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...
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...
With Scooter Libby slated to go to trial sometime next year, the Lewis Libby Defense Trust is gearing up for a big fundraising effort – and lookee lookee at all the luminaries who've signed on to help! Hey, how about a benefit concert? They could book Libby...
Are U.S. tactical nuclear weapons deployed in the Persian Gulf, on hair-trigger alert, and ready to be launched against Iran at a moment's notice? The answer is contained in presidential directive NSPD 35, "Nuclear Weapons Deployment Authorization," issued May 2004,...
We all know the feeling. After your last minute holiday gift-giving near-disaster in 2004 (surprisingly similar to the one in 2003), you made that firm New Year's resolution yet again – this time you were determined to buy those Christmas presents in July. The...
It might not be a bad idea to step back from events for a moment or two. I'm fascinated at just how casually many Americans – I've even caught myself doing it – are able to say how proud of and pleased with the Iraqis they are for pulling off an election...
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...
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...
ARBIL, Iraq - Tensions between ethnic and religious groups have been rising in Iraq ahead of the elections Thursday. The vote wile be the third in less than a year, and the last step in the current process of political transition to a democratic government. Unlike the...
Amid growing alarm over extreme views voiced by Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a major U.S.-based international human rights group called Wednesday for the immediate dismissal of two of his top cabinet ministers for their involvement in past repression and...
