Zardari Released From Hospital, Remains in Dubai; Memogate Reply Delayed
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari was released from the hospital in Dubai on Wednesday, but has not returned to Pakistan. His reply to Pakistan's Supreme Court investigation into the Memogate scandal had been expected today, but could be…
No, the Iraq War Is NOT Over
The NYT, which played a key propaganda role in getting us into the Iraq war, has a 1000-word article telling us the Iraq war has officially been declared over.
And while it is true that the Administration had a campaign event dog and pony…
Did Dianne Feinstein's "Fix" on AUMF Language Actually Authorize Killing American Citizens?
To explain why it caved on its Defense Authorization veto threat, the Obama Administration had the following to say about the affirmation of detention authority.
Ensuring that we track current law and minimize risks associated with legislating…
Obama Will Not Veto Defense Authorization
I said this about the detainee provisions in the conference Defense Authorization bill.
It seems to me the language does enough to avoid a veto from the cowardly Obama, but still does terrible damage to both the clarity of national security…
England Gave Us Habeas Corpus Once Before...
Can they do it again?
The British human rights organization today won a habeas corpus petition for their client, Yunus Rahmatullah, who has been detained at Bagram for 7 years, in the English Court of Appeal.
The Master of the Rolls, Lord…
Robert Mueller Reveals Counterterrorism Intelligence Techniques Being Used to Combat Healthcare Fraud
We've long known that many of the techniques used to combat terrorism derived from the drug war. We've known that law enforcement agencies around the country are adopting counterterrorism techniques--and even PATRIOT Act tools--in regular law…
The Scary Used Car Broker Plot
Consider these two data points. First, Jo Becker reports that the money laundering scheme run by the Canadian Lebanese Bank involved brokering used cars purchased in America.
In that inquiry, American Treasury officials said senior bank managers…
What If We Scrubbed Wachovia Like We Did the Lebanese Canadian Bank?
I'll have several things to say about Jo Becker's story on the big Hezbollah money laundering ring. For the moment, I'm most interested in how Treasury Department authorities uncovered the ring: by first declaring Lebanese Canadian Bank a money…
Lanny Breuer Rewards DOJ Lawyers for Winning Impunity for Prosecutorial Misconduct
I always like reading DOJ's various expressions of their investigative and prosecutorial priorities--because they usually show a disinterest in prosecuting banksters, a thorough waste of resources on entrapping young Muslims, and an ongoing…
US Keeps Losing Control of Its Drones
Funny how these drones keep experiencing failures in areas where they're engaging in a covert war and not--say--where they're being used to arrest American citizens in North Dakota.
One of the Air Force’s premier drones crashed Tuesday morning…
Iran Seeks Interpol Prosecution of Neoconservatives Jack Keane, Reuel Marc Gerecht
Multiple news outlets in Iran are reporting that Iran has asked Interpol to prosecute former General Jack Keane (co-author of the Iraq surge) and former CIA operative Reuel Marc Gerecht on the basis of their open calls for the assassination…
Defense Authorization Conference Makes Few Changes to Detainee Provisions
According to a press release from Senator Levin's office, the conference on the Defense Authorization has made few changes to the detainee provisions institutionalizing military detention of alleged terrorists.
With regards to Section 1031,…
Obama to Iran: Please Give Our Assassination Surveillance Drone Back
Sorry, this is absurd.
"We have asked for [our Sentinel drone] back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said during a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after the two met at the White House.
We violate Iran's…
Normalizing the Disenfranchisement of African Americans
I've been one of the first people to note that the Emergency Financial Manager laws have disproportionately affected MI's African Americans. Note what I wasn't arguing: that Governors Snyder and Granholm imposed EFMs because the cities in question…
Gilani to BBC: Zardari to Remain in Dubai Hospital Two More Weeks
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxfZ2706b0U[/youtube]
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani granted an extended interview to BBC on Sunday.
Although many important topics were covered in the interview, the subject of the…
The Wild, Wild West: Drones Hunting Down Cattle Rustlers
This story, billed as an account of the first Predator-drone assisted arrest in the US, has all the elements we've been expecting from this development.
The drone in question belongs to the Border Patrol; presumably, it operates under the…
Pro Football Trash Talk
Yeah, we are in the doldrums between end of the college football season, start of the playoff and Super Bowl stretch for pro football and the start of the baseball season. Oh, and, of course, March Madness. Here is what I am having an, uncomfortably,…
Serial Abuser of Executive Branch "Flexibility," John Brennan, Making Veto Case on Detainee Provisions
I have already said I think Obama needs to veto the Defense Authorization because of the detainee provisions. And I have argued that the Administration needs to lay the groundwork for doing so right now, preferably by fear-mongering about how…
Operation Buckshot Yankee and WikiLeaks
Ellen Nakashima had a long article on Thursday using the 2008 thumb drive infection of DOD's networks (including, she mentions in passing, the top-secret JWICS system) to describe the evolution of our approach to cybersecurity.
The whole…
DOJ Doesn't Think Bloggers Are Media Either--and It May Use NSLs to Get Media Call Records
A number of bloggers are pointing, with concern, to an Oregon case in which a blogger got hit with a $2.5 million defamation judgement.
Oregon law provides special legal protections against defamation lawsuits to journalists associated with…