It’s déja vu. This time the Bush gang wants war with Iran . Following a carefully orchestrated strategy, they have ratcheted up the “threat” from Iran, designed to mislead us into a new war four years after they misled us into Iraq. Like its insistence that Iraq had WMD, the Bush administration has been hyping… Read more »
In one of the most severe blows the Bush administration has dealt to our constitutional democracy, the Pentagon attacked the lawyers who have volunteered to represent the Guantánamo detainees. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Stimson threatened corporate lawyers who agree to defend the men and boys imprisoned there. Flashing a list of corporations that… 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 »
We do not believe the Executive has, or should have, the inherent constitutional authority to violate the law or infringe the legal rights of Americans, whether it be a warrantless break-in into the home or office of an American, warrantless electronic surveillance, or a President’s authorization to the FBI to create a massive domestic security… Read more »
In his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, General Michael Hayden promised to promote autonomy and objectivity in the CIA if confirmed as its new director. Hayden assured the senators he would provide “hard-edged assessments” and be tolerant of dissenting views on intelligence matters. “When it comes to speaking truth to power,” Hayden… Read more »
Recent revelations indicate that the President of the United States continues to flout the law. In December, we learned that Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security Agency to violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by wiretapping without a warrant. Two weeks ago, the Boston Globe revealed that Bush has claimed… 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 »
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was called before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 06 to explain why George W. Bush’s program of warrantless spying on Americans is lawful. Before Gonzales began his testimony, the committee voted along party lines to dispense with the oath. Thus, if Gonzales were to lie, he could not be convicted… Read more »
Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires – a wiretap requires a court order.-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004, Buffalo, New York. In an assertion of executive power that rivals the excesses of the McCarthy era of the late 1940’s and 1950’s, and the dreaded COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) of… 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 »