomb Destroyed
Our Republic”

NEW DELHI – The "nuclear cooperation" agreement signed by United States President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, six months ago in Washington, has run into trouble over separation of India’s civilian installations from the military. As a result of this major hurdle, the "one of a kind" deal is unlikely to … Continue reading “Bumpy Ride for Indo-US Nuclear Deal”

Recent reports in the Turkish and German press of the U.S. asking the Turkish government to support a possible attack on Iran and alerting allied countries of preparations for such an attack appear to be part of a strategy to pressure the Iranian regime rather than the result of a new policy to strike Iran. … Continue reading “US Tries to Pressure Iran with Attack Stories”

“We must all be prepared to torture.” – Charles Krauthammer, “The Truth About Torture,” The Weekly Standard, Dec. 5, 2005 Note: All quotes in bold below are from Krauthammer’s piece. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald announced in a press conference Wednesday that, swayed by the powerful arguments of an article in The Weekly Standard, he is prepared … Continue reading “‘We Must All Be Prepared
to Torture’”

In Bob Woodward’s 2004 book Plan of Attack, the famed Washington Post journalist details a pre-Iraq war conversation that allegedly took place between President Bush and then-CIA director George Tenet regarding whether or not Saddam Hussein truly possessed weapons of mass destruction. According to the book’s narrative, a hesitant and skeptical Bush asked Tenet: “George, … Continue reading “Who Lied Us Into War?
Ask George Tenet”