CNN Carries DOJ Water in Repeating Weak Amerithrax Accusations Against Ivins
In an article published on CNN.com on Saturday and a program aired Sunday evening, CNN does their best to lend credence to DOJ's shoddy work that resulted in the unsupported conclusion that Bruce Ivins acted alone in the anthrax attacks of 2001.…
The Gang of Four Doesn't Have Access to the Kill List
Particularly given the questions bmaz raised the other day, I wanted to point to something Dutch Ruppersberger, the Democratic Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, had to say the other day. As part of the assurance he offered…
Dick Cheney: Awlaki Killing Violated American Principles of Justice Just Like Torture Program Did
I can think of no stronger indictment of the process by which the Obama Administration killed Anwar al-Awlaki than for Dick Cheney to, first, confirm that the process by which Awlaki was targeted does not constitute due process, and then state…
Taking Back Wall Street Trash Talk
Well we are a little late getting started on the trash talk this weekend, I apologize about that. I have been fixated on the Anwar Awlaki scenario and, today, the Occupy Wall Street effort. In honor of the citizens trying to take back the Street…
Anwar al-Awlaki Assassination: Double Secret Illegitimacy
Frances Fragos Townsend is distraught that the media are not using the government's euphemism for the Anwar al-Awlaki assassination.
Awalaki op was NOT assassination; nor a targeted killing; nor a hit job as media keeps describing! Was a legal…
Why Blame the Failure of the 50-State Settlement Solely on Tom Miller?
Yesterday, CA Attorney General Kamala Harris announced she was withdrawing from the 50-state foreclosure fraud settlement.
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris will no longer take part in a national foreclosure probe of some of the nation's…
What Is the Secret Item the Government Wants Withheld from Abdulmutallab?
As I tweeted earlier, I find the timing of the Anwar al-Awlaki assassination to be rather curious. The first time we might hear real evidence supporting the government's claim that Awlaki was operational, and not just producing propaganda, will…
Extrajudicial Execution of Samir Khan Arguably More Significant Than Awlaki
By this time in the day, the early morning report of the killing of Anwar Awlaki is old news. From ABC News:
Senior administration officials say that the U.S. has been targeting Awlaki for months, though in recent weeks officials were able…
Lots of Senior Officials Spilling State Secrets Today
Last year, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the following:
I am asserting privilege over classified intelligence information, assessments, and analysis prepared, obtained, or under the control of any entity within the U.S.…
Let's See the Evidence on Al-Awlaki
Ding dong Awlaki's dead, says the government.
While everyone's talking about having "got" this latest bogeyman, I just wanted to remind folks the kind of language the Administration used to explain why it could kill an American citizen with…
DOJ Deems Plan to Attack Military Targets with a Drone, Terrorism
Last year, I tracked how TSA head (and former FBI Deputy Director) John Pistole used an FBI entrapment plot targeted at the Metro to justify increased TSA surveillance of the Metro.
Which is why I'm intrigued that the FBI's latest entrapment…
I Was that Trust-Fund Kid Working as a Supermarket Checker
I take that back. I wasn't really a trust fund kid. But my grandfather was an Ag Scientist who shared the royalties from an erosion control plant he developed with his grandkids, so I did get a modest quarterly "weed money" check while I was…
Is Democracy the Problem, or Money-Corrupted Governance?
I've been pondering this NYT story--which is presented as news yet which in fact is analysis attempting to provide a general explanation for protests in democracies--since it came out. Its general explanation for why so many people are protesting…
Pakistan Update: Graham Advocates Escalation, Chaman Crossing Closed After Tanker Bombed
In the latest developments in the US-Pakistan war of words, the Pakistani Prime Minister said the US must stop blaming Pakistan, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested the US should start using bombers in the region held by the Haqqani…
Cheney Tells the Seventh Circuit It Would Erode Military Discipline To Let Courts Second Guess Cheney's Torture Decisions
Remember that letter a bunch of former Directors of Central Intelligence wrote begging Obama to kill an investigation into George W Bush-approved CIA torture?
Poppy, the father of the President who authorized that torture, had the good grace…
Links, 9/28/11
Back in the day we were watching cut submarine telecom cables pretty closely. Here's a map of the global Toobz network. (h/t Global Guerrillas)
A Muslim Republican, Nezar Hamze, was denied a spot on Broward County Republican Party's Executive…
Two of Obama's Independent Intelligence Advisors Have Supported Oversight in Past; Why Not Now?
I've written recently about Obama's refusal to appoint anyone to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is supposed to ensure the government protects privacy while laying out a dragnet to catch terrorists, most recently when…
Is DOD Trying to Bypass the Gitmo Press Corps (AKA Carol Rosenberg)?
Yesterday, we had an interesting discussion about whether efforts by Gitmo Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins to expand viewing of Gitmo military commissions was about cover-up or transparency. I suggested that it might be something in-between--an…
Pakistan Issues New Warning to US; Mullen Accusations Softened
There are new developments this morning in the latest war of words between the US and Pakistan. Pakistan's Express Tribune reports that an official familiar with what transpired claims that the head of Pakistan's ISI informed CIA chief…
The Terrorist Watchlist: One Watchlist Among a Collection of Databases and Watchlists
Timothy Healy, the Director of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, has a telling comment at the end of Charlie Savage's story on documents revealing new details about the terrorist watch list.
But Mr. Healy said the government could not reveal…