Hersh Debunks Mehlis Report

Seymour Hersh debunks the much-vaunted United Nations report that fingers Syria as the culprit in the assassination of Lebanese politician-entrepreneur Rafik Hariri:
“Hersh recently got hold of a copy of the United Nations interim report by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. The document cited “converging evidence” that [...]

Republicans + Indictments = civil libertarians

Special Counsel Fitzgerald’s investigation and ongoing legal proceedings are serious, and now the proceedings — the process moves into a new phase. In our system, each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial…..George W. Bush
In our system of government an accused person is presumed innocent until a [...]

Death and Chaos in Iraq

U.S. aircraft bombed a house near the Syrian border before dawn on Monday in what the military said was a precision strike on an al Qaeda leader.
A local hospital doctor in the Iraqi town of Qaim said 40 people were killed and 20 wounded, many of them women and children, and a tribal leader said [...]

Cheney replaces Scooter

From Josh Marshall:The Vice President today appointed David S. Addington of Virginia to be the chief of staff to the Vice President. The Vice President also appointed John P. Hannah of the District of Columbia as the Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. Murray Waas beat them to the punch on Addington [...]

Berlusconi Bails

The Christian Science Monitor rounds up all the latest on Italy, including this:
“I have never been convinced war was the best way to succeed in making a country democratic and extract it from [a] … bloody dictatorship,” [Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi] says. “I tried on several occasions to convince the American president not to wage [...]

Why did Scooter have to lie?

Time asks the question;
Some observers wondered last week why a bright lawyer like Libby bothered with a cover story at all. The indictment offers scant evidence that Libby knew Plame was a covert officer, a key test in the 1982 law barring such disclosures. By that logic, Libby could have told the truth about everything [...]

Republican Hissy Fits

Tom Knapp on the Republican “Hissy” fit over Scooter Libby’s indictment.
Also, Mark Kleiman is prescient here on why the Martha Stewart Comparison (“Look at Martha Stewart, for instance, where they couldn’t find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn’t a crime.” – Kay Bailey Hutchison, “Lying to a [...]

All the Way to the Top, Baby

Well break out the eggnog and throw another log on the fire, because it sure looks like we’ll be snowed in for a good while to come this Fitzmastime.
And ain’t it grand? For any citizen with a shred of decency, waiting for the war party to implode of its own arrogance has been [...]

Niger Forgeries and State Torture

Saturday on the Weekend Interview Show, I’ll be talking with former CIA man Philip Giraldi and reporter and author Bob Dreyfuss about the latest in the Plame scandal and the origin of the Niger uranium forgeries.
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Update: in the second hour, the other Scott Horton (He’s the heroic opponent of state torture, so [...]

Best Post-Indictment observation

Larry Johnson:A careful reading of the indictment shows beyond a reasonable doubt that there was an organized effort in the White House to go after Joe and Valerie Wilson. At a minimum, Vice President Cheney was witting of this effort. Too bad these guys did not work as feverishly in tracking down Osama Bin Laden. [...]

Against the Spin

Be sure to read Russ Baker’s latest article at TomPaine.com.

Do They Know It’s Fitzmastime at All?

After prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Congress needs to wake up and smell the phony prewar “intelligence.” Here’s a link where you can write to express your concerns to your representative and senators. It helps to be polite and concise, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to also mail Senate Majority Leader Bill [...]