Richard Bruce Cheney

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | — Jeb Bush’s people are trying to walk back his disastrous interview with Megyn Kelly in which he said that even if he knew then what we all know now, he would have launched the war on Iraq in 2003. It is true that he doesn’t seem to […]

African-Americans

We’re all Iraqis now: How Bush’s Wars Militarized Baltimore & Ferguson Police

contributors

By Michael Gould-Wartofsky | (Tomdispatch.com) | – Last week, as Baltimore braced for renewed protests over the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) prepared for battle. With state-of-the-art surveillance of local teenagers’ Twitter feeds, law enforcement had learned that a group of high school students was planning to march on the Mondawmin […]

Bush

Jeb Bush on Foreign Policy: Peddling old Iraq Myths Again

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Jeb Bush gave a maiden foreign police speech in Chicago yesterday in which he mixed up Iran with Iraq and alleged with science fictional inaccuracy that Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) has 200,000 men under arms. The actual number of fighters is probably 20,000. His office later admitted that […]

Barack Obama

Against Torture: American Heroes who Indicted Cheney’s Dark Side

contributors

By Rebecca Gordon | (Tomdispatch.com) Why was it again that, as President Obama said, “we tortured some folks” after the 9/11 attacks? Oh, right, because we were terrified. Because everyone knows that being afraid gives you moral license to do whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe. That’s why we don’t shame or […]

Bush

Is ISIL’s ‘Shock and Awe’ more Awe-ful because One Victim?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) burning of a captured Jordanian pilot alive produced justified revulsion globally, resulting in the terrorist organization being termed “barbarous” and similar epithets. Why did it behave this way? Because it wants to terrify its opponents into submission and underline that it is too […]

Bill of Rights

“President Authorized Torture Techniques”: Cheney and Rove throw Bush under the Bus

contributors

Cenk Uygur “The Young Turks” | — “”Former President George W. Bush knew about and authorized the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other controversial tactics, according to Karl Rove, Bush’s former top political adviser. A report released last week by the Senate Intelligence Committee asserted that Bush was […]

African-Americans

What Ferguson, Eric Garner, and CIA Torture Have in Common

contributors

By Shahid Buttar | (Daily Kos) | From black sites to #BlackLivesMatter, it’s time to end impunity for criminals with badges. There’s no better way for Washington to commemorate Human Rights Day than by letting the public finally learn the truth about torture. And there’s no better way for concerned Americans to do so than […]

CIA

Burned: Valerie Plame Wilson’s new Roman a Clef on Dick Cheney’s Great Betrayal

contributors

Bloomberg “Valerie Plame Wilson, author and former CIA officer, discusses her new book entitled “Burned” and national security in the 21st century with Bloomberg’s Pimm Fox on “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)” Channel 4: “Former CIA Agent Valerie Plame Embraces Being ‘Burned’ ”

Barack Obama

Obama steps up to call Bush-era CIA Torture “Torture,” Despite Legal Implications

contributors

CNN points out that President Obama’s forthright condemnation of Bush administration-era CIA torture could cause legal problems for Agency employees, and that the Congressional report he was talking about avoided that diction. Obama doesn’t very often any more speak his mind, but in this case he clearly felt strongly enough about the betrayal of constitutional […]