Release of Senate Torture Report Insufficient, Say Rights Groups

by Jim Lobe Tuesday’s release by the Senate Intelligence Committee of its long-awaited report on the torture by the CIA of detainees in the so-called “war on terror” does not go far enough, according to major U.S. human rights groups.… Continue Reading

Senate Committee, CIA in Brawl over Torture Inquiry

by Jim Lobe An ongoing battle between the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over reports about the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” practices during the George W. Bush administration has escalated sharply. The widely… Continue Reading

Jeremy Scahill: “no such thing as a clean war”

Yesterday a Senate hearing was held on the Obama administration’s “targeted killing” program, which you can watch here. It resulted in headlines like this. To date, discussions about President Obama’s use of “kill lists” and assassinations of those deemed as… Continue Reading

After Unprecedented Fight, Hagel Confirmed as Obama’s Pentagon Chief

via IPS News Ending a long and controversial battle, the U.S. Senate Tuesday voted 58-41 to confirm former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama’s new secretary of defence. The confirmation, which followed a more-lopsided 71-27 vote to end… Continue Reading

Drone Wars: Tactics in Search of a Strategy

by James A. Russell The confirmation hearings of John Brennan for director of the Central Intelligence Agency serve as the latest searing reminder of the intellectual rigamortis gripping the national security establishment and how brain dead we have become as… Continue Reading