Category: The Bush-43 Administration

PRISM’s Controversial Forerunner

From the Archive: Richard L. Fricker, a courageous journalist and frequent writer at Consortiumnews, died on Sept. 12 from heart failure. Among Fricker’s important work was his investigation of the U.S. government’s PROMIS software which preceded the NSA’s Orwellian PRISM, as Fricker…

Dishing Up International Law a la Carte

Official Washington honors international law when it’s politically useful, such as in condemning a global adversary, but then dismisses it as useless if it gets in the way of some desired U.S. action. This “international law a la carte” undermines…

Perfecting ‘Regime Change’ in Ukraine

The Obama administration has refined the practice of “regime change,” moving away from old-fashioned tanks in the street or overt invasions by U.S. troops, opting instead for “democracy promotion” that relies on “information warfare” to unseat elected governments disfavored by Washington, says Ted Snider.

A Third Decade of Bombing Iraq

Bombing ISIS amounts to attacking a symptom rather than finding a cure. But the cure would require addressing politically sensitive issues, such as Israel oppressing Palestinians and Saudi Arabia financing Islamic extremism. So the U.S. does what it knows best blowing stuff up…

Cheney’s Dangerous Mideast Nostrums

The extremist group ISIS asserts that only brutality will drive Westerners, including Israelis of European descent, from the Middle East. But the flip side of that coin is the demand from the likes of Dick Cheney for ever increasing repression of…

Neocons Revive Syria ‘Regime Change’ Plan

Exclusive: President Obama plans to violate international law by launching airstrikes inside Syria without that government’s consent, even though Syria might well give it. Is Obama playing into neocon hands by providing a new argument for “regime change” in Damascus, asks Robert Parry.

NYT Reverses on Merits of ‘Perpetual War’

President Obama’s decision to expand U.S. attacks against ISIS radicals into Syria without that government’s approval is fraught with risks, including that U.S. forces might be sucked into yet another Mideast civil war, but the New York Times seems all right with…

The Earlier 9/11 Acts of Terror

Exclusive: As the U.S. government sets off on a new “war on terror” in the Middle East on the eve of 9/11’s 13th anniversary there is little national memory of how U.S. authorities tolerated waves of terror in the Western…

Off on Another ‘War’ Against ‘Terror’

The original post-9/11 “war on terror” rejected a targeted police-oriented response toward al-Qaeda, which also would have focused on root causes of Sunni extremism, and instead demanded a military “war.” Now, 13 years later, few lessons have been learned, says…

Sidestepping Ukraine’s ‘N-Word’ for Nazi

Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. media is hazing German Chancellor Merkel and President Obama for sidestepping the “I-word” invasion in reference to Russia and Ukraine. But the MSM goes mute on Ukraine’s “N-word” for “Nazi” so as not to disrupt the pro-Kiev…