Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 165

Nostalgia for Bush/Cheney radicalism

As has been voluminously documented here, one of the most notable aspects of the first year of the Obama presidency has been how many previously controversial Bush/Cheney policies in the terrorism and civil liberties realms have been embraced.  Even Obama's most loyal defenders often acknowledge that, as Micheal Tomasky recently put it, "the civil liberties area has been [Obama's:] worst.  This is the one area in which the president's actions don't remotely match the candidate's promises."  F...

Remember the illegal destruction of Iraq?

British political news has been consumed for the last several weeks by a formal inquiry into the illegality and deceit behind Tony Blair's decision to join the U.S. in invading Iraq.  Today, Blair himself is publicly testifying before the investigative commission and is being grilled about numerous false claims he made in the run-up to the war, not only about Iraqi weapons programs (his taxi-cab-derived "45-minutes-to-launch!!" warning) and Saddam's ties to Al Qaeda, but also about secret...

Comment section -- Alito

In the comment section on this morning's post regarding Justice Alito, I accidentally clicked the "close comments" button.  Apparently, this is an act with grave consequences, as the Salon system does not permit its reversal, no matter how compelling the plea.  Feel free to use the comment section attached to this post to discuss that prior post or for whatever other uses you might have in mind.

Justice Alito's conduct and the Court's credibility

As I wrote at the time, I thought the condemnations of Rep. Joe Wilson's heckling of Barack Obama during his September health care speech were histrionic and excessive.  Wilson and Obama are both political actors, it occurred in the middle of a political speech about a highly political dispute, and while the outburst was indecorous and impolite, Obama is not entitled to be treated as royalty.  That was all much ado about nothing.  By contrast, the behavior of Justice Alito at last night's...

Presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens

The Washington Post's Dana Priest today reports that "U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people."  That's no surprise, of course, as Yemen is now another predominantly Muslim country (along with Somalia and Pakistan) in which our military is secretly involved to some unknown degree in combat operations without any declaration of war, without any public debate, and...

The sanctity of military spending

Administration officials announced last night that the President, in tomorrow's State of the Union address, will propose a multi-year freeze on certain domestic discretionary spending programs.  This is an "initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit," officials told The New York Times.  

But the freeze is more notable for what it excludes than what it includes.  For now, it does not include the largest domestic spending programs:  Medicare, Medicaid and S...

Salon Radio: ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero

In October, 2008, the ACLU issued a report outlining the policies needed to restore civil liberties and America's constitutional framework in the wake of the Bush assault, entitled "Actions for Restoring America."  On the one-year anniversary of Obama's inauguration as President, the ACLU has issued a new report -- pointedly and revealingly entitled "America Unrestored" -- which details Obama's record in these areas.  Although there have been a few isolated bright spots (the DOJ's...

Transcript: ACLU's Anthony Romero

To listen to this discussion, click PLAY on the recorder at the bottom of this post:

Glenn Greenwald: My guest today on Salon Radio is the executive director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero, and we are here to discuss a new report, issued by the ACLU, analyzing Obama's civil liberties record after the first year in office. Anthony, it's great to talk to you again; thanks so much for joining me.

Anthony Romero: It's great to be with you, Glenn, thanks for having me.

GG: My pleasure. Now, last ...

The price of our Middle East policy

In a newly released audio message, the-still-not-dead Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempted bombing and said this about why Al Qaeda continues to target the U.S.:

Bin Laden also warns the US there will be more attacks if it continues to support Israel. . . .
Directly addressing Americans, [bin Laden:] says: "It is unfair you enjoy a safe life while our brothers in Gaza suffer greatly . . . . Our attacks will continue as long as you support Israel. . . ...

Follow-up on the Citizens United case

As one would expect, a substantial number of commenters yesterday disagreed with the Supreme's Court ruling in the Citizens United case case and with my partial defense of it.  I say that's to be expected because, in our political discourse, it's virtually always the case that opinions about court rulings perfectly coincide with opinions about the policy whose constitutionality is being adjudicated (e.g., those who favor same-sex marriage on policy grounds cheer court rulings that such...