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Extremist Bush supporter calls for murder of scientists

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:30:00 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Feb. 13 (Opinion) - We are not even at war with Iran. Congress has not declared war or authorized military force against that country. Yet Reynolds thinks that the Bush administration, unilaterally, should send people to murder Iranian scientists and religious leaders -- just pick out whichever ones we don't like and slaughter them. No charges. No trial. No accountability. Just roving death squads deployed and commanded by our Leader, slaughtering whomever he wants dead.

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The NY Times returns to pre-Iraq-war "journalism"

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Feb. 10 (Opinion) - Over the past few weeks, The Los Angeles Times has published several detailed and well-documented articles casting serious doubt on the administration's claims that Iran is fueling the Iraqi insurgency with weapons. A couple of months ago, The Washington Post published a very well-researched article reporting that extensive searches by British military brigades in Southern Iraq -- specifically in the areas where such weapons would almost certainly be transported and maintained -- have turned up nothing. It seemed as though the media was treating the war-inflaming claims of Bush officials against Iran much more skeptically, refusing to simply pass along accusations without first conducting an investigation to determine if those claims were true. But today, The New York Times does precisely the opposite -- it has published a lengthy, prominent front-page article by Michael Gordon that does nothing, literally, but mindlessly recite administration claims about Iran's weapons-supplying activities without the slightest questioning, investigation, or presentation of ample counter-evidence. The entire article is nothing more than one accusatory claim about Iran after the next, all emanating from the mouths of anonymous military and "intelligence officials" without the slightest verified evidence, and Gordon just mindlessly repeats what he has been told in one provocative paragraph after the next.

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A look at John McCain's blogger-consultant

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 08:45:05 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Feb. 07 (Opinion) - Apparently, there is a new standard that any blogger who has made controversial or profane remarks in the past is unsuitable to work for a political campaign. That is the premise of these two articles -- one from The New York Times and another from the Associated Press' Nedra Pickler -- which picks up the latest idiocy from the right-wing blogosphere by claiming (in the case of the Times): Two bloggers hired by John Edwards to reach out to liberals in the online world have landed his presidential campaign in hot water for doing what bloggers do -- expressing their opinions in provocative and often crude language. But when the Times claims that the Edwards campaign is "in hot water," what they mean is that there are complaints from right-wing bloggers and people like the right-wing Catholic League's Bill Donahue, who is an excellent arbiter of bigotry and impropriety as the author of such enlightened views as: "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, okay? And I'm not afraid to say it."

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Nothing to celebrate

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glen Greenwald - Jan. 17 (Opinion) - Having read around the blogosphere and elsewhere, what emerges is that there is no way to discern exactly what this new framework is between the administration and the FISA court because the only evidence describing it is Gonzales' letter, which is quite vague in a number of respects about exactly what has happened. But ultimately, there are only two options -- (1) the administration is now complying fully and exclusively with FISA when eavesdropping, in which case all of its prior claims that it could not do so and still fight against The Terrorists are false, or (2) the administration has changed its eavesdropping program some, but it is still not fully complying with FISA, in which case nothing of significance has changed (at least on the lawbreaking issues) because the administration is still violating the law.

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The collapse of the Bush presidency poses risks

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:29:15 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glen Greenwald - Jan. 14 (Opinion) - It really is striking that whenever one is convinced that Bush's unpopularity ratings have reached their nadir, the one thing that can always drive them even further downward is Bush's appearance on national television to explain himself to the country (or, to use Jules Crittenden's classic formulation: for the President to "address us . . . and show us the way forward"). Even after six years, the more Americans see and hear from George Bush, the more they dislike him.

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Iraqis learn the art of legal

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:55:31 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Jan. 01 (Opinion) - This depressing New York Times article by John Burns and Marc Santora details the frantic, reckless manner in which Saddam Hussein was shoved into the noose in clear violation of Iraqi law. We can't even get a hanging right.

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Swamped by Muslims

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:40:01 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Dec. 19 (Opinion) - If you look too hard at the specific individuals who compose our Government, it is difficult to maintain any residual sense of optimism about America's future. It's just best not to look too closely at the specific individuals, because what you will see are many, many Rep. Goodes floating around.

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Did Rahm Emanuel lie about his knowledge of Mark Foley? Yes.

