Category: Secrecy

Will Downing St. Memo Recur on Iran?

Exclusive: A decade after the infamous “Downing Street Memo” and its “fixed” intelligence for invading Iraq, the pressure is on again to make the case whatever the facts for a new war with Iran. Will the UK’s MI6 and the CIA bend…

Reviving the Rendition Debate

Bush-era torture and extraordinary rendition have been pushed aside by the Obama administration, as it still seeks to look forward, not backward. But a group of international parliamentarians revived the troubling issue in calling for serious investigations now, not later,…

Angry Money v. Democracy

A handful of “angry, old, white men” are on their way to buying the American elections, says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But Republicans in Congress are making sure those identities stay secret by killing a bill that would at least…

Harassing the Whistleblowers

Exclusive: Food and Drug Administration officials reacted to suspected whistleblowing by some of its scientists, about excessive radiation from medical imaging devices, by spying on several. But the larger issue is the need to alert the public to  unnecessary risks, writes ex-CIA…

Romney’s ‘Fact-Checker’ Cover-up

Exclusive: The “independent fact-checkers,” who have been shielding Mitt Romney from questions about Bain Capital’s off-shoring jobs and closing factories, are growing more isolated as the New York Times and other news outlets call for Romney to disclose more, reports…

The Romney ‘Fact-Checking’ Scandal

Exclusive: Mitt Romney cites “independent fact-checkers” to spare him from having to explain exactly what he did with Bain Capital after February 1999. But those “fact-checkers” are acting less like impartial journalists and more like argumentative lawyers covering Romney’s political flanks, writes Robert…

July 14, 2003: A Day of Infamy

From the Archive: July 14 is a French holiday celebrating the 1789 liberation of the Bastille prison in Paris, leading to the overthrow of the monarchy. But there were less auspicious events connected to that date in 2003, during the autocratic…

Bohemian Grove & Reagan’s ‘Treason’

Exclusive: This weekend, Occupy protesters are targeting the Bohemian Grove in California, where well-connected rich men go on retreats several weekends each summer. The secrecy of the 1980 encampment became a factor in the cover-up of possible “treason” by Ronald Reagan and George…

Mitt Romney: The New Teflon Man

Exclusive: Mitt Romney is fast becoming the new Teflon man. Whenever he faces criticism for his past business practices, “independent fact-checkers” rush to his rescue and insist that he’s been wronged, regardless of what the evidence actually is, Robert Parry notes.

The Mystery of Arafat’s Death

Exclusive: In 2004, when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat suddenly fell ill and died, suspicions swirled that he might have been poisoned, but no autopsy was performed. Now, nearly eight years later, his death is getting new scrutiny, though ex-CIA analyst…