War on Terrorism

Zarqawi and the Drug War

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 12, 2006

After several consecutive months of bad news for U.S. officials — the Marine massacre at Haditha, the disclosure of secret CIA renditions and torture camps in former Soviet-bloc countries, the weekly deaths of American troops, and the daily kidnappings, beheadings, and suicide bombs in Baghdad — U.S. officials and pro-occupation supporters received a big ...

Iraqi Death by Political Abstraction

by Sheldon Richman June 5, 2006

Try as they might, apologists for the war in Iraq wont be convincing when they insist that, at worst, the Haditha incident (or was it a mishap?) was the unfortunate work of a few bad Marines. It was something much worse. When men trained to kill on a battlefield this wasnt the Salvation Army, after all are ordered into civilian ...

Freedom as a Ticket for Power

by James Bovard March 27, 2006

President Bush exploits the word “freedom” more than any other president. Unfortunately, Americans are sufficiently ignorant that almost any reference to freedom garners applause. “Freedom” has become simply another word to lull listeners to whatever politicians are pushing. “The Restraint of Government Is the True Liberty and Freedom of the People” was a popular saying ...

The War on Terrorism Is a Deadly Sham

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 24, 2006

Pardon me for asking an indelicate question. It’s a question, however, that is staring everyone in the face but hardly anyone, especially those in the mainstream media, wants to ask it. Here’s the question: If we’re really at war against the terrorists, as the Bush administration continues to claim, then what in the world is ...

The Farcical Definition at the Heart of the War on Terrorism

by James Bovard January 30, 2006

A recent denunciation of U.S. government foreign policy offers insights into a paradox of the war of terrorism. On January 24, 2006, the East Timor Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation denounced the U.S. government for backing the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor. In the following decades, a quarter million East Timorese residents ...

Osama’s Back

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 27, 2006

Osama bin Laden undoubtedly infuriated President Bush with his most recent audiotape, which was played last week on Aljazeera, for four reasons: First, bin Laden’s tape serves as a reminder to the American people that he is still alive despite the untold number of innocent people that U.S. personnel killed and maimed in the attack on ...

The FISA Farce

by James Bovard January 9, 2006

President Bush proudly announced last month that he is violating federal law. He declared that in 2002 he ordered the National Security Agency to begin conducting warrantless wiretaps and email intercepts on Americans. He asserted that the wiretaps would continue, regardless of the law. Bush claims that he must ignore the law because the secret federal court created to authorize ...

A Forgotten Post–9/11 Hoax

by James Bovard September 1, 2005

In the wake of the hijacking and crashing of four airliners and the subsequent shutdown of the nation’s airports on 9/11, many Americans were hesitant to return to fly the friendly skies. Speaking on September 27, 2001, at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, President Bush decried the “atmosphere of fear” created by the terrorist attack. He ...

Gitmo Threatens Us All

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 6, 2005

It might be safe to say that Americans who have been supporting or pooh-poohing the torture, mistreatment, and sex abuse of detainees at the Pentagon’s infamous detention facility at Guantanamo Bay have been doing so because the detainees have been foreigners. What those Americans might not realize is that “Gitmo” is for Americans too, ...

Oklahoma City and 9/11

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 2, 2005

The Oklahoma City bombing 10 years ago holds an important lesson regarding the 9/11 attacks. It is a lesson about terrorist motivation and the consequences of U.S. government policy. After the Oklahoma City bombing, U.S. officials immediately discouraged discussion about Timothy McVeigh’s motivation for committing his terrorist attack. Whenever someone pointed out that McVeigh bombed ...

Uncle Sam’s Iron Curtain of Secrecy

by James Bovard April 1, 2005

The Bush administration is subverting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). On January 31, the People for the American Way publicly protested that the Justice Department claimed it would cost the group a minimum of $372,999 for the feds to search their files (in response to an FOIA request from the group) for cases in which the Justice Department ...

Ashcroft, 9/11, and Government as Victim

by James Bovard March 1, 2005

John Ashcroft resigned as attorney general last November. Unfortunately, few Americans are aware of how profoundly Ashcroft botched his job and abused his power. He continues to be revered by many conservatives, despite his role in dragging the Bill of Rights into the mud. Nothing better illustrates both Ashcroft’s arrogance and verbal manipulations than his testimony last April 13 to ...