Constitution

Too Big to Jail? Why Kidnapping, Torture, Assassination, and Perjury Are No Longer Crimes in Washington

(By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch.com) How the mighty have fallen. Once known as “Obama’s favorite general,” James Cartwright will soon don a prison uniform and, thanks to a plea deal, spend 13 months behind bars. Involved in setting up the earliest military cyberforce inside U.S. Strategic Command, which he led from 2004 to 2007, Cartwright […]

Constitution

Allen West: ‘Radical’ Muslims waging ‘jihad’ in U.S. — by voting and obeying election laws

Juan Cole

Former Republican Congressman Allen West (R-FL), who is currently employed as a Fox News contributor, on Thursday warned that Muslims were organizing to “destroy” the United States by exercising their legal right to vote. Fox News host Steve Doocy…

Constitution

Release the Entire Torture Report!

Juan Cole

(By Scott Corey) There are two powerful reasons why the government should release both the summary and the full Senate Intelligence reports on CIA torture during the Global War on Terror. One is moral necessity. When we were attacked, our government’s first resort was to exploit our fears and abandon everything America means to those […]

Bill of Rights

Christian Sharia Law: Iowa Governor’s Proclamation Destroys Separation Of Church And State

Juan Cole

The astroturfed pandemic of Christian self-righteousness continues to plumb new depths, proving that like their Bible, there isn’t a part of the Constitution they won’t ignore, twist, or warp, in an effort to shore up their abjectly amoral personal…

Barack Obama

Uncle Sam’s Eternal Gua-Gulag: US Continues to Imprison Dozens of Yemenis Cleared or Never Charged

Juan Cole

(Human Rights Watch) (Washington, DC) – The US should expedite the return of Yemeni detainees cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Barack Obama. Human Rights Watch released a video showing the plight of families of Yemeni detainees. All Guantanamo detainees should be returned or resettled, or charged […]

Constitution

Dropbox putting NSA Spying advocate Condi Rice on its board Shocks Privacy Advocates

Juan Cole

YESTERDAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT that former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined the board of Dropbox has set tongues a-wagging in the IT sector. The company said Ms Rice be involved in securing a foothold in international territories, particularly…

Constitution

America’s Post-9/11 Dystopia: No-Fly Lists, Secret Gov’t Databases and Guilty even if Proven Innocent

Juan Cole

(By Peter van Buren) Rahinah Ibrahim is a slight Malaysian woman who attended Stanford University on a U.S. student visa, majoring in architecture. She was not a political person. Despite this, as part of a post-9/11 sweep directed against Muslims, she was investigated by the FBI. In 2004, while she was still in the U.S. […]

Bill of Rights

ACLU Complains: CIA to Filter Release by Senate of Torture Report

Juan Cole

(By Sarah Lazare) The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee voted Thursday to partially lift the media and public blackout of its 6,300 page investigation into widespread CIA torture, extrajudicial detentions, unlawful renditions, and lying to the U.S. government in the so-called 'War on Terror.' In an 11 to 3 decision, the committee voted to submit the […]

Afghanistan

US National Security hijacked, flown into Bermuda Triangle of Mysteries

Juan Cole

(By Tom Engelhardt) Isn’t there something strangely reassuring when your eyeballs are gripped by a “mystery” on the news that has no greater meaning and yet sweeps all else away? This, of course, is the essence of the ongoing tale of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Except to the relatives of those on […]