Despite opposition by many prominent Republicans, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush are mounting an intensive public relations campaign to justify their pre-ordained invasion of Iraq. A preemptive strike against Iraq would violate the Constitution and the United Nations Charter. Article I, section 8 of the Constitution empowers Congress, not the president, to debate and… Read more »
Tag: 9/11 Attacks
Civil Liberties: J. Edgar Ashcroft?
On May 30, 2002, the same day America mourned the victims of the September 11 attack and the conclusion of the Ground Zero cleanup, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III unveiled sweeping new surveillance powers for the FBI. In order to cover up its own incompetence in failing to properly analyze… Read more »
The Deadly Pipeline War: U.S. Afghan Policy Driven by Oil Interests
George W. Bush justifies his bombing of Afghanistan as a war against terror. A twin motive, however, is to make Afghanistan safe for United States oil interests. A few days before September 11, the U.S. Energy Information Administration documented Afghanistan’s strategic “geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural and gas exports… Read more »
No Military Tribunals: Let UN Try Terrorists
George W. Bush’s order grant-ing the secretary of defense authority to establish a military commission to try suspected terrorists is a deliberate attempt to circumvent due process protections for criminal defendants, which are widely recognized in the United States and in international criminal tribunals. Ostensibly aimed at members of al-Qaeda, the commission would have jurisdiction… Read more »
Hoist on Our Own Petard
The tragedy of September 11 was unimaginable. Or was it? The hatred that fueled 19 people to blow themselves up and take thousands with them has its genesis in a history of the United States government’s exploitation of people in oil-rich nations around the world. President George W. Bush accuses the terrorists of targeting our… Read more »
Rise Above It: Fight Terror Legally
THE DRUMBEATS OF war resound all around our country. President Bush says, “We are at war,” and has deployed heavy bombers to the Persian Gulf. The government vows to wage a protracted military campaign and Congress has appropriated $40 billion to aid the recovery and war efforts. We have never seen more heinous acts of… Read more »