Barack Obama

By Juan Cole The United States as a great Power is facing a large number of challenges in the Muslim world, and Israel’s Gaza campaign is endangering both American diplomacy there and the very security of the US. Given the series of setbacks for the US in the Middle East, in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and […]

Barack Obama

Real-Life House of Cards: DOJ says President is Judge Jury & Executioner

contributors

By Peter Van Buren via Tomdispatch.com You can’t get more serious about protecting the people from their government than the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, specifically in its most critical clause: “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” In 2011, the White House ordered the drone-killing of American citizen […]

Afghanistan

Bush Trifecta lands on Obama: Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan Imploding

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole President Barack Obama of Hawaii had fondly dreamed of bidding turbulent and unrewarding West Asia farewell and turning the attentions of American diplomacy to East and South East Asia. From his point of view, the Bush administration had unwisely entangled the US too deeply in the Middle East, where no good deed […]

Barack Obama

If you read Boing Boing, the NSA considers you a target for deep surveillance

contributors

By Cory Doctorow via Boing Boing In a shocking story on the German site Tagesschau (Google translate), Lena Kampf, Jacob Appelbaum and John Goetz report on the rules used by the NSA to decide who is a “target” for surveillance. Since the start of the Snowden story in 2013, the NSA has stressed that while […]

Barack Obama

As Hundreds of US Troops are Sent to Iraq, Fears of Mission Creep

contributors

By Lauren McCauley Lawmakers and anti-war groups raise flags about additional troop deployments and calls for executive "flexibility" As the number of American troops sent to Iraq nearly doubled on Monday and the White House continues to flex its executive privilege to make unilateral military decisions, citizens and lawmakers alike are raising concerns and objections […]

Barack Obama

Katrina to arch-Neocon Bill Kristol: Be Accountable, Enlist in the Iraqi Army

contributors

“Katrina vanden Heuvel [editor of The Nation] and Bill Kristol tussled over Iraq on ABC’s This Week today when vanden Heuvel lumped in Kristol with the Iraq “architects of catastrophe” and suggested he enlist in the Iraqi army if he’s so serious about fixing the region. Vanden Heuvel said there should be some accountability for […]

Barack Obama

Clinton to Cheney: Blaming Obama for not cleaning up your mess… Unseemly

contributors

During recent interview with David Gregory, Pres. Bill Clinton laughed off Dick Cheney’s suggestion that President Obama is to blame for the strife in Iraq, placing the blame directly at the feet of the former Vice President himself. When Gregory asked him if Dick Cheney had any credibility, the former president replied, “Well, I believe, […]

Barack Obama

Top 5 Reasons US Aid to “Moderate” Syrian Fighters is Quixotic

Juan Cole

The Obama administration’s fruitless search for effective Sunni “moderate” fighters in Syria continues, with the announcement of a $500 million grant to them for training and weaponry. This policy seems in part to be driven by Saudi Arabia from abroad and by liberal interventionists, including Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and UN Ambassador Susan […]

Barack Obama

Fox’s Cavuto slams Bachmann on suing Obama: “There’s so much Wrong Here”

contributors

It’s not often that a FOXNews host takes a Tea Party “darling” like Michelle Bachmann to task for her Obama-Derangement-Syndrome, but that’s exactly what happened earlier today when Neil Cavuto got into a shouting match with Bachmann regarding her support for House Speaker John Boehner’s pathetic push to file suit against President Obama for having […]