Month: January 2008

As various think-tanks and NGOs report Afghanistan is becoming destabilized by a resurgent Taliban and looming humanitarian crisis, Canada threatens to withdraw from the NATO coalition unless other countries contribute more battlefield troops: Afghan Reports Offer Bleak Assessments (BBC News) Canada PM Issues Afghan Ultimatum (BBC News) Hamas flexes its political muscles after breaching the […]

AG Mukasey comes clean on his waterboarding views, suggesting it “could be used against terrorism suspects once again if requested by the White House”: Mukasey Offers View on Waterboarding (New York Times) In order to stave off expiration of the warrantless wiretapping powers and come to a compromise, Congress passes a 15-day extension: Congress Passes […]

Human Rights lawyer Joanne Mariner argues that anti-terrorism laws have led to global trend in restrictions on free speech: Terrorism and Speech (Findlaw) Senators vote down Bush’s plans to make warrantless wiretapping permanent, but seek to give the law a 30-day extension for further debate: Democrats Standing Up to Bush on Warrantless Wiretapping Bill (Raw […]

Limits on free expression in secular Turkey demonstrated by 15-month (suspended) jail sentence imposed on liberal Turkish academic Attila Yayla for allegedly “insulting Turkishness”: Academic Sentenced Over Ataturk (BBC News) Iranian officials claim that Cairo and Tehran are close to restoring full diplomatic ties with each other: Iran and Egypt ‘To Restore Ties’ (BBC News) […]

Bush threatens to veto a wiretap bill denying immunity to telecoms: Veto of Wiretap Measure Is Threatened (Washington Post) Former CIA agent and antiwar.com columnist Phil Giraldi discusses his insider information on VP Cheney’s reassertion over foreign policy and intelligence processes: The Return of Dick Cheney (Huffington Post) FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds claims senior State […]

Bush asks Iraq to surrender its fig leaf sovereignty by giving the US wider discretion on military operations and legal immunity to American contractors: U.S. Asking Iraq for Wide Rights on War (New York Times) Turkey’s Islamic-oriented movement acts as the country’s liberalizing vanguard by seeking to ease restrictions on free speech and religious liberty: […]

The Padilla trial’s lesson is that the government has omnipotent power as long as it’s the military violating Americans’ Constitutional rights: The Ominous Message in Padilla (Future of Freedom Foundation) Appeals court orders resentencing of convicted “paintball 11” member finding his non-violent crimes did not justify a “terrorism enhancement”: Appeals Court Tosses Va. Terror Sentence […]

After being stonewalled by FBI, Justice Department and Congressional officials into her allegations of national security breaches by Turkish and Israeli agents, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds tells her story: Found in Translation (American Conservative Magazine) Study by two journalism organizations count 935 false statements on Iraq in the lead up to the war, with “at […]