DhafirTrial

Ten years after the devastating attacks on New York and Washington, the fundamental promises of American democracy are hanging by a thin thread. Promoted by a culture of war and fear, the US government has steadily chipped away at those legal protections that enabled ‘we the people’ to rule ourselves.  (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Salon

At last night’s GOP debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was asked by Brian Williams about the 234 executions of death row inmates over which Perry has presided — “more than any Governor in modern times”– and the mere mention by Williams of this morose record triggered an outburst of cheering and applause from the audience (more…)

The timely new documentary Better This World tells a provocative and cautionary story about the shifting fault lines of civil liberties, protest and government vigilance. Two boyhood friends from the heart of Texas, Bradley Crowder and David McKay, find themselves increasingly out of step with their neighbors as they react against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (more..)

Glenn Greenwald Salon

Over the past several years, the Justice Department has increasingly attempted to criminalize what is clearly protected political speech by prosecuting numerous individuals (Muslims, needless to say) for disseminating political views the government dislikes or considers threatening. (more..)

As the Washington Post and others have reported today, an obscure court case in New York state has led to the disclosure of new details on CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, in which the U.S. captured dozens of alleged terrorists and sent them to secret prisons overseas. (more…)

Patrick Cockburn The Independent U.K.

Abdulhakim Belhaj’s allegations suggest a close relationship between the US and Gaddafi’s regime (more…)

Ali Gharib ThinkProgress

One of the featured “experts” in the new CAP “Fear, Inc.” report on Islamophobia,Frank Gaffney, appeared on a religious right program and called for renewed McCarthyism against not just American-Muslims but also those who support them or don’t do enough to stymie what Gaffney considers their pernicious influence. (more…)

William Blum

Not very long ago, Iraq and Libya were the two most modern and secular states in the Mideast/North Africa world with perhaps the highest standards of living in the region. Then the United States of America came along and saw fit to make a basket case of each one. (more…)