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The State of Obama’s Facts

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson, D’Angelo Gore, Eugene Kiely, Robert Farley, Ben Finley, Lori Robertson - Jan. 25 (Fact Check) - The president’s State of the Union address got the facts right — mostly. Obama said “the Taliban’s momentum has been broken” in Afghanistan. But targeted assassinations continue, and at least one independent foreign policy expert says the enemy may just be waiting until the U.S. leaves. The president said a get-tough tariff on tire imports from China has saved more than 1,000 U.S. jobs. But tire industry officials say Chinese imports have simply been replaced by imports from other countries. He took credit for putting “more boots on the border than ever before.” That’s true, but the big increase was under George W. Bush. And a decrease in illegal border crossings is due mainly to the lack of jobs in the U.S., experts say. Often the president’s facts and figures were accurate — but not the whole story. It’s true (barely) that Bush issued more new regulations than Obama at the same point in their presidencies — but Obama didn’t mention that his cost more. The president pointed proudly to increased oil drilling, increased U.S. oil production, and declining dependence on imports. But understandably he passed over any mention of chronically high gasoline prices, which hit a record of sorts last year. And he boasted of recent increases in jobs — which still number nearly 1.7 million fewer than when he took office.

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What's Happening in the Persian Gulf Explained

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Adam Weinstein, Hamed Aleaziz - Jan. 03 (Special Report) - The basics: Iran and the United States appear to be heading for a showdown in the Persian Gulf. Amid already-high tensions over Iran's advancing nuclear program, the US has imposed harsh new economic sanctions on the regime in Tehran and begun to move se

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Slip-Sliding to War with Iran

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Consortium News - By Robert Parry - Dec. 29 (News Analysis) - With the typical backdrop of alarmist propaganda in place, the stage is now set for a new war, this time with Iran. The slightest miscalculation (or provocation) by the United States, Israel or Iran could touch off a violent scenario that will have devastating consequences.

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Fact check: GOP national security debate

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley - Nov. 23 (Fact Check) - The latest GOP debate was thin on memorable moments or major factual bloopers, but we do have some leftover claims to dispute before we shut down for the Thanksgiving holiday. We wouldn't want anybody's turkey dinner to be spoiled by worries that terrorists have come over the border with Mexico, for example. We also found misstatements about an oil pipeline, presidential contacts with Iran and cuts to the defense budget.

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Fact-checking the CNN-think tank debate

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Nov. 23 (Fact Check) - Eight Republican candidates will be debating on national security issues tonight at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. The candidates are Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum. We'll be watching the debate and updating this story with our fact-checks. >>More

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As NATO Ends Libyan Bombing Campaign, Is the U.S. Seeking Greater Military Control of Africa?

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 01 (News Analysis) - While NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hailed the campaign as a success, many analysts say NATO’s intensive bombing campaign violated its U.N. mandate. "The role that NATO played in Libya has been a very, very problematic one, a very troubled one, and ultimately is going to have a very long-term, deleterious impact on Libya’s future," says Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies. "The notion that the NATO bombings somehow was to do nothing but protect civilians is simply not the case."

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Petraeus’s CIA Fuels Iran Murder Plot

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Ray McGovern - Oct. 13 (News Analysis) - Before Ignatius’s article, I had seen no one allude to the fact that much about this crime-stopper tale had come from the CIA. In public, the FBI had taken the lead role, presumably because the key informant inside a Mexican drug cartel worked for U.S. law enforcement via the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Russia and China veto proposed UN resolution on Syria

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

OpenGlobe - By C628, OpenGlobe contributors - Oct. 05 (News Report) - Russia and China vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government's crackdown on protestors late on Tuesday, leading Western supporters of the bill to voice their anger at the decision. The proposed resolution would have condemned the Syrian government over its crackdown on protesters, as well as referring to the possibility of "targeted measures" against Syria. The text had been rewritted three times by drafters France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Portugal in response to Russian and Chinese objections over teh use of the word "sanctions" in earlier versions, leading to the introduction of the "targeted measures" language.

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Mitt Romney repeats claim that Obama went around the world apologizing for the United States

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Sep. 29 (Fact Check) - In a debate in Orlando on Sept. 22, 2011, Mitt Romney charged that President Obama has gone around the world apologizing for America. President Obama "went around the world and apologized for America," Romney said, in response to a question about Israel and the Middle East. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has made this charge several times. The first time we checked it was when he made the charge is his own book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.

