Inconvenient Facts and ‘Conspiracy Theories’
"Do you ever get the sense the whole world is becoming unhinged from reality?" That is the question posed by David Brooks in his New York Times op-ed of January 6, appropriately entitled, "The Era of Distortion". "Yes," would be my own answer to that question, and...
The Mea Culpa of Our Times
Ahmad Chalabi has become a convenient scapegoat not only for the United States Government, but also, it seems, for the American media establishment. In a letter they would have us believe is their mea culpa, the editors of The New York Times name Chalabi as prominent...
The ‘Risk’ of Justice
On December 18, 2001, The U.S. Department of Justice sent a memorandum to William J. Haynes, II, General Counsel at the Department of Defense. The memo, entitled "Possible habeas jurisdiction over aliens held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" and written by Deputy Assistant...
The ‘Constraints’ of International Humanitarian Law
On January 25, 2002, the U.S. Justice Department sent a memorandum to the George W. Bush reasserting the judgment that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Entitled "Decision Re Application of the Geneva Convention on...
The Pros and Cons of the Geneva Conventions
Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote a memo to follow-up on the January 25, 2002 State Department memorandum to the George W. Bush, entitled "Decision Re Application of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War to the Conflict With al Qaeda and the Taliban", which...
The Selective Application of the Geneva Conventions
A draft memorandum from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel dated January 9, 2002, entitled "Application of Treaties and Laws to al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees", was written to inform the Department of Defense that the U.S. government, in the "war on...
The U.S. and Cluster Munitions: Lessons Disregarded
The US government’s continued use of cluster munitions demonstrates the vacuity of the claim that it engages in “humanitarian” warfare.
Disregarding International Humanitarian Law
In a memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President, and William J. Haynes, General Counsel of the Department of Defense, Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee concludes that the Geneva Conventions "do not protect members of the al Qaeda organization",...
Alberto Gonzales and the Rule of Lawlessness
As Senator Patrick Leahy noted in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez to be U.S. Attorney General, Gonzales has been “chief defense lawyer for the White House on a number of very important and, many times, politically sensitive...
America, Babylon and the Ten Commandments
Much attention has been paid recently to a monument of the Ten Commandments between the Texas Capitol and State Supreme Court, with protestors of the statue arguing that it is a violation of the clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution commonly referred to as...
What’s so great about democracy?
With all the talk today about “spreading democracy”, two major questions should immediately come to mind. The first is whether or not there is any truth at all to the declarations of noble intent from the proponents of empire, a subject which has received great...
Depleted Uranium: Lessons in ‘Humanitarian’ and Other Warfare
The US military’s use of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq constitutes a war crime for the indiscriminate harm it causes to the health of Iraqis.
Applying the U.S. Standard: State Sponsors of Terrorism
“What are our global obligations? To give terrorists no support, no sanctuary.” – President Clinton, speaking before the United Nations on terrorism in 1998[1] “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” –...
Connecting the Dots: The 9/11 Commission’s ‘Failure of Imagination’
The 9/11 Commission’s final report has not much to say about allegations of insider trading prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Negligence in the ’93 World Trade Center Bombing
A jury ruled this week that the New York Port Authority was negligent in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six people and injured 1,000. In that incident, terrorists detonated a van full of explosives in the parking garage of the World Trade...
Wiping Palestine from the Map
Last week, Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said, “Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury. Any who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world…As the Imam said,...
Accusing Syria
The drums of war have again been beating at an ever-increasing tempo. In the crosshairs are Iran and Syria. Syria has been taking the heat since the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The U.S. was quick to point the finger at Syria, and a recent UN report...
Iraq and the Politics of the ‘Conspiracy Theory’
Simply apply the word “conspiracy” to a thing and it suddenly becomes unbelievable, too ridiculous to be true, the stuff of fantasy.
Polk’s War: Taking nothing by conquest
It was the “manifest destiny” of the U.S., John O’Sullivan famously wrote, “to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”[1] In furtherance of this “manifest destiny”, President James Polk sent General...
The Splendid Little War
The sinking of the USS Maine served as a dubious pretext for the US’s “splendid little war” for imperial expansion.
