Uncategorized

By David Swanson

How does sex differ from torture? The one is good and the other bad, might be your immediate reply. But were I to describe an act of torture, this would be taken as a serious article. Were I to describe an act of sex, then political publications wouldn’t publish it, spam filters wouldn’t allow you to receive it, and if you did receive it, you might turn away. In fact, we have set up numerous mechanisms, external and internal, to protect you from sex that just don’t read more

By David Swanson

Here’s the latest reason they must be telling the truth about Iran and the need for a new war: they lied about the last one. That’s right, according to the latest dispatch from the Associated Press,

“No one who has seen the files has suggested the evidence is thin. But senior officials – gun shy after the drubbing the administration took for the faulty intelligence leading to the 2003 Iraq invasion – were underwhelmed by the packaging.”

See? It’s read more

By David Swanson

On Newsweek’s website you can flip through a short PDF slideshow of a presentation produced by the Pentagon in 2002. The presentation purports to show that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda were working together and had been for years. Not only was this a presentation of intelligence at odds with what the legitimate intelligence community was saying, but the first slide in the presentation provides reasons why read more

By David Swanson

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing today at which the Inspector General of the Pentagon, Thomas Gimble, testified that – and I’m loosely paraphrasing – the Iraq War was launched on a pack of lies.

Gimble has produced a report [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/18368 ] documenting the actions of the Office of Special Plans, which included read more

By David Swanson

Democrats on Capitol Hill see the world through bureaucratic shades and have been circulating this self-congratulatory Email:

“Over the last four years,the Republican Congress failed to conduct oversight on the Iraq war and failed to hold the Administration accountable for the conduct of the war. In contrast to this dismal record, in the last five weeks, the new Democratic-led Congress is already exercising vigorous oversight and demanding accountability from the Administration read more

By David Swanson

Those are our two goals now, and we are facing dual catastrophes spearheaded by a single unimpeached president. Some people have understood the goals of peace and environmental protection for quite some time. If the Democratic Party ever finds its soul, when it arrives in Denver for the 2008 Convention it should honor a resident of that city who is currently 91-years-old.

John McConnell founded Earth Day. He advocates dialogue with the Iranians, rather than threats and bombs, and read more

By David Swanson

This MyDD blog entry and this Politico article describe this PDF showing the results of a poll of all 100 U.S. Senators. It asks how they voted on the war in 2002, whether they regret that vote, whether they support escalating the war, and whether they support ending the war by a certain date. read more

From Tom Dispatch

At the moment, the spectacle of the I. Lewis Libby trial, of the den of thieves falling out, of the unraveling of old administration war stories, and of the possibility that, in the near future, the Vice President might appear in the witness stand for a grilling all occupy Washington’s center stage along with a restless Congress, filled with unnerved representatives of the President’s own Party, increasing numbers of whom are, by now, painfully aware that they are read more

By David Swanson

At the House Judiciary Committee hearings on Bush’s use of signing statements on Wednesday, two exchanges at the end were quite revealing. Four hours into a hearing interrupted by several votes (thanks, Nancy!) the corporate media had all departed. Broadcast media never showed in the first place. Only a few bloggers and a bunch of citizens and staffers hung behind. Most of the Congress Members had left for good.

Through most of the hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General read more