This would be comical if the situation in Syria wasn’t so serious. This reporting, via the New York Times, shows the complete inability to understand that Washington isn’t the arbiter of what happens inside Syria. Nor should it be. This is ineptitude framed as serious policy. Besides, there are countless forces backing the “rebels” and…
Showing all posts tagged Barack Obama
What torture at Guantanamo Bay feels like
Powerful statement by the campaigning British group Reprieve: Younous Chekkouri, a detainee who has been cleared for release but remains held in Guantanamo, has given the first inside account of… the raid carried out by prison authorities on Saturday 13 April. Speaking to a lawyer from human rights charity… Reprieve… via an unclassified phone call, Mr Chekkouri has…
Jeremy Scahill, Amy Goodman and Noam Chomsky talk “Dirty Wars”
The following event took place on 27 April in the US:
We kill, drone and bomb Muslims and we wonder why some hate us?
Powerful column in the UK Independent by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: First, read this unconditional acceptance of facts that cannot be denied nor excused. Islamicist terrorism has inflicted atrocities and diffused panic and amorphous, long-term anxiety from east to west, south to north. Citizens of Nairobi and Baghdad, Madrid and London, Bamako and Dar es Salaam, New…
Dirty Wars trailer hits
One of the most remarkable journalists around, Jeremy Scahill, publishes his new book this month, Dirty Wars. There’s also a documentary of the same name (more info here) by Scahill and Rick Rowley. The trailer has just been released:
When will the NYT call torture by its rightful name, torture?
Cracking writing by Andrew Sullivan on the gutlessness of the supposed paper of record: There was something almost poignant about a… post yesterday… by former NYT executive editor Bill Keller. It’s his way of explaining why he decided the Times could not use the plain word ”˜torture’ to describe torture – when it was conducted by the…
Life of an uncharged Yemeni prisoner at Guantanamo Bay
Devastating piece in the New York Times that needs no explanation: GUANTÃNAMO BAY, Cuba One man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago. I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not…
Despite Obama promises, drone war killing indiscriminately
Essential new journalism by McClatchy Newspapers – it should be remembered that the same news service were one of the few before the 2003 Iraq invasion questioning WMD lies – on the reality on the ground for Barack Obama’s massively expanded drone campaign: Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior…