Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 139

The "nobody-could-have-known" excuse and Iraq

(updated below - Update II)

The predominant attribute of American elites is a refusal to take responsibility for any failures.  The favored tactic for accomplishing this evasion is the "nobody-could-have-known" excuse.  Each time something awful occurs -- the 9/11 attack, the Iraq War, the financial crisis, the breaking of levees in New Orleans, the general ineptitude and lawlessness of the Bush administration -- one is subjected to an endless stream of excuse-making from those...

Lawsuit challenges Obama's power to kill citizens without due process

(update below)

Three weeks ago, I wrote about a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, based on the Treasury Department's failure to grant a "license" to those groups to represent U.S. citizen Anwar Awlaki in his efforts to obtain a court order barring the U.S. Government from assassinating him without due process.  In response, Treasury officials issued the license (those groups are nonetheless proceeding with that lawsuit in an attempt to have the...

Howard Kurtz and the WashPost's contempt for its readers

The Washington Post's media critic Howard Kurtz today uses his Post column to send a gushing love letter to Time Magazine and its executives.  Entitled "Thinner Time magazine still manages to stand out," it reads like a Time Warner Press Release heaping praise on its magazine for great success.  The first sentence crowns Time Editor-in-Chief Rick Stengel as "the last man standing," trumpets Time's success in comparison to the struggles of Newsweek and U.S. News, and claims -- most...

Anti-mosque sentiment rages far from Ground Zero

One of the most under-reported political stories is the increasingly vehement, nationwide movement -- far from Ground Zero -- to oppose new mosques and Islamic community centers.  These ugly campaigns are found across the country, in every region, and extend far beyond the warped extremists who are doing things such as sponsoring "Burn a Quran Day."  And now, from CBS News last night, we have this:

Fire at Tenn. Mosque Building Site Ruled

Federal officials are...

Racial and ethnic exploitation of economic insecurity

Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, today:

Note what connects these issues. In every one, liberals have lost the argument in the court of public opinion. Majorities -- often lopsided majorities -- oppose President Obama's social-democratic agenda (e.g., the stimulus, Obamacare), support the Arizona law, oppose gay marriage and reject a mosque near Ground Zero.

Yahoo! News, August 12, 2010:

A new CNN poll has found that most Americans think gays and lesbians should have a...

Debating America's surveillance state

(updated below)

Earlier this month, The Cato Institute's Unbound published my essay on America's Surveillance State, and then invited several commentators to reply and participate in a debate of these issues.  Two of those replies were particularly critical:  this one from John Eastman, former Dean of the Chapman University School of Law (recent home to John Yoo), recently defeated GOP candidate for California Attorney General, and former clerk to right-wing judges Clarence Thomas...

An exciting new Muslim country to drone attack

(updated below)

Could Barack Obama become the first person in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize two consecutive years?  It is hard to dispute the premise that awarding him the Prize this year would be every bit as justifiable as last year's award.  Fresh off his Nobel-winning escalation of the war in Afghanistan, we now have this monument to world peace:

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The essence of Time

Substantial energy is devoted from many corners to critiquing America's establishment media, but this 2-minute report from The Onion News Network concerning Time Magazine captures so much of what needs to be said that it virtually renders future critiques -- at least of the nation's newsweeklies, other Time/CNN properties, and most television "news" shows -- completely unnecessary:

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Fact-free accusations about WikiLeaks

I realize that it shouldn't, but it nonetheless does still amaze me when I listen to professional political commentators make factual assertions without having the slightest idea or concern for whether they're actually true.  The Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll was on BloggingheadsTV yesterday with The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf, and Carroll raised the article I wrote on Saturday regarding the Pentagon's refusal to help WikiLeaks redact the Afghanistan war documents in order to protect ...

The "mosque" debate is not a "distraction"

(updated below)

Opponents of the Park51 Islamic community center held a rally yesterday in Lower Manhattan, and a 4-minute video, posted below, reveals the true sentiments behind this campaign.  It has little to do with The Hallowed Ground of the World Trade Center -- that's just the pretext -- and everything to do with animosity toward Muslims.  I dislike the tactic of singling out one or two objectionable people or signs at a march or rally in order to disparage the event...