George W. Bush acknowledged that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. “I’m aware that our national security team met on this issue and I approved,†he said. He also defended the use of waterboarding - simulated drowning where ...
Since 9/11, the Bush administration and their legal sycophants in the Justice Department and right-wing think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Federalist Society, have claimed that the criminal regime in Washington has the legal right to employ any tactic to pursue its sordid agenda.
When NATO meets in Paris in June for a summit on Afghanistan, there could be a secret deal on the table that will offer a way out of a war in which the U.S. and its allies have become increasingly bogged down. Much to the dismay of Washington war planners, there has been a growing weariness in Europe with the Afghan conflict and reluctance by NATO members to expand troop commitments. This past year, Pentagon chiefs have consistently complained that European allies have not been pulling their weight at a time when it is vital to throw more troops into the fight against
Five former secretaries of state met in Athens, Ga. recently to formulate bipartisan foreign policy suggestions for the next president. All five former secretaries (Powell, Kissinger, Albright, Baker and Christopher) agreed on two important recommendations: The U.S. should open a dialogue with Iran, and the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay should be closed. The first recommendation is a no-brainer, but it will have to wait for a new president because the only kind of diplomacy the Bush Administration understands is gunboat diplomacy. The second recommendation (closing the prison camp at Gitmo), should begin immediately. Guantanamo prison, and what has transpired there during George Bush’s war of terror, is an embarrassment to America.
Nearly two months after historic elections led to the first peaceful democratic transfer of power in Pakistan’s 60-year history, a window of opportunity exists to stabilize the country. The challenges are immense and interrelated, and the dynamic situation in Pakistan requires immediate attention. The United States needs to work with Pakistan’s leaders and other countries to help them take advantage of this opening to achieve progress on security, political and economic fronts. Major questions loom unanswered after the election: Will President Pervez Musharraf stay in office for a full term? Will judicial independence be achieved? Will the relative calm in the security situation that has existed since the February national elections hold? And perhaps the question that most directly impacts the lives of