Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 159

Official dogma: Iraq War a success

(updated below - Update II)

The New York Times' Tom Friedman, who did as much as any single individual to persuade large numbers of Democrats and "moderates" to support the invasion of Iraq, today writes:

Former President George W. Bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly.  But democracy was never...

American elites abandon their faux regret over Iraq

The New York Times' Tom Friedman, who did as much as any single individual to persuade large numbers of Democrats and "moderates" to support the invasion of Iraq, today writes:

Former President George W. Bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly.  But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place...

The majestic petulance of John Roberts

The petulance and sense of self-importance on display here is quite something to behold:

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Obama's State of the Union address was "very troubling" . . . . Obama chided the court, with the justices seated before him in their black robes, for its decision on a campaign finance case. . . . Responding to a University of Alabama law student's question, Roberts said anyone was free to criticize the court, and some...

Compare and contrast

(updated below)

I'll just go ahead and pass this on without (much) comment, because the point is self-evident:

Iran Torture Trials Begin

TEHRAN, Iran — The trial in Iran opened Tuesday for 12 suspects accused of torturing to death three anti-government protesters tortured in prison during the turmoil following the June elections, the official news agency reported.
Iran's judiciary last year charged 12 officials at Kahrizak prison for involvement in the death of three...

Obama sabotages himself with fake "pragmatism"

(updated below - Update II)

A new poll from the Democratic polling firm founded by James Carville and Stan Greenberg -- and co-sponsored by the "centrist" Third Way -- provides what its sponsors call "a wake-up call for President Obama, his party, and progressives on national security," because "[h:]istorical doubts about the Democratic Party on national security show signs of reviving."  This "Dems-losing-on-Terrorism" characterization is predictably being adopted by most media...

Obama sabotages himself with pseudo "pragmatism"

A new poll from the Democratic polling firm founded by James Carville and Stan Greenberg -- and co-sponsored by the "centrist" Third Way -- provides what its sponsors call "a wake-up call for President Obama, his party, and progressives on national security," because "[h:]istorical doubts about the Democratic Party on national security show signs of reviving."  This "Dems-losing-on-Terrorism" characterization is predictably being adopted by most media accounts -- Poll: Obama wrong on terror...

NYU Law School event

On February 26, I spoke at NYU School of Law, at a 90-minute event hosted by that school's Center on Law and Security, regarding civil liberties, Obama, Terrorism and many political and media issues that are frequent topics of discussion here.  The event, moderated by NYU Law Professor Stephen Holmes, consisted entirely of a Q-and-A session, first questions posed to me by Professor Holmes and then by those in the audience.  Here are several excerpts, each roughly 3-5 minutes in length...

High standards at The Washington Post

By publishing a book that clearly and unapologetically defends the Bush torture regime, Marc Thiessen catapulted himself from obscure, low-level Bush speechwriter into regular Washington Post columnist, joining fellow torture defenders Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol.  Today, Thiessen's column defends the Liz-Cheney/Kristol smear campaign against DOJ lawyers and says this:

Yet Attorney General Eric Holder hired former al-Qaeda lawyers to serve in the Justice Department and resisted...

Congressional condemnation of Cheney/Kristol?

(updated below)

One of the most inane acts undertaken by the Democratic Congress was its formal and highly bipartisan condemnation of MoveOn.org's "Petraeus/Betrayus" ad.  Regardless of one's views of that ad, formally opining on the views of private citizens is not the role of Congress.  But since they did that, and apparently believe that repugnant political campaigns merit Congressional disapproval, shouldn't there be some form of formal sanction for the far more pernicious and g...

Why do journalists expect to have credibility?

Clark Hoyt, New York Times Public Editor, March 21, 2009:

THE Times has a tough policy on anonymous sources, but continues to fall down in living up to it. . . .Last year, at my request, a group of journalism students at Columbia University studied anonymous sources in The Times and concluded that their use was actually down by roughly half since a strengthened policy was adopted in 2004. But the students said the paper failed to follow its own rules for explaining them nearly 80...