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How Washington Creates Global Instability

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Tomdispatch.com - By Nick Turse - Sep. 19 (News Analysis) - It’s a story that should take your breath away: the destabilization of what, in the Bush years, used to be called “the arc of instability.” It involves at least 97 countries, across the bulk of the global south, much of it coinciding with the oil heartlands of the planet. A startling number of these nations are now in turmoil, and in every single one of them -- from Afghanistan and Algeria to Yemen and Zambia -- Washington is militarily involved, overtly or covertly, in outright war or what passes for peace.

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Columbia Spent U.S. Anti-Drug Aid on Hiding Government Ties to Drug Rings

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

yahoo.com - By Ujala Sehgal - Aug. 22 (News) - The U.S.-funded counterinsurgency campaign against a Marxist rebel group in Columbia was viewed as so successful that it has become a model for strategy in Afghanistan. But things were not what they seemed: the Washington Post reports that U.S. ally and former president Alvaro Uribe has been implicated in "egregious abuses of power and illegal actions," involving U.S. aid an "possibly U.S. officials" -- all under the cover of fighting drug trafficking. American cash, equipment, and training were sent to Columbia to help break up cocaine-smugglers, but were actually used "to carry out spying operations and smear campaigns against Supreme Court justices, Uribe’s political opponents and civil society groups."

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Violence Spikes in Iraq as U.S. Considers Ways to Extend Occupation Past December Deadline

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 19 (News Report) - Today, roughly 46,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, along with more than 64,000 private contractors. This week, as Iraq suffers its deadliest violence of the year, there is increasing speculation that the Obama administration will extend its occupation of the war-ravaged nation. Earlier this month, the Iraqi government authorized talks on whether to approve keeping thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq beyond a withdrawal deadline of December 31.

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As Biden Visits China, Author David Wise on "Tiger Trap: America’s Secret Spy War with China"

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Aug. 18 (News Report) - Vice President Joe Biden arrived in China yesterday to begin a five-day trip aimed at reassuring leaders there of the stability of the U.S. economy and to begin building a relationship with that country’s most likely next president, Xi Jinping. The visit to the largest foreign creditor to the United States falls right after the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, and just days after the Financial Times reported that Pakistan gave Chinese officials access to the wreckage of the top-secret U.S. stealth helicopter that crashed in the compound of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad during the U.S. raid in May.

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Haiti: WikiLeaks Cables Expose How U.S. Blocked Aristide's Return After 2004 Coup

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 11 (Investigative Report) - A new exposé on Haiti reveals how the United States led a vast international campaign to prevent former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from returning to his country while he was exiled in South Africa. It’s part of a series of reports by The Nation magazine and the Haitian weekly Haïti Liberté that draw from almost 2,000 U.S. diplomatic cables on Haiti released by WikiLeaks. The cables show that high-level U.S. and U.N. officials coordinated a politically motivated prosecution of Aristide to prevent him from "gaining more traction with the Haitian population and returning to Haiti."

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Guatemalan Soldiers Sentenced to 6,060 Years in Prison for Role in 1982 Massacre

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 04 (News Report) - a Guatemalan judge has sentenced four of the soldiers who carried out the Dos Erres attack to 6,060 years of prison each, 30 years per person they killed. The court also found the soldiers guilty of crimes against human rights, adding another 30 years to their sentences. It is the latest step in a process to end impunity for those involved in the deaths or disappearances of more than 200,000 people in the 1980s and 1990s. However, human rights groups allege General Otto Pérez Molina, now a leading presidential candidate in Guatemala, was directly involved in the systematic use of torture and acts of genocide in the 1980s and could block pending cases if he is elected.

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Violence, Potential Job Losses Hang Over Colombia Free Trade Agreement

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Dave Jamieson - Jul. 20 (News Report) - As U.S. lawmakers inch closer to enacting a long-stalled free trade agreement with Colombia, the deal's proponents have cited the safer atmosphere for finally pushing the deal through. But for Juan Cambindo, a Colombian sugar cane worker and union leader, the news of significant progress has come as a great surprise. Like many other Colombians, Cambindo says he has had his life threatened because of union ties. He first learned of his new and improved lot while watching television. "The United States was talking about how our situation has gotten better," Cambindo, who visited Washington last week to voice his opposition to the deal, told HuffPost through a translator (video below). "But that's not true. Our situation continues to be bad, and it's getting worse."

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Did Saudi Arabia Attack Us on 9/11?

