Articles Tagged “al-qaeda”

  • Prisoner Swap is an Opportunity to Again Debate the Closing of Guantánamo

    It is unfortunate that the debate about the prisoner swap – U.S. Army Sgt. Bergdahl for 5 Taliban officials – disregards or at least minimizes the fact that prior to the swap, there were 149 still imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, of which 78 are still imprisoned after being cleared for release and 38 the U.S. has said it lacks evidence to prosecute but claims they are too dangerous to release.

  • Commentary on Senator Feinstein’s Defense of NSA Surveillance

    Senator Dianne Feinstein recently wrote an op-ed defending NSA surveillance programs. In her op-ed, Feinstein disingenuously assures us the NSA does not conduct surveillance, but rather it merely collects information contained on the average telephone bill.

  • Can the U.S. Claim Victory in Iraq?

    Following the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq in December 2011, can the U.S. claim victory or did the Obama administration adopt the face-saving solution of “Just declare victory and get out,” a position proposed by the late Senator George Akin of Vermont at the end of the Vietnam war?

  • Syria and Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction

    Evidence of alleged sarin gas use has supposedly come from human tissue samples. A few dozen Syrians are said to have been killed. If true, did Assad forces or the opposition forces use these chemical weapons and why was only a small amount of sarin used?

  • The Invasion of Iraq Ten Years Later: A Mistake That Should Not Be Forgotten

    I can remember it like yesterday. I was in Chicago at a Centers for Disease Control conference for work and it was going to happen – we were going to war in Iraq, a war based on lies

  • Obama: End CIA-Directed Drone Strikes Now

    Drone strikes have dramatically increased under the Obama administration. As of September 2012, Obama has authorized 238 drone strikes in Pakistan, six times more than during President George W. Bush’s eight years in office, resulting in between 1,494 and 2,618 estimated deaths with only about 13 percent of them of a militant leader.

  • Osama, Where Art Thou?

    Osama bin Laden was assassinated by US military forces in May 2011, but the Obama administration’s refusal to release photographic evidence of the deceased bin Laden is fueling conspiracy theories that espouse the notion bin Laden may still be alive.