Separating Truth from Fiction at Parchin: Neutron Activation Can't Be Scrubbed Away
Both Marcy, here, and b, over at Moon of Alabama, have roundly criticized the cartoon released on Sunday by AP's George Jahn purporting to depict a chamber at Iran's Parchin site where various groups accuse Iran of carrying out work aimed…
MEK to Be Delisted as Terrorists in Reward for Engaging in Terrorism
The Foreign Terrorism Organization list really doesn't mean much if the way to get off it is by killing Iranian scientists at the behest of the US and Israel.
The Obama administration is moving to remove an Iranian opposition group from the…
NYPD Stopped 351,739 People Last Year for "Furtive Movements"
There's been a good deal of reporting on this report the NYCLU released last week, but the report itself must be read to fully understand the gravity of the stop-and-frisk abuse in NYC.
Consider this chart, for example, showing that Mike…
Jamie Dimon: Inspiring Fear Among "Wealthy Private Clients" Even in Disgrace
I've got that wonderfully satisfied yet mildly sick feeling I used to get after eating too many sweets as a kid, what with all the schadenfreude directed at Jamie Dimon and his $2 billion loss.
But I'm particularly struck by this story, in…
Afghanistan Meltdown Continues
As we get closer to the NATO summit next week in Chicago, the meltdown of Afghanistan continues. It is clear that the intent of the Obama administration is to maintain the stance that the surge of US troops into the country over the past two…
Colin Powell's Last Vial of Anthrax
Dammit, I gave away half the game, the "who" said these words.
I have seen some information that would suggest that they have been actively working on delivery systems.
[snip]
I'm not talking about uranium or fissile material or the warhead;…
Obama's Commitment to Atrocities Prevention Lasts Less than 3 Weeks
Remember how Obama rolled out a campaign to prevent atrocities three weeks ago? "Never again"?
The other day, here's how the Vice President expressed that fierce commitment to preventing atrocities in a meeting with a man whose country has…
Nearly Eight Years After Petraeus' "Tangible Progress" WashPo Op-Ed, Iraq Security Training Still a Failure
One of the topics I seem to find myself posting on the most frequently is the remarkable lack of accountability for the spectacular failure of David Petraeus' efforts to train the Iraqi security apparatus. Petraeus has repeatedly touted…
Son Of "Dumbest Fucking Guy On The Planet" Shills For More War In Afghanistan And Elsewhere
Old craven chickenhawks don't die, they just breed chickenshit progeny. And so it is with Douglas Feith, famously, and arguably correctly at the time, labeled "the dumbest fucking guy on the planet" by no less than real military man General…
The Transnational Crime Organizations Chasing the Transnational Crime Organizations
William Arkin has a post on the proliferation of what he calls the "counter-everything" trend--organizations targeting transnational organizations that sell drugs or people or whatever. He ends it by wondering why this is all getting worse--why…
The 4 Month Detainee Review Election Season Special
There's something else I've been puzzling through in the Periodic Review Board directive released the other day governing how the Obama Administration will give the detainees at Gitmo reviews to see if they still need to be held.
The timing.
This…
The Government Continues to Play Redaction Games with Latif
I've now read all the documents the government issued and reissued on April 30 in some detail (District Court Opinion; Circuit Opinion; Cert Petition; Government Response; Latif Reply). As I've noted, in addition to releasing their own response…
The General Must Have Pineapple
About a month ago, I bought a pineapple from Costa Rica at Meijers. It was over 5 pounds and cost something like $1.50.
The fruit was lovely. But the price got me thinking about how pineapple has become one of those things in globalization…
Abu Zubaydah to DOD: Charge Me Now!
Abu Zubaydah's legal team just wrote the Convening Authority for the Military Commissions demanding that it charge Zubaydah.
This letter requests that the Convening Authority immediately commence proceedings against our client, Zayn al-Abidin…
DOD: Consider Whether We've Made Detainees Crazy in Periodical Review
Section 1023 of the Defense Authorization mandated that the Administration tell Congress how it was implementing Obama's Executive Order providing periodic review of Gitmo detainees' continued need to be detained.
SEC. 1023. PROCEDURES FOR…
Cluster Bombs on the Head of a Saudi Pinpoint
Congratulations to the NYT, which offers the superlative version of a story everyone seems to be writing today. It describes a whole host of reasons why we should not trust the Saudis.
That collaboration appears to have intensified over the…
Vladimir Putin Too Busy Rearranging His Sock Drawer to Attend the G8
I have to admit, the old KGB hand Vladimir Putin sure plays hardball in matters of diplomacy. Normally when you blow off a major summit (Putin will be sending Dmitri Mevedev in his place), you give more than a ten day's notice.
Vladimir Putin…
As NATO Summit Approaches, Taliban Strength Accumulates
NATO found it necessary yesterday to trot out a high-ranking spokesman to try to tamp down the suggestion from Dianne Feinstein and Mike Rogers over the weekend that the Taliban has increased in strength. Unfortunately for NATO, however,…
Peter King Makes It More Clear He's Targeting the AP, Not Leakers
A real member of Congress might worry that the government is using double agents to expand wars in other countries without briefing the Gang of Eight, as required by law.
Not Peter King. He wants to investigate the AP's sources--but not,…
Albright Discovers Puddles in Parchin
In March, Gareth Porter and I debunked claims that "diplomats" had fed to AP's George Jahn. The diplomats asserted to Jahn that they had seen satellite photos depicting activity interpreted as attempts to clean the site at Parchin where…