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Anthony Summers, Robbyn Swan - Jul. 19 (Investigative Report) - 'Was there a foreign government behind the 9/11 attacks? A decade later, Americans still haven't been given the whole story, while a key 28-page section of Congress's Joint Inquiry report remains censored. Gathering years of leaks and leads, in an adaptation from their new book, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan examine the connections between Saudi Arabia and the hijackers (15 of whom were Saudi), the Bush White House's decision to ignore or bury evidence, and the frustration of lead investigators - including 9/11-commission staffers, counterterrorism officials, and senators on both sides of the aisle.' Anthony Summers, Robbyn Swan, Vanity Fair

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Debunking the Israeli-US Effort to Thwart Gaza Freedom Flotilla: “We Are Committed to Non-Violence”

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 30 (News Report) - U.S. citizens trying to sail to Gaza aboard U.S.-flagged ship “The Audacity of Hope” in the humanitarian flotilla are dealing with another challenge: their own government. The U.S. Department of State has warned U.S. passengers they could face "fines and incarceration" for taking part in the flotilla and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears to have given Israel the green light to use force.

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Leaked WikiLeaks Cable: 2005 Democracy Now! Report on Haiti Killings Irked U.S. Embassy

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Jun. 24 (News Report) - Democracy Now! is mentioned in a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks that cites our 2005 report on a deadly raid in the poor neighborhood of Cité Soleil by United Nations forces. “You accurately reported on what was going on and the embassy was alarmed by it,” says our guest, longtime Haiti correspondent Dan Coughlin. “What they were upset about is there wasn’t PR push back on Democracy Now! by the U.N.” Another cable shows U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called embassies around the world to tell them to “get the narrative right” with editors and fight negative portrayals of U.S. deployment in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. [includes rush transcript]

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Haiti: Leaked Cables Expose U.S. Suppression of Min. Wage, Election Doubts and Elite's Private Army

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Jun. 24 (News Report) - Drawing on almost 2,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables on Haiti released by WikiLeaks, a partnership between The Nation magazine and the Haitian weekly, Haïti Liberté, exposes new details on how Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and Levi’s worked with the United States to block an increase in the minimum wage in the hemisphere's poorest nation, how business owners and members of the country's elite used Haiti's police force as their own private army after the 2004 U.S.-backed coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and how the United States, the European Union and the United Nations supported Haiti’s recent presidential and parliamentary elections, despite concerns over the exclusion of Haiti's largest opposition party, Lavalas, the party of Aristide. We speak with the reports' authors, longtime Haiti correspondent Dan Coughlin and Haïti Liberté editor, Kim Ives.

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5 WikiLeaks Revelations Exposing the Rapidly Growing Corporatism Dominating American Diplomacy Abroad

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Rania Khalek - Jun. 22 (News Analysis) - From mining companies in Peru to pharmaceutical companies in Ecuador, one WikiLeaks embassy cable after the next illuminates a pattern of US diplomats shilling for corporate interests abroad in the most underhanded and sleazy ways imaginable.

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What Exactly is the War Powers Act and is Obama Really Violating it? - ProPublica

