Ray McGovern

"There are few things as odd as the calm, superior indifference with which I and those like me watched the beginnings of the Nazi revolution in Germany, as if from a box at the theater…Perhaps the only comparably odd thing is the way that now, years later…." These are the words of Sebastian Haffner (pen … Continue reading “Creeping Fascism: Lessons From the Past”

A boyish, inquisitive face with an innocent look peered out from the Washington Post’s lead story yesterday on torture. It was well groomed, pink-shirted John Kiriakou, a CIA interrogator who could just as easily pass for the local youth minister. The report by the Post’s Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen, which describes Kiriakou’s experience in … Continue reading “Are Americans Really ‘Better Than That’?”

Those who know about the centrifuges used to refine uranium tell me they must spin at an almost unrivaled velocity – almost unrivaled, because Bush administration statements are being spun at equivalent speed by White House and corporate media spiders. Without weaver-in-chief Karl Rove and former presidential spokesman Tony Snow, it is amateur hour at … Continue reading “Bush Spins Iran’s Centrifuges”

For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred today. An honest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear program has been issued, and its “Key Judgments” were made public. With redraft after redraft, it was what the Germans call eine schwere Geburt – a difficult birth, 10 months in gestation. I do … Continue reading “A Miracle: Honest Intel
on Iran Nukes”

Author’s note: Twenty-four former intelligence and national security officials delivered an urgent message Monday morning to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to hold the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general until he states his opinion on the legality of waterboarding. Their message strongly … Continue reading “Former Intel Officers on Mukasey and Torture”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is at her mushroom-cloud hyperbolic best, and this time Iran is the target. Her claim last week that "the policies of Iran constitute perhaps the single greatest challenge to American security interests in the Middle East and around the world" is simply too much of a stretch. To gauge someone’s … Continue reading “Attacking Iran for Israel?”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has admitted knowing for several years about the Bush administration’s eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant. She said she was briefed on it when she was ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. But was she told that the illegal surveillance began well before 9/11? Referring to her briefing in … Continue reading “NSA Spying: What Did Pelosi Know?”

Who’s afraid of the Israel Lobby? Virtually everyone: Republican, Democrat – Conservative, Liberal. The fear factor is non-partisan, you might say, and palpable. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) brags that it is the most influential foreign policy lobbying organization on Capitol Hill, and has demonstrated that time and again – and not only … Continue reading “So Who’s Afraid of the Israel Lobby?”

It is an exceedingly dangerous time. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hard-core “neoconservative” protégés in the administration and Congress are pushing harder and harder for President George W. Bush, isolated from reality, to honor the promise he made to Israel to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. On Sept. 23, former national security … Continue reading “Bush, Oil – and Moral Bankruptcy”

For those still wondering why President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney sent our young men and women into Iraq, the secret is now "largely" out. No, not from the lips of former secretary of state Colin Powell. It appears we shall have to wait until the disgraced general/diplomat draws nearer to meeting … Continue reading “Greenspan Misses Cheney’s Memo: Spills the Beans on Oil”