NewsTrust - Bush Legacy - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

America's Most Anti-Democratic Institution: How the Imperial Presidency Threatens U.S. National Security

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Fred Branfman - Jun. 11 (Special Report) - The U.S. Executive justifies its mass murder, incarceration of the innocent, authoritarianism, secrecy, deceit, lawlessness, spying, and prosecution of whistleblowers, the press and activists on the claim that it is protecting U.S. "National Security."

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Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: Maybe Bush v. Gore Wasn't the Best Decision

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Ian Millhiser - Apr. 29 (News) - Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision: Looking back, O’Connor said, she isn’t sure the high court should have taken [Bush v. Gore].

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The Persecution of Lynne Stewart

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Chris Hedges - Apr. 22 (Special Report) - Lynne Stewart, in the vindictive and hysterical world of the war on terror, is one of its martyrs. A 73-year-old lawyer who spent her life defending the poor, the marginalized and the despised, including blind cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, she fell afoul of the state apparatus because she dared to demand justice rather than acquiesce to state sponsored witch hunts. And now, with stage 4 cancer that has metastasized, spreading to her lymph nodes, shoulder, bones and lungs, creating a grave threat to her life, she sits in a prison cell at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is serving a 10-year sentence.

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What America's Leaving Behind in Afghanistan: Trained Militias Accused of Rape and Murder

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Jennifer Norris - Apr. 21 (News Report) - Despite some success in achieving security gains, the ALP program has been plagued by such problems as Taliban infiltration and insider attacks. But most controversially, ALP units have been accused of committing serious human rights abuses against local populations with apparent impunity.

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Hamid Karzai Seeks to Curb CIA Operations in Afghanistan

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Emma Graham-Harrison - Apr. 20 (News Report) - "Some of them are said to be working with the NDS, but they are not armed by the NDS, not paid by the NDS, and not sent to operations by the NDS. Sometimes they only inform the NDS minutes before the operation," Faizi said. "They are conducting operations without informing local authorities and when something goes wrong it is called a joint operation."

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After Obama Shuns Probe, Bipartisan Panel Finds ‘Indisputable’ Evidence US Tortured Under Bush

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 17 (Special Report) - The report concludes that never before in U.S. history had there been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.”

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David Stockman, Ex-Reagan Budget Director: George W. Bush's Policies Bankrupt The Country

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Mar. 31 (News Report) - A former adviser of Ronald Reagan has some choice words for George W. Bush. David Stockman, Reagan’s budget director from 1981 to 1985, slammed Bush and his former boss in an op-ed in The New York Times Sunday. Stockman argued in the piece that Reagan’s

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BBC-Guardian Exposé Uses WikiLeaks to Link Iraq Torture Centers to U.S. Col. Steele & Gen. Petraeus

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Maggie O'Kane - Mar. 22 (Investigative Report) - A shocking new report by The Guardian and BBC Arabic details how the United States armed and trained Iraqi death squads that ran torture centers. It is a story that stretches from the U.S.-backed death squads in Central America during the 1980s to the imprisoned Army whistleblower Bradley Manning.

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Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq with Mass Displacement & Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Dahr Jamail - Mar. 20 (Special Report) - Al Jazeera reporter Dahr Jamail discusses how the U.S. invasion of Iraq has left behind a legacy of cancer and birth defects suspected of being caused by the U.S. military’s extensive use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus. Noting the birth defects in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, Jamail says: "They’re extremely hard to bear witness to. But it’s something that we all need to pay attention to ... What this has generated is, from 2004 up to this day, we are seeing a rate of congenital malformations in the city of Fallujah that has surpassed even that in the wake of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that nuclear bombs were dropped on at the end of World War II."

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Dahr Jamail Returns to Iraq to Find Rampant Torture and a Failed State Living in "Utter Devastation"

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Nermeen Shaikh, Amy Goodman, Ghali Al-Atwani, Dahr Jamail - Mar. 20 (Special Report) - Investigative journalist Dahr Jamail reported for Democracy Now! throughout the early stages of the U.S. invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. Now with Al Jazeera, Jamail has just returned from Iraq once again, finding what he calls a "failed state" living in "utter devastation." In part one of our interview, Jamail discusses the harrowing security situation for Iraqis living in fear of bombings, executions and kidnappings, the widespread torture in Iraq's prisons, and the breakdown of security in what he calls a "lawless state." Jamail is the author of "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq" and "The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan." [includes rush transcript]

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Democracy Now! Iraq War Timeline Recaps a Decade of Independent Reporting on Occupation and Protest

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Renee Feltz - Mar. 20 (Special Report) - watch video highlights from a decade of Democracy Now! coverage of the Iraq War and the peace movement. It was 10 years ago, on March 19, 2003, that the United States invaded Iraq on the false pretext that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Six weeks later, President George W. Bush stood under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" and declared an end to major military combat operations. But Operation Iraqi Freedom would lead to an almost nine-year U.S. military occupation. Democracy Now! producer Renée Feltz explains how the timeline works and highlights some of the featured videos

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Iraq War Cost $800 Billion, And What Do We Have To Show For It?

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Joshua Hersh, Chris Spurlock - Mar. 18 (Investigative Report) - When President George W. Bush announced the invasion into Iraq in March 2003, the goal was to remove a dangerous dictator and his supposed stocks of weapons of mass destruction. It was also to create a functioning democracy and thereby inspire what Bush called a "global democracy revolution." The effort was supposed to be cheap -- to require few troops and even less time. Instead, it cost the United States $800 billion at least, thousands of lives and nearly nine grueling years (see the graphic below for a further breakdown of various costs). The toll on the people of Iraq were even greater. A decade of war left chaos and impoverishment, hundreds of thousands of citizens dead and millions more displaced, and a vicious sectarianism that still threatens to rip the country apart at the seams.

