William Fisher

U.S. government officials, foreign policy experts, newspaper editorial writers, and human rights advocates were virtually unanimous in condemning the sentencing last week of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s chief political opponent to a five-year prison term, but divided on what can be done about it. The White House and the State Department issued statements saying they … Continue reading “Nour Case Strains US-Egypt Ties”

As those loyal to President George W. Bush circle the wagons to aggressively defend his program of conducting surveillance of phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens, a judge on the court set up to review requests for such actions has resigned, apparently in protest. At the same time, a prominent Republican senator promised to … Continue reading “Congress to Probe Domestic Spying”

Recent polling on the views of the U.S. public about the "Global War on Terror" (GWOT) suggests increasing ambivalence, confusion, and lack of reliable information. Events over the past few days, topped by the revelation that President George W. Bush ordered secret warrantless wiretaps of phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens, are unlikely to … Continue reading “The Fog of the War on Terror”

A bipartisan majority of senators refused to reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act Friday, which was hurriedly passed six weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and gave U.S. law enforcement agencies significant expanded powers to investigate suspected terrorists. While in favor of most of the act’s provisions, senators opposing reauthorization targeted several provisions that … Continue reading “PATRIOT Act in Limbo Amid New Spying Flap”

U.S. President George W. Bush suffered a stinging defeat Thursday when overwhelming congressional support forced him to abandon his opposition to anti-torture legislation and reach an agreement with its sponsor, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican. The president’s reversal came after months of White House attempts – led by Vice President Dick Cheney and National … Continue reading “Torture Ban May Have a Loophole”

By the end of the current session of Congress later this month, the Pentagon could have legal authority to "covertly" gather intelligence on U.S. citizens in the United States – a power taken away following excesses during the Vietnam War. The Senate Intelligence Committee, meeting in closed session, last month quietly approved a request from … Continue reading “Watchdogs Protest Pentagon’s ‘Mission Creep’”

As the battle between the White House and a leading Republican senator over U.S. policies on treating terrorist suspects appears headed toward a final showdown, polls suggest that the U.S. public is ambivalent on the issue of torture. Results of several recent surveys of adults nationwide show that a sizable majority thinks torture of alleged … Continue reading “Torture: Condoners vs. Condemners”

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stilettoed her way across Europe last week answering tough questions about Washington’s treatment of prisoners in the "global war on terror," 2005 may be remembered as the year "torture" and "rendition" became part of the everyday vocabulary. The latest iteration of these issues arose from the Washington Post‘s recent … Continue reading “Torture Policy Blowback Hits White House”

Amid charges that President George W. Bush and the U.S. Department of Justice are inflating the number of criminal prosecutions for terrorism, five cases shed light on the administration’s mixed record of convictions during 2005. In a Florida case, officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) falsified documents in an effort to cover repeated … Continue reading “Terror Net Yields Few Big Fish”

U.S. congressional leaders who have been touting Iraq’s new "free press" as a sign of progress in the troubled country are upset at the Pentagon’s admission last week that it has been paying for "good news" stories written by the military and placed in Iraqi media by a Washington-based public relations firm. In a briefing … Continue reading “The Bad News Is That the Good News Is Fake”