Tag: War on Terror

Still another US air strike killing dozens of civilians in Afghanistan, still another promise by the Pentagon to “investigate”, while in Washington President Obama hosts the AfPak summit with “Af” Hamid Karzai” and “Pak” Ali Zardari.

Obama’s surge in Afghanistan will ensure a steady supply of “collateral damage”, even though sane military voices condemn “democracy at gunpoint” and Taliban “tacticians” mock Gen. David Petraeus’ counterinsurgency tactics.

The Bush “war on terror” has been rebranded as “overseas contingency operations” (OCO) by the Obama administration.

Pepe Escobar argues everything remains the same, but with a new twist: Washington selling OCO in AfPak to US public opinion not as an American war – but as a Pakistani war.

There has been plenty of controversy on the issue of conducting a Congressional or independent investigation into the interrogations policy and torture activities of the Bush administration over the last seven or eight years.

One of the primary worries by those who oppose a “truth and reconciliation”-style investigation is that it would preempt possible prosecutions, or at worst, be a cover-up of some of the worst crimes involved. Those who favor such an investigation believe that is only with a broad investigation will all the information really be unearthed.

The hearing today by the Senate Judiciary Committee — “Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry” — chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), was called to explore options for investigating past torture and counter-terrorism policy.  The committee called six witnesses, some for, some against such an investigation. But a close look at the backgrounds and affiliations of even most of the pro-investigation witnesses should give us deep pause, and ask what kind of commission are we being set up for?

The producers of a unique documentary sent me a DVD copy of their independent documentary, “The Warning.” They hoped they would get a good review, and they needn’t have worried.

“The Warning,” written, produced, and directed by Joseph P. Sottile, consists entirely of interviews with five well-known liberal authors (see below). Rather than questions and answers, the interviewees are allowed to speak for themselves. Occasionally, they even read appropriate selections from their works.

But rather than a boring word fest, the seriousness of the work gives it a riveting feel. The subject is nothing less than the descent of the United States into a ruthless totalitarian state, which relies on state torture, an imperial executive, widespread surveillance, the conscious use of fear-laden propaganda, a docile press, and the influence of a radical Christian core of believers to spread the program in institutions throughout civil society.