Exclusive: Congress has voted to up the ante in the showdown with Russia over Ukraine, embracing a new Cold War and the neocon scheme for “regime change” in Moscow. But amid the tough-guy-ism there was little consideration of the risks from destabilizing…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Obama Administration, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
How Torture Puts Americans at Risk
Exclusive: Polls show that most Americans and an overwhelming majority of “conservatives” view post-9/11 torture as justified, presumably because it made them feel safer. But torture may actually have made them less safe, as retired JAG Major Todd E. Pierce…
Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Obama Administration, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Addressing the Cuban Five Injustice
America’s hypocrisy on terrorism included the U.S. government prosecuting and imprisoning five Cuban agents who were actually trying to thwart terrorist operations in Miami. President Obama’s prisoner swap with Cuba finally addressed that upside-down justice, as Marjorie Cohn reports.
Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Obama Administration, Politics, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Letting a Cuban Terrorist Go Free
From the Archive: As much as U.S. officials have decried “terrorism” even equating harboring a terrorist with the actual deed they have applied a completely different standard to “our” terrorists who are protected from extradition and treated with kid gloves,…
Sabotaging an Iran Nuke Deal
Tough-guy-ism remains a dominant ideology of Official Washington, even when it does no good for genuine U.S. interests. A case in point is the unending sabotage of a possible negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R.…
Europe Presses Israel on Palestine
As Israel heads into a historic election, more European parliamentarians are urging recognition of Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation. But it’s unclear if Israeli voters will heed the sentiments for peace or dig in deeper for more…
Torture Impunity and Police Shootings
A danger from the “war on terror” was always that it would encourage the spread of an authoritarian U.S. state, ignoring international law abroad and constitutional rights at home, a process that is now growing more apparent with impunity for…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Obama Administration, Right Wing, Secrecy, The Bush-43 Administration
Giving the Torturers a Pass
During Watergate, senior U.S. officials went to jail for lying and obstructing justice. Many politicians have gone to prison for taking bribes and for corruption. But it’s somehow unthinkable to prosecute Bush administration officials implicated in torture and murder, an…
In Case You Missed…
Some of our special stories in November focused on the Right’s successful political deceptions, America’s refusal to address its grim history, Israel’s drift toward greater repression, Ray McGovern’s mysterious arrest, and developments in Syria and Ukraine.
An Easier Way to Donate
From Editor Robert Parry: Over the past week, we have been adding new security features to our Web site so we can offer readers a safe way to contribute with a single-click, rather than having to input their credit card…
Finally, US Leadership on Global Warming
For years as global warming grew worse, the U.S. government found reasons not to act, but finally the Obama administration has not only talked the talk but walked the walk with tighter CO2 regulations, an example of real leadership, says…
‘As Truthful an Account as Possible’
From Editor Robert Parry: As you might suspect, we sometimes receive negative comments from people who don’t like our journalism, but more often we find that readers appreciate what we have tried to do over the past 19 years provide…
Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Obama Administration, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
America’s Earlier Embrace of Torture
Many well-meaning Americans are shocked by the torture disclosures in a Senate report and can’t believe U.S. officials would sanction acts such as waterboarding and “rectal feeding.” But the uglier truth is that the CIA has long taught and encouraged…
Pinochet’s Mad Scientist
From the Archive: Much like the 9/11 attacks, the Cold War plunged the U.S. government into the “dark side,” especially in Latin America where the CIA colluded with torturers and assassins, leading to grisly murders and enduring mysteries, as Samuel…
How Reagan Promoted Genocide
From the Archive: The Senate’s torture report is provoking some rare self-reflection among Americans even as TV talk shows are dominated by torture apologists. But there is a larger context to America’s modern embrace of the “dark side” including support for…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
Clashing Face-to-Face on Torture
Exclusive: It’s rare on TV when you see two former senior U.S. officials clashing angrily over something as significant as torture. Usually decorum prevails. But ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern wasn’t going to let the ex-House intelligence oversight chief get away…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Obama Administration, Right Wing, Secrecy, The Bush-43 Administration
The CIA’s Bureaucracy of Torture
Bureaucratic inertia the CIA’s desire for bigger budgets and then its fear of negative consequences helped drive the torture program from its frantic start to its belated finish, as Gareth Porter explains.
The Sordid Contra-Cocaine Saga
From the Archive: It’s been a decade since the big U.S. newspapers hounded journalist Gary Webb to suicide because he exposed their failure to stop one of Ronald Reagan’s worst crimes: drug trafficking by the Nicaraguan Contras. The sordid saga finally was told…
How Reagan Enforced US Hypocrisy
From the Archive: To understand why many right-wingers are so defensive about offensive U.S. acts, even waterboarding and anal rape, you must look back to the Reagan years when “moral equivalence” became an accusation against applying universal standards to the U.S.,…
Constitution, Human Rights, Intelligence, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Right Wing, The Bush-43 Administration
How ‘Awesome’ Is America?
Exclusive: America has an extraordinary capacity to submerge unpleasant truths about its past and present, from African-American slavery and Native-American genocide to bloodbaths in Vietnam and Iraq. Now faced with clear evidence of torture, one cheerleader simply says the U.S. is…