Congressional Democrats and many Washington journalists are predicting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s current dispute with the Central Intelligence Agency may ultimately hasten the push toward the last thing Republicans want – a comprehensive investigation of prisoner detention and interrogation during the administration of former President George W. Bush. The Pelosi controversy centers on whether …
Continue reading “Pelosi-CIA Contretemps May Spark Wider Probe”
In just over 100 days, President Obama is on the verge of ensuring that militant Islam’s war on America will be waged for decades to come and its forces will never suffer manpower or money shortages. How did he accomplish so much in some little time? He simply behaved as all U.S. political leaders behave; …
Continue reading “Obama Steers Toward Endless War With Islam”
As the story of Bush administration’s war crimes comes out in fits and starts, it appears that torture is only one aspect – and not the worst, by any means – of this horrific history. In an interview in mid-March, Seymour Hersh let slip the following: "After 9/11 – I haven’t written about this yet …
Continue reading “American Death Squad”
President Barack Obama has a major opportunity to improve the mostly negative views about the United States in the Arab world but is likely to have only a short period of time to do so, according to a major new survey of public opinion [.pdf] in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United …
Continue reading “Survey: Obama Has Real Chance to Change Arab Opinion”
Updated at 5:39 p.m. EDT, May 19, 2009
At least five Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded in today’s violence. Meanwhile, a second Sunni leader was arrested in Diyala province, prompting critics to wonder openly if a security operation there is really a harassment campaign against Awakening Council (Sahwa) members and other Sunni leaders. Also, the Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billstrom spoke with Jordanian Interior Minister Saud al-Qadi on the 500,000 Iraqi refugees living in Jordan.
Philip Giraldi defends scrutiny of the Israel lobby
But don’t expect any ‘fresh thinking,’ says Jeff Huber
The United Nations’ watchdog on torture has criticized Israel for refusing to allow inspections at a secret prison, dubbed by critics as "Israel’s Guantanamo Bay," and demanded to know if more such clandestine detention camps are operating. In a report published on Friday, the Committee Against Torture requested that Israel identify the location of the …
Continue reading “How Many Secret Prisons Does Israel Have?”
Andy Worthington on the cases that should be dropped now
Somebody call me when Nancy Pelosi gets her story straight. So far, the House speaker’s explanation of what and when she knew about the Bush administration’s policy of torturing suspected terrorists is crookeder than Dick Cheney’s smile. Indeed, it has evolved from a straightforward avowal that, with apologies to Sgt. Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes, she …
Continue reading “Pelosi’s Torture Stance Is Pure Partisanship” 
