Special Report: The George H.W. Bush Library in Texas has just released thousands of pages of documents on the October Surprise mystery, revealing how Bush’s inner circle handled allegations that the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 struck a treacherous deal with Iran.…
Blockades from Boston to Gaza
American leaders have a different view of punishing blockades today than they did after the British authorities imposed one on Boston in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party. Then, collective punishment of Massachusetts spurred the Revolutionary War; but now, Israel’s…
South Africa’s Corruption Cancer
South Africa is often viewed as the model for Africa’s future, an inspiring country that shed the curse of apartheid and white supremacy in a largely peaceful transition to majority black rule. But the corrupt economic culture of that earlier era…
Bachmann’s Aide Hides $10M Secret
Exclusive: When Rep. Michelle Bachmann landed Ed Rollins as her campaign manager, the move gave a shot of credibility to her presidential bid. Washington pundits adore Rollins and his blunt style, so much so that they have ignored the fact…
Putting Torturers Above the Law
In another example of how Democrats deal timidly with Republican crimes, the Obama administration has closed the book on the vast majority of George W. Bush’s torture scandals, including high-level approval of waterboarding and other forms of physical coercion. Only two…
Gaza and a Liturgy for Justice
Exclusive: The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat among a small flotilla seeking to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza, was turned back by Greek authorities doing the bidding of Washington and Tel Aviv. However, for ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern,…
Can Civil Protest Counter Israel Lobby?
In 1773, when the British blockaded Boston in retaliation for “terrorist” acts against agents of the Crown, the Thirteen Colonies decried this collective punishment of Massachusetts, setting the stage for the Revolutionary War. However, 238 years later, the United States…
Obama Slow-Walks Afghan Defeat
Like George W. Bush’s Iraq War, the Afghan conflict appears grinding toward an American defeat. However, President Obama doesn’t want the voters to recognize that fact until after Election 2012 to avoid getting the blame so he is stretching out…
Bachmann Flunks History, Again
Rep. Michele Bachman, a rising Republican presidential aspirant, is notorious for bungling key facts of U.S. history like starting the Revolutionary War in New Hampshire but she also misses key points about Canada’s more robust economy. It benefited from strong…
What Is an American ‘Patriot’?
As the patriotic celebrations of July Fourth fade, there remains the enduring question of what it really means to be an American “patriot.” Is it loyalty to the country whatever its actions or is it a readiness to criticize some…
Afghan War Data Hit ‘Surge’ Success
As chief commander in the Afghan War, Gen. David Petraeus has been desperate to show evidence that his latest “surge” succeeded in degrading the Taliban fighting strength. However, recently compiled figures show more attacks by the Taliban and higher U.S. casualties,…
Robert Parry’s July Fourth Appeal
For several decades now, the American Republic has been under a new form of assault, one that takes aim at what the Founders recognized as both the great strength and the great vulnerability of democracy, an informed electorate.
Religious Tests of Campaign 2012
Though the United States has a tradition of separating church and state, the 2012 presidential campaign may test the limits of that tolerance. Not only do some Republicans continue to question Barack Obama’s Christianity, but GOP front-runner Mitt Romney is…
A July Fourth Shame on the Founders
Exclusive: A group of American humanitarians and activists are still trying to make their way to Gaza in protest of the harsh Israeli embargo on the 1.6 million Palestinians confined there. However, an attempt to set sail from Athens on…
Neocons Want War and More War
Exclusive: The neoconservatives remain powerful in Washington in large part because of their continued influence inside leading opinion-setting journals like the New York Times and the Washington Post, two prestige newspapers that have pressed ahead with the neocon agenda despite serious…
Hurt Feelings Over Afghan Complaints
American officials are expressing hurt feelings over complaints from Afghan leaders about the deaths of civilians resulting from the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Some Afghans have gone so far as to accuse NATO of “occupying” their country these past 10…
At 93, Mandela Still Inspires
As he turns 93, Nelson Mandela can look back on an extraordinary life of accomplishment, as the world’s iconic leader on behalf of racial justice and individual liberty. A new book of quotations compiles some of what he has learned…
Is ‘Delegitimizing’ Israel Anti-Semitic?
Israel and its backers are on the political offensive against critics who are putting non-violent pressure on the Likud government of Benjamin Netanyahu to address the legitimate needs of Palestinians and to recognize human rights for all people who live…
The NYT’s Favor and Fear
Exclusive: A federal court opinion has revealed that the New York Times’s 2004 spiking of the story about President George W. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping of Americans didn’t stand alone. A year earlier, the Times bowed to another White House demand to kill a sensitive…
Forgetting South Africa’s Triumph
South Africa’s heroic defeat of white supremacy made the country and its leader, Nelson Mandela, icons across the world. However, the nation’s neoliberal economic policies have left many South Africans struggling in poverty and growing despair, as Danny Schechter reports…
Make-or-Break Mid-Year Fund Drive
Several of our long-running journalistic projects from the October Surprise hostage/election scandal of 1980 to the ongoing wars in the Muslim world are at crucial stages, and we need your help to see them through. We are setting the goal…
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,…
A Land of Haves and Have-Nots
Like much of the U.S. news media, the Washington press corps likes a good diversion from the real problems facing the country, such as having to deal with new research confirming that the United States is dividing into a land of…
Gaza and Thoughts of a Starving Ireland
Exclusive: Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern has joined with other humanitarians in a small flotilla determined to sail from Athens to Gaza in a challenge to Israel’s embargo of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped on that narrow strip of land. Awaiting departure,…