Daily Articles

The Lies Told about the Saudi Hunger Striker Released from Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington June 22, 2009

As part of a series of recent releases from Guantánamo, three Saudi prisoners were repatriated, along with Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, an Iraqi refugee, and four Uighurs who were sent to Bermuda. As I explained in a recent article, “Empty Evidence: The Stories Of The Saudis Released From Guantánamo,” all three men had been ...

Shut Up about Iran

by Sheldon Richman June 19, 2009

Here’s some advice for Barack Obama, John McCain, and any other U.S. politician who feels the urge to issue a declaration about the election in Iran: Shut up. True, Obama has said he does not wish to interfere in the Iranian election. Others, such John “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran” McCain, ...

The Pentagon’s Favorite Demon

by Carlton Meyer June 18, 2009

In 1991, as pressure was mounting in the U.S. Congress to cut the Cold War-era military budget, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs General Colin Powell said: “I’m running out of demons. I’m running out of villains. I’m down to Castro and Kim Il Sung.” North ...

The Attack on Economic Liberty

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 17, 2009

Dear Friend of Freedom: I am writing to ask you to help us fund a special project that involves reprinting in booklet form an 11-part essay entitled Economic Liberty and the Constitution, which I wrote for our monthly journal, Freedom Daily, in 2003. This essay is a direct, frontal assault on the socialism, interventionism, and fiat-money ...

The Last Iraqi in Guantánamo, Cleared Six Years Ago, Returns Home

by Andy Worthington June 15, 2009

Last Thursday, while all eyes were focused on the arrival of four Uighurs from Guantánamo on Bermuda’s balmy shores — and while a few other commentators, myself included, noted that Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, Mohammed El-Gharani, had been released to his family’s home country of Chad — only one journalist, James Warren of the Atlantic, noticed that ...

The Latest Torture Cover-Up Scam

by James Bovard June 10, 2009

The Obama administration appears increasingly devoted to covering up the worst crimes of the Bush era. On Monday, CIA chief Leon Panetta formally objected to federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, who was considering releasing detailed information on 92 videotaped CIA torture sessions of detainees. Panetta asserted that releasing the written information “could be expected to result ...

Obama Proposes Swift Execution of Alleged 9/11 Conspirators

by Andy Worthington June 8, 2009

In a leak that seems designed to gauge public opinion — and that of lawyers and other relevant parties around the world — anonymous officials in the Obama administration have told the New York Times about a proposal, in draft legislation to be submitted to Congress, which, as the Times put it, “would clear the way for detainees facing ...

Terrorism Is a Crime

by Sheldon Richman June 2, 2009

Contrary to the U.S. government’s position, acts of terrorism are crimes that have little in common with acts of war. The terrorists whom Americans worry about are not trying to overthrow the U.S. government or conquer and occupy the United States. Instead, they are trying to obtain vengeance for U.S. government intervention in the Middle ...

Gold and Freedom, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were the two presidents most responsible for the abandonment of sound money in the United States. These two U.S. presidents opened the floodgates to the monetary debauchery under which today’s Americans have suffered for their entire lives. In waging war to prevent ...

Blame Republicans for Big Government

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2009

Government power is growing, and unless President Barack Obama and the majority in Congress have a libertarian epiphany, it will continue to grow for years. Obama’s 2010 budget will come in at more than $3.4 trillion, with a deficit of well over $1 trillion. Though the deficit will decline — if the administration’s dubious projections ...

A Child At Guantánamo: The Unending Torment of Mohamed Jawad

by Andy Worthington June 1, 2009

In all the recent hysteria about the supposed dangers posed by the remaining 240 prisoners at Guantánamo, it has been easy to forget that sensible appraisals of the number of individuals with any meaningful connection to terrorism have long indicated that no more than a few dozen of those still held should be regarded as any kind of significant ...

The Post–9/11 Roundup of Innocents, Part 2

by James Bovard June 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration constantly misrepresented how much power it was seeking over aliens. In a September 25 speech to FBI agents, Bush declared, “We’re asking Congress for the authority to hold suspected terrorists who are in the process of being deported until they’re deported.... We believe it’s ...