Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 140

Charges against Julian Assange withdrawn, unfounded

Every major media outlet blared overnight headlines that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, had been criminally charged with rape and molestation in Sweden and arrested in abstentia.  This morning, however, we find this:

Sweden Rescinds Warrant for WikiLeaks Founder

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Swedish prosecutors have withdrawn an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying the rape suspicions against him are unfounded.

In a brief statement...

Why won't the Pentagon help WikiLeaks redact documents?

(updated below)

When the controversy first arose over the lack of redactions in the war documents released by WikiLeaks, the website insisted that, using the New York Times as an intermediary, it had asked the Obama administration for help in removing names of Afghans before releasing the documents, a claim the Pentagon vehemently denied.  The New York Times, needless to say, sided with the Government -- that's what the NYT does -- but they did so by simultaneously confirming the ...

Jeffrey Goldberg's fabrication on NPR

(updated below   Update II)

This is really quite strange.  Yesterday, my inbox began filling up with email telling me that Jeffrey Goldberg had gone on NPR and, when asked about my critiques of his Atlantic article on bombing Iran, claimed I had "retracted" part of what I had written.  When I read the first couple emails, I assumed the emailers had heard it incorrectly or were mischaracterizing Goldberg's remarks, because not only had I never issued any retraction of those...

Video discussion with Gov. Howard Dean

Howard Dean spoke to me this afternoon for roughly 20 minutes regarding his remarks on a New York City radio station yesterday concerning the proposed Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, as well as the response he wrote, published today on Salon, to my criticisms.  During our conversation, we had a brief dispute about whether, during his radio interview, he advocated for Park 51 to be moved (as I claimed), or whether he merely called for a "dialogue" about that prospect (as he...

Why I back a mosque compromise

First of all, I am not going to back off. The reaction did surprise me because most of the negative reaction had to do with defending the constitutional rights of the builders of the center. Of course I never attacked those rights; I explicitly supported them, as the president also did this week. Nor did I side with the Islamophobic rhetoric of Newt, Palin et al. There are a great many people in this debate talking past each other, as is often the case these days.

Here is my case. First...

Howard Dean: "Mosque" should move

(updated below - Update II)

Certain things are disappointing and surprising even for the most hardened cynics.  Hearing Howard Dean -- the former liberal standard-bearer -- join Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin by saying the following is definitely one of them:

 

Making this more repellent is that he doesn't even have the "I-want-to-get-re-elected" excuse.  Today, former Reagan Solicitor General Ted Olson -- whose wife, Barbara O...

What political courage looks like

(updated below)

The toxic right-wing campaign to impose a Muslim-free zone around Ground Zero intensified today, while Democrats -- following in the cowardly footsteps of Senate Majority "Leader" Harry Reid, whose book is one of the most ironically titled in history -- ran faster and faster away from the controversy.  New York Governor David Paterson made it known that he wants to meet with Park 51's developers to encourage them to move to a new site.  One Democratic official...

A CNN anchor expresses the crux of "mosque" opposition

CNN anchor Don Lemon hosted a "debate" this weekend over the Park 51 Community Center in Lower Manhattan (misleadingly described everywhere as the "Ground Zero mosque") in which Lemon dropped his mask of journalistic objectivity completely and, in doing so, perfectly captured the crux of the ugly case against Park 51.  This is the exchange he had with Eboo Patel, Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Corps, after Patel explained that religious liberty and pluralism have been core values ...

The two faces of Winston Churchill

In the Sunday NYT Book Review, the always-excellent Johann Hari has a fascinating review of a new book by historian Richard Toye, Churchill's Empire, which examines the two very different Winston Churchills.  That dichotomy is epitomized by the very divergent treatment accorded the British Prime Minister by the current UU.S. President and his predecessor.  George Bush kept a large bust of Churchill in the Oval Office because -- like so many right-wing, super-hawk, pseudo-tough guys -- Bush...

The fear campaign and Social Security

(updated below)

Associated Press, Saturday:

Obama claims GOP trying to destroy Social Security

President Barack Obama used the anniversary of Social Security to trumpet Democrats' support for the popular program and accuse Republicans of trying to destroy it.

Paul Krugman, The New York Times, today:

Social Security turned 75 last week. . . . But the program is under attack, with some Democrats as well as nearly all Republicans joining the...