Reading the 499-page torture report just released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was a disgusting experience. Even after many years of writing books and articles about the Bush torture policy, I was unprepared for the atrocious pattern of crimes our government committed against other human beings in our name. One of the most… Read more »
When I testified last year before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties about Bush interrogation policies, Congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz) stated that former CIA Director Michael Hayden had confirmed that the Bush administration only waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashirit for one minute each…. Read more »
On April 1, a secret 81-page memo written by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo in March 2003 was made public. In that memo, Yoo advised the Bush administration that the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel would not enforce U.S. criminal laws, including federal statutes against torture, assault, maiming and stalking in… Read more »
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 governing the treatment of detainees is the culmination of relentless fear-mongering by the Bush administration since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Because the bill was adopted with lightning speed, barely anyone noticed that it empowers Bush to declare not just aliens, but also U.S. citizens, “unlawful enemy combatants.” Bush… Read more »
The Moussaoui jury today enters its fifth day of deliberations on whether to execute the self-avowed conspirator in the September 11 attacks. After hours of graphic testimony and videotapes of the horrors on 9/11, as well as Moussaoui’s confession, this should have been an open-and-shut case. Yet the jury cannot ignore the fact that Zacarias… Read more »
The terror’s in the room. – CBS Journalist Edward R. Murrow, 1954 (Good Night and Good Luck) The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. – Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1933 During the 1950’s, our government succumbed to the fear of Communism hyped by Senator Joseph McCarthy. People… Read more »
Once again, at the 11th hour, the Bush administration has pulled its punches in the case of Jose Padilla. Using an approach that more closely resembles a game of chess than a system of justice, Team Bush has altered its strategy, while seeking to keep all options open. Its fancy footwork, however, may ultimately backfire…. Read more »
Major General Geoffrey Miller, the American commander in charge of detentions and interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, recently conducted an overnight tour of the facility for journalists. He proudly displayed “Camp Liberty” and “Camp Redemption,” newly renovated in response to the torture scandal unleashed by the release of the disgusting photographs last spring…. Read more »
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a communist;Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a socialist;Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a trade unionist;Then they came for the… Read more »
The election’s over, but the Bush spin machine goes on. In anticipation of hard questions Alberto Gonzales will face at his attorney general confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, Bush’s lawyers are seeking to minimize the damage from the release of the torture memos in which Gonzales concurred. Gonzales wrote a memo… Read more »