The media is buzzing with the news that Michael Hayden, the director of the CIA, admitted in an open session of Congress on Tuesday that waterboarding – a long-reviled torture technique, which produces the perception of drowning – was used on three...
India to Pay a Price For Launching Israeli Spy Satellite
NEW DELHI - India's traditionally friendly relations with Iran have come under unprecedented strain because of the launching of an Israeli spy satellite by an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) rocket a fortnight ago. This comes on top of recent tensions caused...
Powell’s UN Fiasco: Fresh and Festering
Yesterday was a difficult day for Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. It was hard to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our first corporate memorandum, a same-day critique of Colin Powell's Feb. 5, 2002 UN address, when we could not escape the reality that...
Dead End
Following the first round of presidential elections in Serbia, it looked for a brief moment as if the beleaguered Balkans country might awaken from its propaganda-induced stupor and reject the Empire’s domestic enablers. It came close – about 100,000 votes...
The War of Fog: Canadian Prisoners in Afghanistan
Mr. Robert Marleau Information Commissioner of Canada Place de Ville, Tower B 112 Kent Street, 22nd Floor Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3 Dear Mr. Marleau, I read with great admiration and (Canadian) pride your appeal for the government of Canada to pursue more open...
The Winter of Our Discontent
This is one election season in which the conventional wisdom is no sooner formulated than it is refuted by events: Hillary was "inevitable" – now she's content to hold her ground. Rudolph Giuliani was the "frontrunner" in the national polls...
Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 46 Iraqis Killed; 46 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 9:40 p.m. EST, Feb. 6, 2008At least 46 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 46 more were wounded during numerous but small attacks throughout the country. The DOD reported that one U.S. soldier died of non-combat-related causes. Elsewhere, a U.S. army...
Intel Chief: Pakistan-Based al-Qaeda Biggest Threat
With key improvements in the security situation in Iraq during 2007, al-Qaeda – and particularly its central leadership based in border regions of Pakistan – continues to pose the most significant threats to the United States, both at home and abroad,...
Bush: Uniter, Decider, and Now, Interpreter
When George W. Bush signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act into law last week, he again thumbed his nose at Congress by taking a second now-familiar step: he issued a "signing statement" – a declaration that effectively asserts his authority...
Tuesday: 3 GIs, 90 Iraqis Killed; 7 Iraqis Wounded; Mass Grave Found
Updated at 12:45 a.m. EST, Feb. 6, 2008A mass grave containing dozens of bodies was discovered west of Samarra. Elsewhere, a small but deadly U.S. raid on a civilian residence was reported for the second day in a row. Overall, 90 Iraqis were reported killed or found...