(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, January 16, 2014
NSA Metadata Collection: Fourth Amendment Violation This issue is headed to the Court of Appeals. From there, it will likely go the Supreme Court. It remains to be seen whether the court will refuse to cower before President Obama's claim of unfettered executive authority to conduct dragnet surveillance. If the court allows the NSA to continue its metadata collection, we will reside in what can only be characterized as a police state.

(1 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Voices From The Drone Summit Baraa Shaiban, a human rights activist who works with REPRIEVE, revealed that 2012 was a year that saw "drones like never before" in Yemen. He described the death of a mother and daughter from a drone strike. "The daughter was holding the mother so tight, they could not be separated. They had to be buried together."

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, August 10, 2013
The Struggle Continues: Seeking Compensation for Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims, 52 years on Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare program in Vietnam, a long time with NO sufficient remedial action by the U.S. government. One of the most shameful legacies of the American War against Vietnam, Agent Orange continues to poison Vietnam and the people exposed to the chemicals, as well as their offspring.

(3 comments) SHARE        Thursday, August 8, 2013
Manning's Upside-Down Punishment The cruel irony of how the United States has addressed post-9/11 war crimes, including President Bush's invasion of Iraq and his use of torture, is that no major government official has been held accountable, yet whistleblowers have faced harsh reprisals, most notably Pvt. Bradley Manning

(2 comments) SHARE        Saturday, July 6, 2013
Gitmo's Kafkaesque Kangaroo Courts The Military Commissions for trying alleged al-Qaeda terrorists always had the risk of becoming Kafkaesque kangaroo courts with little credibility among people around the world, a danger that has become more and more acute as the process moves forward.

(7 comments) SHARE        Monday, June 3, 2013
Bradley Manning's Legal Duty to Expose War Crimes The Obama administration, which has prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than all prior presidencies combined, seeks to send a strong message to would-be whistleblowers to keep their mouths shut. Manning fulfilled his legal duty to report war crimes. He complied with his legal duty to obey lawful orders but also his legal duty to disobey unlawful orders.

(2 comments) SHARE        Friday, May 10, 2013
Who's at Fault for Guantanamo Mess? Official Washington's "tough-guy-ism" -- no one wanting to look "weak" on "terror" -- has stopped sane and humane policies toward Guantanamo. Members of Congress have blocked President Obama's efforts to close the prison and he has shied away from a political battle to do so.

(2 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, March 20, 2013
War of Aggression The Nuremberg Charter defines "Crimes Against Peace" as "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing." Bush's war on Iraq is a war of aggression, and thus constitutes a Crime Against Peace.

(3 comments) SHARE        Friday, January 11, 2013
The Dark Side of "Zero Dark Thirty" Movie-goers across America can now see the hunt-for-bin-Laden film, "Zero Dark Thirty," and its graphic portrayal of torture as a key element in that search. But the filmmakers distort the facts and ignore the reality that torture is illegal, immoral and dangerously ineffective.

(8 comments) SHARE        Monday, September 3, 2012
No Accountability for Torturers The Obama administration has closed the books on prosecutions of those who violated our laws by authorizing and conducting the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody. By letting American officials, lawyers and interrogators get away with torture -- and indeed, murder -- the United States sacrifices any right to scold or punish other countries for their human rights violations.

SHARE        Monday, July 16, 2012
Immigration, Racism & the Courts Blocked on comprehensive immigration reform, the Obama administration has won some piecemeal victories against GOP demands for more draconian moves against "the undocumented." Deportations of "dreamers" have been stopped and much of an Arizona law was overturned, but more battles lie ahead.

(12 comments) SHARE        Monday, May 14, 2012
Mitt Romney, the Bully As a privileged preppy, Mitt Romney enjoyed humiliating suspected gays and other vulnerable people. But his bullying didn't stop when he grew older. Instead, he applied similar tactics to make a fortune as a corporate raider.

(1 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, January 31, 2012
No Justice for Haditha Massacre In 2003, President George W. Bush launched a "preemptive" war against Iraq, citing imaginary threats to the United States. The invasion inflicted massive loss of life, including massacres like the one at Haditha, but with very little accountability in the field or in Washington.

(2 comments) SHARE        Monday, January 16, 2012
Close the Guantánamo Gulag The very existence of the Guantánamo prison camp harms America's international reputation. A January 2005 editorial in Le Monde concluded, "The simple truth is that America's leaders have constructed at Guantánamo Bay a legal monster." Moreover, it has created more enemies of the United States.

(5 comments) SHARE        Saturday, December 24, 2011
Bradley Manning: Hero, or Traitor? The U.S. government considers Manning one of America's most dangerous traitors. If Manning did what he is accused of doing, he should not be tried as a criminal. He should be hailed as a national hero, much like Daniel Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers helped to expose the government's lies and end the Vietnam War.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, November 21, 2011
GOP Candidates Advocate Torture At last week's debate, Republican presidential candidates Herman Cain and Michelle Bachman defended waterboarding. And after the debate, Mitt Romney's aides told CNN that he does not think waterboarding is torture.

(2 comments) SHARE        Friday, August 12, 2011
Lost in the Debt Ceiling Debate: The Legal Duty to Create Jobs The debate about the debt ceiling should have been a conversation about how to create jobs. It is time for progressives to remind the government that it has a legal duty to create jobs, and must act immediately -- if not through Congress, then through the Federal Reserve.

(1 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Compensate Victims of U.S. Chemical Warfare in Vietnam Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare program in Vietnam without sufficient remedial action by the U.S. government. One of the most shameful legacies of the Vietnam War, Agent Orange continues to poison Vietnam and the people exposed to the chemicals, as well as their offspring. Fifty years is long enough. It is high time to compensate the victims for this shameful chapter in our history.

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, July 9, 2011
Putting Torturers Above the Law In another example of how Democrats deal timidly with Republican crimes, the Obama administration has closed the book on the vast majority of George W. Bush's torture scandals, including high-level approval of waterboarding and other forms of physical coercion. Only two homicide investigations will go forward.

SHARE        Monday, May 16, 2011
The Responsibility to Protect - The Cases of Libya and Ivory Coast The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force for humanitarian interventions. The military invasions of Libya and Ivory Coast have been justified by reference to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.