Exclusive: At every turn of the debt-ceiling battle, Republicans repeat the talking point that Washington doesn’t have a “revenue problem,” but a “spending problem” as if saying so makes it true. But the reality is that today’s debt crisis is…
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The Torturers’ Memoirs
The banality of evil is a common way of explaining why non-descript bureaucrats let their careerism and cowardice lead them into the practice of torture and other human rights crimes endorsed by their superiors. Yet, if these banal operatives are American,…
American Exceptionalism’s Hypocrisy
U.S. politicians often speak of “American exceptionalism” as some God-given grant of special status that puts the United States above the rules that apply to other nations. In geo-politics, this concept has meant that international law is enforced against countries…
Spanish Protests Lose Their Way
The popular protests across Spain gave voice to national indignation over the political/economic system, but the result of regional elections was only to shift power from the Socialists to the center-right Partido Popular. Spanish writer Pablo Ouziel says that outcome…
Bush Urged to Counsel with “Wise Women” on Iraq
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity SUBJECT: Recommendation: Try a Circle of “Wise Women” By way of re-introduction, we begin with a brief reminder of the analyses we provided you before the attack on Iraq.…
Advice for Bush’s State of the Union
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity SUBJECT: Your State-of-the-Union Address We write this, our fifth such memorandum to you since our critique of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s UN speech last February, out of concern that…
One Person Can Make a Difference
MEMORANDUM FOR: Colleagues in Intelligence FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity SUBJECT: One Person Can Make a Difference Our most recent open appeal to you, “Now It’s Your Turn,” was made on August 22, 2003. On that same day, it…
Intelligence Vets Urged to Speak Out on Iraq Intel
MEMORANDUM FOR: Colleagues in Intelligence FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity SUBJECT: Now It’s Your Turn Sixty-four summers ago, when Hitler fabricated Polish provocations in his attempt to justify Germany’s invasion of Poland, there was not a peep out…
Intelligence Unglued
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity SUBJECT: Intelligence Unglued The glue that holds the Intelligence Community together is melting under the hot lights of an awakened press. If you do not act quickly, your intelligence…
VIPS to Annan: Return UN Inspectors to Iraq
LETTER TO: The Honorable Kofi Annan, Secretary General, The United Nations FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (via fax) Dear Mr. Secretary General, We are former intelligence officials who have served many years at senior levels of the US intelligence…