The Arab Spring Meets US Counterterrorism: "We consider the drones terrorism"
Jeremy Scahill has a new story describing how our counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, combined with the Arab Spring, are making al Qaeda's affiliates in Yemen more popular among local Yemenis. He quotes one tribal leader comparing AQAP's terrorism…
Iran Loads Domestically Produced Fuel Plates into Tehran Reactor
In a move that is sure to disappoint war hawks who have been convinced that Iran's enrichment of uranium to 20% has been to produce material for further enrichment to the 90%+ needed for nuclear weapons, Iran today very publicly had President…
Majid Khan Charged with Musharraf Assassination as Musharraf Accused of Sheltering Bin Laden
As Carol Rosenberg first reported, the government charged former US resident Majid Khan in Gitmo's military commission on Monday. One of those charges--attempted murder in violation of the laws of war--pertains to his alleged attempt to assassinate…
Jamie Dimon: "I was safer in Beirut"... Maybe Because of Those Gold Bullions JPMC Sent Iran?
The world's richest drama queen complains he was safer in Beirut than being confronted by Occupy Wall Street.
For Jamie Dimon, the shelter of his Upper East Side mansion isn't enough to keep him safe from the Occupy protesters. Instead, the…
When WAS DOJ Going to Get around to Telling Us about Awlaki? Part One
Let me start by saying that I'm all in favor of DOJ releasing the information it has on Anwar al-Awlaki. I'm not complaining that they have released it. I'm just puzzling through why they have treated it as they have thus far. In this post,…
Mitt Doesn't Even Know When MI's Recession Started
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I thought I was going to be all-Santorum all-the-time until the primary on February 28. Apparently Mitt has gotten the jump on Santorum, though, here with an ad that proves he knows so little about the state…
UN Finds Cluster Munition Evidence in Libya, PressTV Runs Video of US Cluster Bombs in Afghanistan
In the At War blog on the New York Times website, it was reported yesterday that the UN has found additional evidence of the use of cluster bombs in Libya. The munitions found appear to have been used by pro-government forces:
Civilian…
Mitt Advocates Taking Healthcare from Retirees to Give Money to Bailed Out Banks
Someone gave Mitt Romney a shovel just in time to dig shit snow in MI for the next two weeks. There's a lot that is fact-impaired in this op-ed doubling down on the "let GM go bankrupt" (starting with the lack of funding for a bankruptcy, meaning…
Will MI Democrats Champion Women's Rights as Santorum Surges through Our State?
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I noted the other day how tired I am of MI's Democrats asking women to ignore the anti-choice stance of so many of our Democrats, a stance which led to MI Democrat Bart Stupak dictating what kind of medical…
What WAS Our Sentinel Drone Surveilling in Iran?
Kevin Drum captures where the state of the reporting on the story that the MEK, backed by Israel, is responsible for the assassinations of Iranian scientists and the implication that that makes Israel a state that sponsors terrorism. Drum writes,
Are…
A Race to Get Excited About: Trevor Thomas
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I noted last week that we might have an exciting candidate--Trevor Thomas--running against Justin Amash to be my congressman.
He has officially filed his papers to run. So I now have something to officially…
"Quiet Lobbying Campaign" For SOCOM: Hollywood Movie, President's Campaign Slogan
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Coming so quickly on the heels of Lt. Col. Daniel Davis documenting the depraved level of lying that characterizes the primary mode of action for many at the top levels in our…
DOJ's Untracked Email Spying
As Wired reports, DOJ blew off the requirement that it tell Congress how many pen registers and trap and trace devices they used for the entire Bush Administration.
[...]the Justice Department was not following the law and had not provided…
The UndieBomber's Interrogators Asked Him about Anwar al-Awlaki's Death Just after He Was Put on Kill List
At least by October 4, 2011, UndieBomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been told that Anwar al-Awlaki had been killed. During jury selection that day, he yelled out "Anwar is alive," as he had previously yelled out "Osama's alive" at a hearing…
Alan Gross and Jacob Appelbaum
This AP story describing the backstory of USAID contractor Alan Gross's imprisonment in Cuba is interesting in its own right. Past reporting had made it clear that Cuba had declared Gross a spy because he was setting up secure communications…
The Anonymous DOJ Handmaiden of Political Whim
Adam Liptak has an odd story on the increasing use of technology to pursue leaks.
I find it odd for two reasons. In spite of the fact that he nods to technology and has Lucy Dalglish relate the same story I described here, in which a national…
Honorable Military Whistleblower: Why Daniel Davis Is and Bradley Manning Is Not
One of the hottest, and most important, stories of the last week has been that broken by Scott Shane in the New York Times, on February 5th, of Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis' stunning report on the unmitigated duplicity and disaster that characterizes…
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis' Truth-Telling Continues: Long Report Published by Rolling Stone
Speaking truth to power is a brave act wherever it is carried out. But when that power is the strongest military force on earth and the one speaking truth is coming from within the ranks of that force to point out blatant lies promulgated at…
Why Has the Government Story about Who Ordered the UndieBomber to Attack the US Changed?
The government has told two or three slightly different stories about who directed and inspired Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's UndieBomber plot. The stories are all reconcilable (I'm not suggesting nefarious intent). But the differences in the…
Government Finally Releases Narrative of Anwar al-Awlaki's Role in UndieBombing Plot
As part of its sentencing memo asking for multiple counts of life imprisonment against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the government has finally officially laid out how it claims Anwar al-Awlaki was involved in Abdulmutallab's plot. I've included…
