by Ray McGovern
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour. He was an Army infantry/intelligence officer, then a CIA analyst for 27 years, and is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Addressing the use of torture Wednesday, President George W. Bush played to the baser instincts of Americans as he strained to turn his violation of national and international law into Exhibit A on how “tough” he is (…)
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The Torturer’s Apprentice
11 September 2006 -
A Top Cuban Leader Thinks Out Loud
11 September 2006By Tom Hayden
Veteran social activist Tom Hayden interviews Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon.
“Let’s try to imagine what Karl Marx would be doing today.”
It was Sunday, May 21st, and my host posing the question was Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly. It was Alarcon’s 69th birthday, and I was having difficulty understanding why he had pressed me to fly down for a visit. The purpose was nothing more than “two old guys talking,” according to his (…) -
War turns southern women away from GOP
11 September 2006By SHANNON McCAFFREY
MACON, Ga. (AP) — President Bush’s once-solid relationship with Southern women is on the rocks.
"I think history will show him to be the worst president since Ulysses S. Grant," said Barbara Knight, a self-described Republican since birth and the mother of three. "He’s been an embarrassment."
In the heart of Dixie, comparisons to Grant, a symbol of the Union, are the worst sort of insult, especially from a Macon woman who voted for Bush in 2000 but turned away in (…) -
Clearing the air with the truth
11 September 2006by Juan Gonzalez
After nearly five years of lies from top city and federal officials about the health dangers from the toxic dust released by the World Trade Center collapse, the truth has finally begun to emerge.
Back on Oct. 26, 2001, in a Daily News front-page story headlined "A Toxic Nightmare at Disaster Site," I reported that hundreds of tests conducted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency revealed far more elevated levels of toxic pollutants in the air and dust in lower (…) -
Latino Leaders Convene First National Latino Congress in a Generation
11 September 2006by Aaron Glantz
SAN FRANCISCO. Thousands of Latino community leaders from across the country convened in Los Angeles Wednesday for what organizers say is the first massive gathering of Latino community leaders, organizations, and elected officials since 1977.
"The Latino Congresso is deigned to do something that the Congress in Washington is not doing—paying attention to issues of importance to the Latino community," explained John Trasvina, who heads up the Mexican American Legal (…) -
62,006 - the number killed in the ’war on terror’
11 September 2006by David Randall and Emily Gosden
The "war on terror" - and by terrorists - has directly killed a minimum of 62,006 people, created 4.5 million refugees and cost the US more than the sum needed to pay off the debts of every poor nation on earth.
If estimates of other, unquantified, deaths - of insurgents, the Iraq military during the 2003 invasion, those not recorded individually by Western media, and those dying from wounds - are included, then the toll could reach as high as 180,000. (…) -
9/11 - The Emergency # that’s Turned into an Obsession
10 September 2006Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy must not wonder if it be at last turned against them.
Aesop
If the events of 9/11 were the result of a natural catastrophe, the country would’ve rebuilt and continued, largely unreflectively, pursuing the American Dream. But the indignity of an assault on American soil has since become a national obsession, a thriving cottage industry for wild speculators, professors seeking fame, authors eager for a best seller, and, (…) -
The Path to 9/11 was paved by the Bushes: FBI ‘was told to back off bin Laden family’
10 September 2006By now everyone has heard about the new docudrama being run on ABC “The Path to 9/11″ which illustrates how Clinton’s failures led to the tragic terrorists attacks in 2001.
This is the first Hollywood production I’ve seen that honestly depicts how the Clinton administration repeatedly bungled the capture of Osama Bin Laden. One astonishing sequence in “The Path to 9/11″ shows the CIA and the Northern Alliance surrounding Bin Laden’s house in Afghanistan. They’re on the verge of capturing (…) -
Latest bin Laden tape: Does it bash conspiracy theories?
10 September 2006The first thought that came to mind when the recent, Aljazeera-released tape of bin Laden (talking to 9/11 planners?) was aired, was: Is this a scam by the Bush administration coming at a convenient date (just prior to the 9/11 anniversary)?..or is it an attempt by al Qaeda to throw bin Laden in Bush’s "wanted dead or alive" face?
I still can’t figure it out.
On Keith Olbermann’s "Countdown" show on MSNBC TV (USA),someone suggested the tape was a fake and a fraud, manufactured by the (…) -
Mexican court fuels voter doubt
10 September 2006Mexican court fuels voter doubt The ruling settling the disputed election puzzles legal experts.
Los Angeles Times
MEXICO CITY - Top electoral officials and judges are feeding doubts about the outcome of Mexico’s presidential vote by declining to release details about a recount of 4 million ballots and by moving quickly to destroy all 41 million ballots, legal experts said Friday.
The seven judges of the Federal Electoral Tribunal declared conservative candidate Felipe Calderon (…)