July 2009
19 posts
WatchSomali-Canadian Hip Hop Artist K’Naan performs in the Democracy Now! studio. They will be broadcasting the interview with K’Naan in the coming days. Enjoy!
Blackwater Seeks to Gag Iraqi Victims and Their... →
This is my latest piece for The Nation. Excerpt:
On July 20, [Blackwater/Xe]’s high-powered lawyers from Mayer Brown, which boasts that it represents eighty-nine of the Fortune 100 companies and thirty-five of the fifty largest US banks, filed a motion in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to impose a gag order on Iraqi civilians suing the company. The motion also...
WatchThis is perhaps the greatest segment of “The Word” ever to air on The Colbert Report. Take that, Chuck Todd, you hack. Big props to Glenn Greenwald.
Al Jazeera Journalist Imprisoned & Tortured at...
The action may be brought in Europe using the Pinochet strategy.
By Jeremy Scahill
Sami al-Haj, the al Jazeera journalist who spent seven years at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo is preparing to file a lawsuit against former president George W Bush and other top Bush administration officials. al-Haj was repeatedly interrogated by U.S. operatives attempting to falsely link al Jazeera to al Qaeda....
House Intelligence Committee Announces Official...
In a statement, the chair of the Intelligence Committee suggests there may have been violations of federal laws.
By Jeremy Scahill
The House Intelligence Committee has just announced that it is launching an official probe into the alleged concealment by former vice president Dick Cheney of a C.I.A. assassination program. Senior Obama officials may think it was perfectly legal, but House...
Senior Obama Official Backs Cheney and C.I.A.,...
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair’s comments contradict the assertions of several leading Democrats that laws were broken.
By Jeremy Scahill
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are preparing to hold hearings to investigate the role of vice president Dick Cheney in allegedly ordering the C.I.A. to conceal a secret assassination program from Congress. As I reported...
Deposed Honduran President Zelaya Calls for...
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is calling on his supporters to engage in a popular insurrection against the June coup in which he was overthrown by graduates of the U.S. Army School of the Americas. From AFP via Commondreams:
“The Honduran people have the right to insurrection,” said Zelaya, speaking Tuesday in the neighboring Central American country of Guatemala.
Insurrection...
David Letterman: To make Cheney's assassination...
From David Letterman’s monlogue Tuesday night:
You remember Dick Cheney, who was the Vice President for eight years with George W. Bush? And we didn’t think much about Dick Cheney and then one day he goes hunting, boy, that changed everything. Well now it turns out that for eight years, Dick Cheney had a secret hit squad to assassinate al Qaeda leaders. And the team was unbelievable....
The Democrats' Selective Amnesia on Assassination:...
While the focus is on Dick Cheney’s role, the U.S. has long had a bi-partisan assassination program.
By Jeremy Scahill Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the “secret” CIA assassination program that former vice president Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. But this program—and the media descriptions of it—sounds a lot like the...
Leading Constitutional and Military Law Expert...
By Jeremy Scahill
Earlier this week, I wrote an article based on interviews I conducted with two of the leading anti-torture attorneys working to hold the Bush administration accountable for its crimes: Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union. That article was called Top Anti-Torture Lawyers Criticize AG Holder’s Torture...
Is Obama Continuing the Bush/Cheney Assassination...
Congress is outraged that Cheney concealed a CIA program to assassinate al Qaeda leaders, but they should also be investigating why Obama is continuing—and expanding—U.S. assassinations.
By Jeremy Scahill
In June, CIA Director Leon Panetta allegedly informed members of the House Intelligence Committee of the existence of a secret Bush era program implemented in the days after 9-11...
Wall Street Journal Loves Obama's Drone War Vs....
The paper’s editors attack unembedded journalists who report the Pakistani deaths. Instead, they say, we should all just shut up and listen to U.S. intelligence agencies.
By Jeremy Scahill
The Wall Street Journal is officially in love with President Obama’s undeclared air war inside of Pakistan’s borders. In an unsigned editorial, the paper enthusiastically endorses...
Top Anti-Torture Lawyers Criticize AG Holder's...
If—and this remains a big if—Holder does move to prosecute, it seems senior Bush officials have little to fear. Critics say it is the torture system and those who gave the orders who must be held accountable.
By Jeremy Scahill
Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union have just been notified that there will be a hearing on Wednesday morning in the group’s lawsuit to...
Notorious Human Rights Abuser Chevron Given... →
Chevron “wins” the Holbrooke award while it is currently aggressively lobbying his employer, the State Department, to intervene in a $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron. How is this not a major conflict of interest?
My latest piece has just come out on AlterNet. It is called: “Does a Senior Obama Official Have Unseemly Ties to Notorious Human Rights Abuser Chevron?”
I...
Obama Continues to Support Right-Wing Thug in... →
Alvaro Uribe could be re-elected through just the type of referendum the ousted Manuel Zelaya has been accused of trying to carry out. Read the full article at AlterNet.
For $25-250K, Washington Post Offered Lobbyists...
The Post “guaranteed… a collegial evening, with Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds.”
By Jeremy Scahill
Mike Allen’s story on Politico today on how The Washington Post attempted to sell access to Obama administration officials, members of Congress and the Post’s reporters for the small price...
Pakistanis Reject U.S. "Aid" Flights, As Lawsuit...
By Jeremy Scahill
Damn those ungrateful Pakistanis. After U.S. drone attacks killed more than 600 of their people since 2006—most of them civilians—it seems they think they have some right to say they don’t want the U.S. flying its “aid” planes to Swat and other “tribal areas.” The New York Times reports that “the Pakistani authorities have...
Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier is Up for...
“I AM but a common man, I am not a speaker but I have spoken. I am not all that tall, but I have stood up. I am not a philosopher or poet or a singer or any of those things that particularly inspire people, but the one thing that I am is the evidence that this country lied when they said there was justice for all… I am just a common man and I am evidence that the powers that put me...
Why President Zelaya's Actions in Honduras Were...
Zelaya attempted to give Hondurans the gift of participatory democracy. It was the coup leaders who violated the constitution. Those who say otherwise are wrong. By Alberto Valiente Thoresen, RebelReports Guest Contributor
EDITOR’S NOTE: RebelReports is publishing this original article as a response to those who claim that the coup in Honduras was legal and/or constitutional and to the...