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By by Marian Wang - Jun. 17 (News Report) - by Marian Wang President Obama is facing a swell of bipartisan criticism for continuing military engagement in Libya without Congressional approval. Even supporters of the Libya intervention have complained that the administration is flouting the law. So, is it? Well, the president is certainly sidestepping the controversial law known as the War Powers Act, but in doing so he’s following a well-worn path. The Vietnam-era law requires the president to seek approval from Congress after 60 days of military engagement. The law was passed in 1973 after presidents fought the Korean and Vietnam war without actually declaring war. But it’s always been controversial. (President Nixon actually vetoed the law, but Congress overrode him.) According to a 2004 Congressional Research Service report, “every President since the enactment of the War Powers Resolution has taken the position that it is an unconstitutional infringement on the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief.” President Obama, in defending the legitimacy of the Libyan operation, hasn’t actually made that argument. On Wednesday, he submitted a report to Congress arguing that his administration isn’t in violation of the act at all, despite the fact that the 60-day deadline for congressional approval of Libya operations came and went in May. White House spokesman Jay Carney has argued that the United States’ “constrained and limited operations” in Libya “do not amount to hostilities” because the U.S. doesn’t have or intend to place soldiers on the ground and has not sustained the casualties typical of such hostilities. The U.S. in April pulled its cruise missiles and attack planes out of combat in the NATO-led Libyan mission, though it still has them on standby. It’s currently providing support such as aerial refueling, surveillance, and reconnaissance, according to the AP. Speaker of the House John Boehner has said the White House’s stance “doesn’t pass the straight-face test.” President Obama is far from alone in finding creative ways around the War Powers Act. As the New York Times has noted, the Clinton administration continued the bombing campaign in Kosovo past the 60-day deadline, arguing that Congress had implicitly approved the mission when it approved funding for it. (The Act specifically says that funding doesn’t constitute authorization, the Times notes. And Obama wouldn’t be able to use that reasoning anyway—the administration is using existing funds for the Libya mission.) Clinton’s successor, President George W. Bush, did request—and receive—a resolution of support from Congress for the Iraq war, but Bush also made clear that his compliance with the War Powers Act didn’t mean he agreed with the act’s constitutionality. Here’s what he said [PDF], as quoted in a Congressional Research Service report: As I made clear to congressional leaders at the outset, my request for congressional support did not, and my signing this resolution does not, constitute any change in the long-standing positions of the executive branch on either the President’s constitutional authority to use the Armed Forces to defend vital U.S. interests or the constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution. While presidents have long inveighed against the Act, lawmakers have just as frequently invoked it, often as a political weapon. This week, a bipartisan group of 10 House members—a combination of Republicans and anti-war Democrats—sued the Obama administration this week over the War Powers Act. But the move may be little more than symbolic. As NPR notes, lawmakers have never successfully used the War Powers Act to end any military mission, and in 2000, the Supreme Court refused to touch the issue when lawmakers complained about Kosovo. It’s also worth keeping in mind that many of Obama’s critics seem a bit conflicted about the legitimacy of the Act. As Politico has reported, Boehner—who sent a confrontational letter to the president this week—actually voted to repeal the law in 1995. In 1999, he called it “constitutionally suspect.” Boehner’s spokesman said the speaker has an obligation to honor existing law “regardless of his personal views.” But Boehner’s also been unclear about whether Obama is even violating the act. Two weeks ago, Boehner said that “technically,” he wasn’t: “Legally, they’ve met their requirements [under] the War Powers Act,” he said of the administration. (On Libya, Boehner has said that the U.S. “has a moral obligation to stand with those who seek freedom from oppression and self-government for their people” and called Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s actions “unacceptable and outrageous.”) As the House ups the ante on the War Powers Act, Sens. John Kerry and John McCain are advancing a bipartisan resolution to support the U.S. role in the Libya. (McCain, a Republican, has criticized Obama administration’s reasoning as “a confusing breach of common sense.”) As we’ve noted, the Obama administration has sought to downplay its role in the Libya conflict since it began in March—though there’s been some mission creep: The Obama administration originally said that the goal of the intervention was not regime change in Libya, but has since suggested that its measure for success will be Qaddafi’s departure.

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Aiming to Preserve Autocratic Mideast Rule, Saudi Arabia Helps Crush Uprisings in Bahrain, Yemen

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 16 (News Analysis) - While the United States remains heavily involved in the Libya conflict, it has been noticeably silent on the violent suppression of popular uprisings against autocratic regimes Bahrain and Yemen, both of which are close allies of Saudi Arabia. In March, Bahrain called in Saudi troops to help crush massive pro-democracy protests. We discuss the role of Saudi Arabia in recent regional uprisings with Toby Jones, assistant professor of history at Rutgers University and a former Persian Gulf analyst with the International Crisis Group.

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New Report: U.S. Encouraged Gun Sales to Drug Cartels, 70% of Seized Mexico Guns Are From U.S.

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 15 (News Report) - Some 70 percent of guns seized in Mexico from 2009 to 2010 came from the United States, according to a new report from three U.S. senators. The report finds Mexican drug cartels are arming themselves with U.S. military-style weapons and urges a strengthening of U.S. regulations to stem the flow of guns to Mexico. It comes as lawmakers are holding hearings into a once-secret government plan to encourage U.S. gun shops to sell thousands of guns to middlemen for Mexican drug cartels. The operation, called "Fast and Furious," focused on using middlemen to gain access to senior-level figures within Mexico’s criminal organizations.

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Mexican Peace Caravan Arrives in U.S. to Call for End to Deadly Drug War Policy

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 15 (News Report) - A caravan of Mexican anti-violence protesters arrived in the United States over the weekend calling for a massive shift in U.S. drug policy. Mexican poet, Javier Sicilia, led the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity following the brutal murder of his 24-year-old son by drug traffickers earlier this year. The caravan's demands include an end to the Merida Initiative, in which the United States provides training and support for the Mexican army in its "war on drugs." We speak to Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Policy Program of the Center for International Policy, and play an excerpt from her interview with Sicilia as she traveled with him to document the caravan’s journey.

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