Bush Administration

The secret program empowering Obama to kill anyone, anywhere, without any explanation

by News Sources 12.20.2011

The Washington Post reports: Since September, at least 60 people have died in 14 reported CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions. The Obama administration has named only one of the dead, hailing the elimination of Janbaz Zadran, a top official in the Haqqani insurgent network, as a counterterrorism victory. The identities of the rest [...]

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The we-are-at-war! mentality

by News Sources 12.03.2011

Glenn Greenwald writes: Two significant events happened on Thursday: (1) the Democratic-led Senate rejuvenated and expanded the War on Terror by, among other things, passing a law authorizing military detention on U.S. soil and expanding the formal scope of the War; and (2) Obama lawyers, for the first time, publicly justified the President’s asserted (and [...]

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Hank Paulson’s inside jobs

by News Sources 11.30.2011

Felix Salmon writes: What on earth did Hank Paulson think his job was in the summer of 2008? As far as most of us were concerned, he was secretary of the US Treasury, answerable to the US people and to the president. But at the same time, in secret meetings, Paulson was hanging out with [...]

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Visions of slaughter: Jennifer Rubin, Rachel Abrams and the Washington Post

by Paul Woodward 11.08.2011

Here’s the post that got this story rolling. It’s written by Rachel Abrams and appears on her blog, Bad Rachel, and is her bloodcurdling response to the release of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, on October 18: GILAD!!!!!!!!!! He’s free and he’s home in the bosom of his family and his country. Celebrate, Israel, with [...]

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World history at warp speed

by News Sources 11.03.2011

Helena Cobban asks: From Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Pakistan, to Somalia, to Yemen– and now, to Libya… What has the U.S. military brought in its wake?? The collapse of communities, of whole economies, of institutions, and families… Tragedies, wherever you look. This is not to indict individual members of the military, which as a group [...]

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The Unpatriotic Act: ten years later

by News Sources 10.26.2011

Stephen Rohde writes: The USA Patriot Act became law ten years ago today. Bearing the awkward name, Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, it passed the US Senate by an overwhelming vote of 96-1, with only Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) in dissent, voicing deep concerns about [...]

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CIA kidnapped, tortured “the wrong guy,” says former agency operative Glenn Carle

by News Sources 10.23.2011

Jason Leopold reports: Rob Richer, the No. 2 ranking official in the CIA's clandestine service, paid a visit to Glenn Carle's office in December 2002 and presented the veteran CIA operative with an urgent proposal. "I want you to go on a temporary assignment," Carle recalls Richer telling him. "It's important for the agency, it's [...]

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Iraq’s government, not Obama, called time on the U.S. troop presence

by News Sources 10.21.2011

Tony Karon writes: President Barack Obama’s announcement on Friday that all 40,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq will leave the country by New Year’s Eve will, inevitably, draw howls of derision from GOP presidential hopefuls — this is, after all, early election season. But the decision to leave Iraq by that date was not actually [...]

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The war on Copts in Egypt: its origins

by News Sources 10.15.2011

As’ad AbuKhalil writes: There is a war on Copts in Egypt. It is unmistakable and state military and religious institutions are guilty in sponsoring and launching the war. It was no coincidence that the chief of Al-Azhar (a former puppet of Mubarak and his ruling party) was on an official visit to Saudi Arabia during [...]

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U.S. had ‘frighteningly simplistic’ view of Afghanistan, says McChrystal

by News Sources 10.07.2011

The Guardian reports: One of America’s most celebrated generals has issued a harsh indictment of his country’s campaign in Afghanistan on the 10th anniversary of the invasion to topple the Taliban. The US began the war with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of Afghanistan, the retired general Stanley McChrystal said, and even now the military lacks [...]

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Obama’s take-no-prisoners approach to terrorism

by Paul Woodward 10.02.2011

After Barack Obama began his presidency by deciding to close Guantanamo and ban torture, Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU said: These executive orders represent a giant step forward. Putting an end to Guantanamo, torture and secret prisons is a civil liberties trifecta, and President Obama should be highly commended for this bold [...]

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After September 11: our state of exception

by News Sources 09.26.2011

Mark Danner writes: We are living in the State of Exception. We don’t know when it will end, as we don’t know when the War on Terror will end. But we all know when it began. We can no longer quite “remember” that moment, for the images have long since been refitted into a present-day [...]

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Wikileaks and the sudden departure of Al Jazeera’s Wadah Khanfar

by News Sources 09.22.2011

On Monday, Omar Chatriwala reported in Foreign Policy on revelations from cables newly released by Wikileaks on pressure applied to Al Jazeera by the Bush administration. On Tuesday, the Qatar government suddenly replaced Wadah Khanfar, the director-general of the al-Jazeera satellite TV network, with Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, an executive at Qatargas and [...]

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Post 9/11 wars and violations of civil liberties continue

by News Sources 09.14.2011

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Bush ordered investigation to suppress Saudi 9/11 connection

by News Sources 09.13.2011

An interview with Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, authors of The Eleventh Day, The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden. Part Two: Part One: Share

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Listening Post – 9/11: When truth became a casualty of war

by News Sources 09.13.2011

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The 9/11 Decade – The Clash of Civilizations?

by News Sources 09.11.2011

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Top secret America

by News Sources 09.09.2011

Part One: Part Two: Part Three: Part Four: Part Five: Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE. Share

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US detention post-9/11: Birth of a debacle

by News Sources 09.08.2011

Lisa Hajjar writes: Days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration started making decisions that led to the official authorisation of torture tactics, indefinite incommunicado detention and the denial of habeas corpus for people who would be detained at Guantánamo, Bagram, or “black sites” (secret prisons) run by the CIA; kidnappings, [...]

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9/11 documents claim intelligence on Bin Laden, targets withheld from Congress’ probe

by News Sources 09.08.2011

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Al Qaeda’s electronic jihad

by News Sources 09.05.2011

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The war on terror — the first war in history paid for entirely on credit

by News Sources 09.04.2011

The economist, Joseph E. Stiglitz, writes: The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks by al-Qaida were meant to harm the United States, and they did, but in ways that Osama Bin Laden probably never imagined. President George W. Bush’s response to the attacks compromised America’s basic principles, undermined its economy, and weakened its security. The attack [...]

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A look at the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command

by News Sources 09.03.2011

Dana Priest and William M. Arkin write: Two presidents and three secretaries of defense routinely have asked JSOC to mount intelligence-gathering missions and lethal raids, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in countries with which the United States was not at war, including Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Nigeria and Syria. “The CIA doesn’t [...]

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In records of court case lie details of secret airlifts of terror suspects to CIA-run prisons

by News Sources 09.03.2011

The Associated Press reports: The secret airlift of terrorism suspects and American intelligence officials to CIA-operated overseas prisons via luxury jets was mounted by a hidden network of U.S. companies and coordinated by a prominent defense contractor, newly disclosed documents show. More than 1,700 pages of court files in a business dispute between two aviation [...]

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