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:10:00 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Dec. 10 (Opinion) - At the height of the Mark Foley scandal in October -- when Democrats were pounding Denny Hastert and company on a daily basis for having taken no action despite knowing about the emails sent by Foley to at least one page ...

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The company we keep

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:20:20 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Dec. 08 (Opinion) - The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a new report documenting the rise of what it considers to be one of the most dangerous trends -- the arrest and detention of journalists who are held indefinitely without any charges being brought. China, Cuba, Eritrea and Ethiopa "were the top four jailers among the 24 nations who imprisoned journalists." Those four countries are followed on the list by seven other countries which have more than one journalist in custody. The U.S. is part of that group, tied with Russia. Both Russia and the U.S. are each holding two journalists without charges (that we know of). Also in that group are Algeria, Azerbajian, Burma, Burundi, and Uzbekistan. Iran did not make it into that group because it is holding only one journalist in custody, and the same is true for Vietnam (Venezuela, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are holding none).

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The Military Commissions Act in action

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:40:03 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Nov. 14 (Opinion) - There is no greater betrayal of the core principles of American political life than to have the federal government sweep people off the streets, throw them into a black hole with no contact with the outside world and no charges asserted of any kind, and simply keep them there for as long as the President desires -- in al-Marri's case, with respect to detention, now five years and counting.

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Extremely odd behavior from the Washington Post re: the President's Rumsfeld lie

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:45:15 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Nov. 10 (News Analysis) - At some point, the Post changed what was the accurate reporting -- that Bush expressly acknowledged that he "misled" reporters because he had "indicated that he had made the decision to replace Rumsfeld before the elections" -- by claiming in the new version that he merely "contemplated" Rumsfeld's exit before the election. Worse, the Post deleted entirely the accurate statement that the President "appeared to acknowledge having misled reporters."

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Iraq for Sale is Launched! And What a Week it Was...

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:19:25 -0700

Huffington Post - By Robert Greenwald - Oct. 16 (Opinion) - Saturday night brought to an end, an amazing week, with over 4,000 screenings of Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers scheduled and more coming in every day from all over the country.

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Mark Foley and the unmasked Republican Party

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 03:52:50 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Oct. 04 (Opinion) - Denny Hastert is smack in the middle of one of the tawdriest and ugliest sex scandals in American political history. As a result, he has been the target of aggressive criticism, even from a few members of his own party, and, by all accounts, is desperately battling to keep his job. In need of moral absolution and support from a respected and admired figure who possesses moral authority among Hastert's morally upstanding Republican base, to whom does Hastert turn? A priest or respected reverend? An older wise political statesman with a reputation for integrity and dignity? No, there is only one person with sufficient moral credibility among the increasingly uncomfortable moralistic Republican base who can give Hastert the blessing he needs

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George Bush's vast new powers of detention and interrogation

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:16:15 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Sep. 28 (News Report) - Final passage of the torture/detention bill was 65-34. Without necessarily planning in advance to do so, I live-blogged the Senate proceedings here (if you're going to subject yourself to something as unpleasant as watching U.S. Senators "debate" a bill to give the U.S. President the powers of torture and indefinite detention, it's much healthier to have an outlet when doing so). Twelve Democrats voted in favor, 1 Republican and 1 independent voted against (there may be one or two errors because I compiled the list while listening to the vote): Democrats in favor (12) - Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich.). Republicans against (1) - Chafee (R.I.). Jeffords (I) voted against.

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The Specter bill much closer to being enacted today

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:14:13 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Sep. 13 (Opinion) - From what I can discern, the Senate Judiciary Committee essentially passed on responsibility to the full Senate to save the administration by enacting the Specter FISA bill, while simultaneously blocking Democratic efforts on the Committee to dilute the most offensive parts of the Specter bill. Democrats have been reluctant to pay much attention to the Specter bill, but the way in which it (a) abolishes all limits on the President's eavesdropping powers; (b) embraces the Bush administration's most radical executive power theories; and (c) virtually destroys the ability to obtain judicial review for the President's lawbreaking, renders it a bill that is at least as pernicious as anything else that is pending. It deserves full-scale attention and opposition.

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Legal surveillance, not illegal eavesdropping, stopped the U.K. terrorist attacks

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 20:17:33 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Aug. 12 (News Analysis) - As I noted on Thursday, Bush supporters have been attempting to exploit the U.K. terrorist plot to bolster support for an array of extremist and lawless Bush policies -- from warrantless eavesdropping to torture -- even though there is not a shred of evidence that any of those policies played any role whatsoever, either in the U.S. or England, in impeding this plot.

