“Extraordinary rendition” is White House-speak for kidnapping. Just ask Maher Arar. He’s a Canadian citizen who was “rendered” by the U.S. to Syria, where he was tortured for almost a year.
Filed under Weekly Column
U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Chancellor Keesling died in Iraq on June 19, 2009, from “a non-combat related incident,” according to the Pentagon. Keesling had killed himself.
Filed under Weekly Column
Climate-change activists, from pranksters to presidents, are stepping up the pressure by staging elaborate stunts.
Filed under Weekly Column
Lt. Dan Choi doesn’t want to lie. Choi, an Iraq war veteran and a graduate of West Point, declared last March 19 on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “I am gay.” Under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations, those three words are enough to get Choi kicked out of the military.
Filed under Weekly Column
A social worker from New York City was arrested last week while in Pittsburgh for the G-20 protests, then subjected to an FBI raid this week at home—all for using Twitter.
Filed under Weekly Column
Journalist Christian Parenti responds to our interview with Kevin Bales, founder of Free The Slaves
Filed under News
More Blog Posts »
United Nations weapons inspectors resumed their monitoring today of suspected arms sites in Iraq. It is likely that at first the inspectors will limit their visits to sites where they have already installed cameras and sensors for long-term monitoring. The real challenge will come in the next few weeks, when inspectors begin their surprise checks on sites where they suspect Iraq has been hiding materials for weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors returned to Baghdad yesterday after Iraqi President Sadam Hussein promised them unimpeded access to suspected weapons sites.
Eight executions are scheduled this week in the United States. On execution nights, prisons go into a ritualistic mode known as an “execution protocol.” The condemned are offered a last meal, the execution equipment is tested, often within sight or hearing of the prisoner, and an ambulance with its lights off waits close by the execution chamber.