Iran Repeats Claim Research Reactor Fuel Plates Object of Enrichment as IAEA Visit Could Be Extended
It has generally been viewed as a positive development that Iran has agreed to new visits from the IAEA to help ease the tension surrounding its nuclear program. Especially encouraging is a report in the New York Times this morning that Iran…
And the Drones Start Patrolling Iraq, Again
Back when I went on a tear about how drones undermine nation-states (both ours and those countries we use them in) I predicted we'd be using drones in Iraq again.
Iraq: While plenty of America’s wars have been dubiously legitimate, Iraq certainly…
Leon Panetta and the Pakistani Doctor: Yet More Double Standards on Classified Information
As the Bill Gertz article I reexamined the other day made clear, Leon Panetta became personally involved in the CIA's efforts to investigate detainee lawyers who were trying to track down their clients' torturers.
CIA Director Leon E. Panetta…
We Are All Pirates Now
I recommend you start reading this story, on how the Navy wants a floating base, a "mothership," to float around the Middle East from which to launch paramilitary operations, at paragraph 18 out of 20:
Ironically, the term “mothership”…
The Evolution of Patrick Fitzgerald's Investigation into Torturer Disclosures
Back in the CIA Leak Investigation days, we learned some interesting things from the changes in Patrick Fitzgerald's authority to serve as Special Counsel. So when the Jon Kiriakou complaint the other day mentioned that Fitzgerald's authority…
Latif and the Misattribution Problem: "All Arabs Look the Same"
I'm going to have at least two more posts on Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif (for background see this post), both in response to this post from Mark Denbeaux and Ben Wittes's response to it.
In this post, I want to demonstrate a possible mistaken…
Iran Kills Six Pakistanis in Latest Border Incident; Iran Silent (Updated)
Six more Pakistanis have been killed by Iranian border agents. The incident has been noted widely in the press in Pakistan, but I find no reports on the incident originating in Iran. This latest incident follows three fishermen killed by…
Playing Whack-a-Mole with Somali Pirates
I questioned yesterday whether the raid to free Jessica Buchanan would help or hurt efforts to free an American freelance journalist who was captured on Saturday close to where Buchanan was being held.
Then there’s the American freelance…
Jamie Dimon, Toddler MOTU
Can you think of any major public figure--or even any ill-tempered toddler in your own life--that whines more than Jamie Dimon?
Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said President Barack Obama's decision to expand investigations into home lending and…
Rick Scott Just Can't Stop Shoveling Federal Money to HCA
Rick Scott, who remarkably is Florida's Governor rather than an inmate in the federal prison system, just can't break out of the behavior that resulted in HCA (where he was CEO) paying a record $1.7 billion in fines to the federal government…
Local Head of International Republican Institute Prevented from Leaving Egypt
Remember when Egypt raided the offices of a bunch of US NGOs?
Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces raided 17 civil society and human rights groups yesterday, in some cases holding staffers at the NGO offices as the raid proceeded.…
4th Circuit: Enemy Combatants Can't Complain about Having Been Made Enemy Combatants
As you've probably heard, the 4th Circuit rejected Jose Padilla's suit against Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday. Both Lyle Denniston and Steve Vladeck have good summaries of the decision, which basically says the courts can't grant damages for constitutional…
What If Obama Sent SEAL Team 6 after Online Pirates?
Let me start by saying that Jessica Buchanan, the American aid worker rescued with her Danish colleague from pirates last night by SEAL Team 6 in Somalia, sounds like a selfless woman; I'm happy for her and her family she is now safe.
But…
"More Respected Around the World"? Really?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwPEHeRa39k[/youtube]
Political speeches, by nature, push the limits of truth. Because of that, the process of sorting out truths from lies in political speeches has become something of a cottage industry.…
CIA Ousts Another Officer Working on Iran because of Political Shitstorm
Remember how Dick Cheny outed Valerie Plame and in the process hurt our efforts to prevent Iran from getting nukes?
And since then, Iran has just been working away, allegedly, to get nukes?
Well, at a time when much of the national security…
Osama bin Laden: "I am Alpha and Omega"
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)
Barack Obama's State of the Union, first 100 words:
Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve…
US Resolves to Clean Up Its Illegal Detention at Parwan
While it is good news that the Administration is finally going to do something about the non-Afghan detainees at Bagram, the WaPo sure lets its anonymous Administration sources put the best spin on the move.
It is not, apparently, a response…
Did the Government "Know Who Journalists Are Talking To" in the Kiriakou Investigation?
As I laid out in this post, the complaint in the Jon Kiriakou case shows that the Patrick Fitzgerald-led investigative team could have found Kiriakou as the ultimate source for some Gitmo detainee lawyers' information on two people associated…
Mansoor Ijaz Rejects Security Arrangements, Does Not Go To Pakistan for Testimony
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPebe5kcnMo[/youtube]
Today is the day on which Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz was scheduled to provide testimony before a judicial commission in the Memogate controversy that has heightened…
How Did DOJ Find Jon Kiriakou?
As I've noted, former CIA officer Jon Kiriakou was charged yesterday with leaking classified material--including one covert officer's identity; the alleged leaks involve three different journalists. Since the complaint focuses on Kiriakou it's…
