DhafirTrial

Bill Quigley ICH

In a democracy, transparency and public participation are critical. This is not just about “the terrorists.” This is about civil liberty and government accountability. Hundreds of thousands of people are being spied upon every year by our own government’s public admissions. There is little oversight by judges and even less by Congress. If the government admits this much, you can certainly assume there is more to come out. It is time to wake up. (more…)

Irish Times 

Taoiseach Enda Kenny rounded on Independent TD Clare Daly after she accused him of showcasing Ireland “as a nation of pimps, prostituting ourselves in return for a pat on the head”. (more…)

Truthdig

Speaking at a Senate hearing Wednesday about telephone data collection, FBI Director Robert Muellersaid the bureau uses drones to aid its investigations in a “very, very minimal way, very seldom.” (more…)

Anna Lakas Miller  Guardian U.K.

Muslim and Arab Americans have been targets of intrusive monitoring programs even when they ‘have nothing to hide (more…)

Jeff Cohen  Commendreams

There are four basic truths of political spying worth remembering in light of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s disclosures about phone record and Internet surveillance. These truths were obvious before computerized spying – e.g. when the FBI’s massive 1960s spy programled to harassment and violence against civil rights and antiwar activists – and are more obvious, and perhaps more dangerous, now that digitized information on millions of us can be so easily vacuumed up. (more…)

Guardian U.K.

The whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history answered your questions about the NSA surveillance revelations (more…)

Paul Craig Roberts  ICH

In the 21st century the two hundred year-old propaganda that the American people control their government has been completely shattered. Both the Bush and Obama regimes have made it unmistakenly clear that the American people don’t even influence, much less control, the government. (more…)

The NSA whistleblower’s only concern was that his disclosures would be met with apathy. Instead, they’re leading to real reform

Glenn Greenwald  Guardian U.K.

If “whistleblowing” is defined as exposing secret government actions so as to inform the public about what they should know, to prompt debate, and to enable reform, then Snowden’s actions are the classic case. (more…)