Political Ideas

By David Swanson

If you’re paying attention, you know that no more evidence is needed to prosecute and convict our top national torturers, murderers, war mongers, eavesdroppers, and election riggers. If you want to protest our nation’s descent into open lawlessness, by no means delay. If you’re not planning on going to church on May 31st, for godsake don’t. But if you are planning to attend a church that day, and if more torture read more

By David Swanson

One of the best books published in Canada last year is one of the best books published in the United States thus far this year: “The Sun Climbs Slow: The International Criminal Court and the Struggle for Justice,” by Erna Paris.

It’s appropriate for this story to come to us from our northern neighbor. This is largely a history of the development of international law, culminating in the surprising success of the creation of an international criminal court (ICC). read more

By David Swanson

Philip Zelikow may be best known as the guy who oversaw the 9-11 Commission’s utter failure to investigate George W. Bush’s criminal negligence in the lead up to September 11, 2001. He also directed the Carter-Baker commission on elections that led to the Help America Vote Act, which in turn led to the most high-tech but least credible system of elections yet devised and the dubious and disastrous outcome of the 2004 presidential contest.

Zelikow served on Bush’s read more

Audio clips:

Main 41:54 22.3 meg . Q&A 21.5 meg

Amherst Women In Black and Progressive Democrats of America present a conversation with John Bonifaz and David Swanson.

Is it still a crime if a President does it? If Obama keeps the powers Bush seized, what powers do we have? If war criminals walk, what will prevent war crimes?

http://www.activeingredients.org

By David Swanson

While much of elite US punditry is backing away from torture, Jeff Jacoby is claiming to have opposed it but to now find it excusable. His Boston Globe column takes a very “balanced” approach. He both opposes torture under all circumstances AND excuses it given the current circumstances:

“I contended that the cruel abuse of terrorist detainees was something we could never countenance – not just because torture is illegal, unreliable, and a threat to the read more

By David Swanson

On August 1, 2002, then-Assistant Attorney General of the United States Jay Bybee sent an 18-page official memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel to the Acting General Counsel of the CIA John Rizzo. Such memos are treated as laws within our government, not opinions, not theories, not briefings, but laws. They are secret laws, but in many cases there’s not much risk of us ordinary schmucks who don’t know the laws violating them, at least not without also violating read more

By David Swanson

If you missed Tuesday’s press conference at the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs got himself into some trouble, and it all started with those two little syllables:

“Helen.”

Upon which Helen Thomas one again abandoned propriety and asked an actual question:

“Why is the President blocking habeas corpus from prisoners at Bagram? I thought he taught constitutional law. And these prisoners have been there –“

Here’s where Gibbs stepped in read more