The View from the Oval Office “When they were in the Senate both Senator Biden and Senator Obama were both very strong critics of the state secrets privilege. Since assuming office, the administration has used the privilege in at least three cases of which we are aware.” —Andrew Grossman of the Heritage Foundation “These are […]

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Say It Ain’t So, Joe “It’s no secret that I’m a skeptic. I don’t—I don’t believe that mankind is the primary cause of climate change. I do accept that CO2 levels are rising. I think it’s a debatable proposition whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But, in any event, to put some […]

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Torture at Guantánamo? “On a couple of occassions [sic], I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food, or water. Most times they had urinated or defacated [sic] on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On […]

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Judge Not—A month after the release of a detailed memorandum on torture, written in August 2002 by federal appeals court Judge Jay Bybee when he directed the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was visibly angry. Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. At a May 13 subcommittee hearing, he said he […]

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Bomb Iran?—Swine flu kept the story off the front pages of American newspapers, but the Israeli press is engaged in a robust public debate over the prospect of an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. That line of discussion continues in the Israeli press. “As far as Netanyahu is concerned, a decisive […]

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