Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 64

How Noam Chomsky is discussed | Glenn Greenwald

The more one dissents from political orthodoxies, the more the attacks focus on personality, style and character

(updated below)

One very common tactic for enforcing political orthodoxies is to malign the character, "style" and even mental health of those who challenge them. The most extreme version of this was an old Soviet favorite: to declare political dissidents mentally ill and put them in hospitals. In the US, those who take even the tiniest steps outside of political convention are insta...

Glenn Greenwald's second reader Q&A: the highlights

On Friday afternoon, Glenn Greenwald took questions from his readers in a live Q&A. Here are some of the highlights

We have formatted some of the questions and answers from Friday's Q&A with Glenn Greenwald. In some cases the questions have been paraphrased, and the answers have been edited to eliminate typos and add clarity. Jump into the comments below to join the discussion:

On Iraq

There is a lot of discussion in alternative news media regarding holding those in power accountable for everyth...

Glenn Greenwald: Q&A | Glenn Greenwald

Beginning at 3.00pm (ET) today, I'll answer reader questions here in the comment section

Today beginning at 12:00 noon Eastern, we will begin the second installment of our new feature at the Guardian: a live question-and-answer session between myself and readers regarding columns I've written over the last month. Starting now, please leave your questions in the comment section. From 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm ET, I'll be here (in the comments) live to answer selected questions. The exchange will then...

The persecution of Barrett Brown - and how to fight it | Glenn Greenwald

The journalist and Anonymous activist is targeted as part of a broad effort to deter and punish internet freedom activism

Aaron's Swartz's suicide in January triggered waves of indignation, and rightly so. He faced multiple felony counts and years in prison for what were, at worst, trivial transgressions of law. But his prosecution revealed the excess of both anti-hacking criminal statutes, particularly the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the fixation of federal prosecutors on severel...

Pentagon Papers lawyer on Obama, secrecy and press freedoms: 'worse than Nixon' | Glenn Greenwald

Career First Amendment and transparency advocate James Goodale sounds the alarm about the current president

(updated below)

In 1971, when the New York Times decided to publish the Pentagon Papers leaked to it by Daniel Ellsberg, it knew it was triggering a major fight with the secrecy-obsessed Nixon administration. As expected, the Nixon administration sued the NYT in an attempt to ban it from publishing the documents, but the US Supreme Court, in a landmark decision for press freedom, ruled th...

The FBI's anticipatory prosecution of Muslims to criminalize speech | Glenn Greenwald

A court ruling in one of the most abusive prosecutions yet highlights the dangers posed by this familiar tactic

One of the major governmental abuses denounced by the 1976 final report of the Church Committee was the FBI's domestic counter intelligence programs (COINTELPRO). Under that program, the FBI targeted political groups and individuals it deemed subversive and dangerous - including civil rights activists (such as the NAACP and Martin Luther King), black nationalist movements, socialist...

David Frum, the Iraq war and oil | Glenn Greenwald

The former Bush speechwriter confirms what has long been the most ridiculed claim about a key reason the US attacked Iraq

(updated below - Update II)

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum, author of the infamous "Axis of Evil" claim in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address, has a Newsweek column this morning announcing that "all of us who advocated for the [Iraq] war have had to do some reckoning". His column is an attempt to provide such a reckoning, and contains numerous revealing assertions.

H...

Charles Krauthammer's false statement about the US Constitution | Glenn Greenwald

To justify the president's War on Terror policies, the Washington Post columnist spreads a demonstrable myth

Charles Krauthammer's Washington Post column this morning, which calls on Congress to enact new legislation authorizing and regulating Obama's drone attacks, is actually worth reading. That's because it highlights the central fact about the Obama legacy when it comes to US militarism, war, and civil liberties. Referencing the monumental shift in how Democrats think about such matters no...

Obama's secrecy fixation causing Sunshine Week implosion | Glenn Greenwald

Even the most loyal establishment Democrats are now harshly denouncing the president for his war on transparency

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, his pledges of openness and transparency were not ancillary to his campaign but central to it. He repeatedly denounced the Bush administration as "one of the most secretive administrations in our nation's history", saying that "it is no coincidence" that such a secrecy-obsessed presidency "has favored special interests and pursued policie...

Finally: hear Bradley Manning in his own voice | Glenn Greenwald

A full audio recording of the whistleblower is released today despite a court prohibition on such recordings

(updated below)

The court-martial proceeding of Bradley Manning has, rather ironically, been shrouded in extreme secrecy, often exceeding even that which prevails at Guantanamo military commissions. This secrecy prompted the Center for Constitutional Rights to commence formal legal action on behalf of several journalists and activists, including myself, to compel greater transparency. On...