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As Gitmo Prisoners Revolt, Obama Admin Challenged on Indefinite Detention at OAS Hearing

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 13 (News Report) - As more than 100 Guantánamo Bay prisoners enter the fifth week of their hunger strike, the Obama administration has defended their detention at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. A number of prisoners have been held without charge for more than 11 years, and more than half have been cleared for release. Attorneys for the prisoners told the hearing that the lack of hope for release among those who do not face charges has created a climate of despair.

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Have You Heard of the TPP Yet? An Important Trade Agreement You Need to Know About

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

aflcio.org - By Celeste Drake - Mar. 11 (Special Report) - Most people simply have not heard of the TPP, nor do they know that it might be the last trade agreement the United States ever negotiates (unlike past agreements, this one will be open to new countries, whenever they want to join). So it is all the more important to get this one right. Why isn’t the press talking about this trade agreement? It’s certainly not because trade is boring or irrelevant, and it is definitely not because the debate is over.

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'Hubris': Rachel Maddow Presents Must-Watch Documentary on the Selling of the Iraq War

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Brad Friedman - Feb. 21 (Special Report) - the documentary should be mandatory viewing for those who have lost sight of just how each and every single one of the key reasons used to sell the U.S. on war with Iraq was built on known lies.

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Supreme Court Takes Campaign Finance Case, Will Rule On Contribution Limits

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Paul Blumenthal - Feb. 19 (News Report) - The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear a case challenging the per-biennial cycle limit on campaign contributions from individuals.

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Brennan Exposed: The Truth About Obama's Drone Assassination Program

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Robert Greenwald - Feb. 13 (Special Report) - I went to Pakistan this fall and spoke with Pakistani officials, legal experts, public health officials, and journalists to hear, document, and learn more on the drone policy that has now garnered national attention. Prior to the CIA Director Nomination Hearing where John Brennan discussed the use and analysis of drone use and the white paper memo surfacing, there was little coverage in the media on the Obama's administration use of drones.

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The Grilling that Brennan Deserves

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Consortium News - By Ray McGovern - Jan. 10 (News Analysis) - CIA Director-designee John Brennan has more to explain about his work over the past decade on the terror war’s “dark side,”

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Robert Bork? John Bolton?? 9 Advisers Who Have Romney's Ear

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Dana Liebelson, Adam Serwer - Oct. 24 (Research) - One way to understand what a presidential candidate might do if elected is to look at his advisers. Here are nine advisers who are shaping Mitt Romney's views—and could end up shaping his presidency. You may not have heard of them, but you should know about them

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How Romney's Agenda Reeks of Bush-Era Radicalism, Turned Up a Notch

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Rachel Maddow - Oct. 18 (News Analysis) - "There are some differences between Gov. Romney and President Bush, but they're not on economic policy. In some ways he's [Romney] gone to a more extreme place on social policy, and I think that's a mistake."

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Mitt Romney's Pro-torture Gang of Puppet-Masters

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Marcy Wheeler - Sep. 28 (News Analysis) - Since I noted in August 2011 that Mitt had named two torture architects to his legal advisory committee (Tim Flanigan and Steve Bradbury), I have had zero doubt that Mitt would embrace torture if he were President. So Charlie Savage’s story –reporting on

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As Italy Sentences 23 CIA Agents in Rendition Case, Obama Refuses To Prosecute Anyone For Torture

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Sep. 21 (News Report) - As Italy Sentences 23 CIA Agents in Rendition Case, Obama Refuses To Prosecute Anyone For Torture

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The Worst Teacher in Chicago

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Greg Palast - By Greg Palast - Sep. 13 (News Report) - In a school with some of the poorest kids in Chicago, one English teacher–I won't use her name–who'd been cemented into the school system for over a decade, wouldn't do a damn thing to lift test scores, yet had an annual salary level of close to $70,000 a year. Under Chicago's new rules holding teachers accountable and allowing charter schools to compete, this seniority-bloated teacher was finally fired by the principal. In a nearby neighborhood, a charter school, part of the city system, had complete freedom to hire. No teachers' union interference. The charter school was able to bring in an innovative English teacher with advanced degrees and a national reputation in her field - for $29,000 a year less than was paid to the fired teacher. You've guessed it by now: It's the same teacher.

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5 Countries the U.S. Is Royally Screwing Over

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Alex Kane - Sep. 08 (Special Report) - The post-9/11 era is no different, though the methods of warfare have changed. US military intervention in countries like Yemen have destabilized nations and killed innocent civilians in the name of the “war on terror.” The current crop of undeclared wars the US is waging is having a deleterious impact around the world. And there’s also the so-called war on drugs, which the US continues to wage despite devastating consequences on the ground.

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Former DHS Analyst Daryl Johnson on How He Was Silenced for Warning of Far-Right Militants in U.S.

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Daryl Johnson - Aug. 09 (News Report) - While many were shocked by the massacre at the Sikh temple, our guest, Daryl Johnson, had warned years ago that such an attack was imminent. While working as a senior analyst in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2009, Johnson authored a report warning about the increasing dangers of violent right-wing extremism in the United States, sparking a political firestorm in the process. Under pressure from Republican lawmakers and popular talk show hosts, DHS ultimately repudiated Johnson’s paper.

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