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President's speech mauled by his base

Tue, 16 May 2006 16:50:09 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - May. 16 (Opinion) - So, President Bush gave his big speech last night designed to mollify his rage-fueled base and to stem the tide of his rapidly collapsing presidency. The speech is done and the reviews are in. How did he do? Michelle Malkin: "platitudes, non sequiturs, and recycled rhetoric I've been deconstructing the last five years." John "The Rocket" Hinderaker: "He had his chance and he blew it . . . President Bush is being destroyed by vicious people who hate him. So far, he hasn't seemed to notice. Apparently, he doesn't think he needs any allies. He certainly didn't win any with tonight's speech . . . . President Bush doesn't have many chances left to salvage his second term. After tonight, he might not have any." (As a bonus, definitely don't miss the unbelievably patronizing summary by The Rocket of his conversation with his "African immigrant" driver last night after the speech, in which Rocket "patiently" tried to explain the real issues to the immigrant driver, only to be "sure he'd forgotten everything I said by the time he left my driveway"). Paul "Deacon" Mirengoff: "President Bush did wimp out, and fatally so I think, on his fourth point, i.e., what to do about illegals who are already here. . . . This means that Bush's proposal taken as a whole is probably self-defeating."

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No need for Congress, no need for courts

Thu, 11 May 2006 16:58:27 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - May. 11 (Opinion) - I just this morning read the obviously significant USA Today article detailing the fact that the NSA is maintaining a comprehensive data base of every call made by every American – both internationally and domestically – whether they have anything to do with terrorism or not, obviously all of this without warrants or oversight of any kind. I'm not going to pretend to have all of the legal issues figured out in two hours, and so I won't yet opine as to whether there are serious grounds for arguing either that this is legal or that it’s illegal. But there is one highly significant, and revealing, item buried in the USA Today article regarding Qwest's refusal to cooperate with the NSA’s demands (and it heroic refusal to capitulate to the NSA’s intimidation tactics and threats) that it turn over its customers' calling data: The NSA, which needed Qwest's participation to completely cover the country, pushed back hard.

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Time to smear the latest Bush critic

Fri, 05 May 2006 02:12:47 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - May. 05 (Opinion) - Yesterday, Ray McGovern -- an American citizen with a 27-year career as a CIA analyst behind him -- stood up at a speech given by Donald Rumsfeld and aggressively questioned Rumsfeld on various statements Rumsfeld made regarding Iraq. McGovern specifically questioned Rumsfeld about this claim made in March, 2003: "We know where [the WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." We all know what happens to people, including those with a long history of government service, who publicly embarrass the administration - it's time for a nice heap of character smear. Today, Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds praises and links to an investigation into McGovern's "background" which was undertaken by The Gateway Pundit. Reynolds asks: "Why don't the Big Media do this kind of thing?" What is it that Gateway Pundit's investigation revealed about McGovern that prompted Reynolds' admiration, along with his lament that "Big Media" failed to issue a similar report? To begin with, in the headlines of Gateway Pundit's post, we learn right away that McGovern is a"nutjob," as in: "Nutjob Ray McGovern Heckles Rummy."

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Media finally starting to report the President's systematic lawbreaking

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:13:11 -0700

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Apr. 30 (Opinion) - On March 24, 2006, The Boston Globe published an article by Charlie Savage reporting that the President, after signing into law the bill which renewed the Patriot Act, issued a "signing statement" making clear that "he did not consider himself bound" to comply with various reporting provisions in the law and therefore reserved the right to violate them. The article was extraordinary because it noted that the Patriot Act signing statement was merely "the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law" -- and the article tied that ideology of lawlessness to, among other things, the President's deliberate violations of FISA when ordering warrantless eavesdropping on Americans.

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More conservatives jump ship & other matters

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 18:26:52 -0800

Unclaimed Territory - By Glenn Greenwald - Mar. 03 (Opinion) - Yet another conservative, National Review’s John Derbyshire, yesterday acknowledged that the war in Iraq has been a failure and the only thing left for Bush to do is to figure out a way to withdraw while minimizing both the political damage to Republicans and the national security damage to our country. Derbyshire’s concession that the war is a failure followed on the heels of similar admissions from the Father of Modern Conservatism, Bill Buckley, and George Will ...

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