Author: Alejandro

JC Chairman Mike Mullen believes Guantanamo needs to closed because its prisoner abuses harmed America’s image: Joint Chiefs Chairman: Close Guantanamo (Associated Press/The Guardian) Bush continues his tour of the Middle East and revives his rhetoric of regional democracy promotion, but is likely to contradict himself by reaffirming his close relationship with Saudi Arabia despite…

Concerns over identity security and privacy have civil libertarians and some state governments resisting new standards for a national ID card: U.S. Issues National ID Standards, Setting Stage for a Showdown (New York Times) DNI Mike McConnell’s says waterboarding would be torture “if used against him, or if someone under interrogation was taking water into…

Members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and neo-cons continue same tactics to persecute Virginia-based Islamic Saudi Academy, first accusing the Saudi government and now the State Dept. of non-cooperation: Critics of Saudi Academy Say Textbooks Promote Intolerance (Washington Post) New York Times op-ed slams America’s bloated and ineffective Homeland Security bureaucracy and…

World Health Organization estimates 100,000 to 220,000 Iraqis have been killed since the 2003 invasion: New Study Says 151,000 Iraqi Dead (BBC News) Lawyers for Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo call it letting the fox guard the henhouse,  there will be no independent probe into the destruction of the CIA torture tapes: Judge Rejects New CIA…

Former Marine tells military court that 19 Afghan civilians were “needlessly killed”, violating laws of war: Afghan Civilians Were Killed Needlessly, Ex-Marine Testifies (New York Times) Independent journalist Dahr Jamail argues sectarian violence in Iraq is largely driven by policies enacted by the occupation: The Myth of Sectarian Violence in Iraq (Alternet) President Bush lands…

With the recent 2007 NIE deflating some tensions between Iran and the US and rising inflation, Supreme Leader Khamanei has largely withdrawn support for President Ahmadinejad’s policies: A President’s Defender Keeps His Distance (New York Times) Although US-backed Sunni groups continue to increase their influence, questions remain over loyalties; meanwhile Iraq’s main nationalist militant group,…

Harris Interactive poll finds majority of Americans are dissatisfied with current status of counterterrorism policies and health of civil liberties: U.S. Upset with Bush on Terrorism, Civil Liberties (Angus Reid) In spite of recent hullaboo made over alleged Iranian assistance to militias in Iraq, a government think-tank’s “snapshot” look at Muslim foreign fighters finds Saudis…

FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds alleges criminal negligence and/or complicity is behind some important US officials selling nuclear secrets to Pakistani intelligence through Turkish agents and Turkish and Israeli penetration of sensitive military and academic institutions: For Sale: West’s Deadly Nuclear Secrets (Sunday Times) Antiwar activist and 1972 Presidential candidate George McGovern makes the case for…

Ranking Congresswoman Jane Harman reveals back in 2003 that she advised the CIA to not destroy the torture tapes, while Constitutional expert John Turley argues on TV the investigation of the torture tapes “could lead to criminal culpability of the President”: CIA in 2003 Planned Destruction of Tapes (Washington Post) Expert: Crime of Torture Could…