Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life

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Open Mike

Blogger Profile: Ray McGovern

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. During his 27-year career at the CIA, he worked for nine CIA directors, several of them at close remove. Primarily a substantive analyst and briefer, he nonetheless served in all four of CIA's main directorates and, during one of his postings abroad, helped manage a large covert action project. In January 2003, he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

Ray McGovern's Blogs

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Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

June 25th, 2012

Asylum for Julian Assange -- Former Awardee for Integrity

(for Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence) Holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London seeking political asylum sits Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who has been responsible for spreading more truth around than any single journalist in recent memory. This, basically, is why he has been labeled all ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

June 21st, 2012

Julian Assange’s Artful Dodge

Barring a CIA drone strike on the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s sudden appeal for asylum there may spare him a prison stay in Sweden or possibly the United States. Assange’s freedom now depends largely on Ecuadorian President Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado, a new breed of independent-minded ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

June 5th, 2012

Sorting Out the Facts about Iran

On the issue of Iran’s “nuclear ambitions” you hear one thing on Monday, a different thing on Tuesday. “It’s a puzzlement!” to quote Yul Brunner’s famous line in The King and I. But in this case, the confusion is hardly insignificant. In a speech on March 4 to the American Israel ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

May 30th, 2012

The Moral Challenge of ‘Kill Lists’

In an extraordinary article in Tuesday’s New York Times, “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will,” authors Jo Becker and Scott Shane throw macabre light on the consigliere-cum-priestly role that counterterrorist adviser John Brennan provides President Barack Obama. At the outset, Becker and Shane note that, ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

April 16th, 2012

Iran’s Phantom Menace

Last Thursday, I took part in a panel discussion on “Targeting Iran: Sanctions and War” at California State University, Fresno. The panel discussion took place against the backdrop of all-too-familiar warnings to Iran that it has one “last chance” to stop doing what the CIA and pretty much all serious ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

April 6th, 2012

Render to Caesar, Extraordinarily

Some of us pause on Good Friday to mark the torture and death of a high-value detainee rendered, extraordinarily, to Roman occupiers. Although the charges against Jesus of Nazareth were trumped up, the Romans decided to err on the safe side by going to the “dark side.” They applied enhanced ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

April 2nd, 2012

In Protest of John Brennan's Speech

After learning that U.S. national security official John Brennan would address Jesuit-run Fordham’s graduating class, I protested in this letter to the Fordham Ram. Dear Editor: I write to express shock and sadness that Fordham’s trustees would think it consonant with Jesuit values to have Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan give ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

February 27th, 2012

CNN Silences War-Skeptical Soldier

When CNN interviews a U.S. Army corporal preparing for his third deployment to Afghanistan, should TV viewers be permitted to hear him out on a front-burner issue like Iran’s alleged threat to Israel? For those who might think so, watch what happens when 28-year-old Cpl. Jesse Thorsen touches a neuralgic ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

February 7th, 2012

Obama’s Super-Bowl Fumble on Iran

Before President Barack Obama’s interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably hoped that, if Obama discussed Iran, he would give him the strong backing that Israeli leaders crave, freeing them to lash out at Iran — militarily, if they ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

February 1st, 2012

Divining the Truth about Iran

Watching top U.S. intelligence officials present the annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” before the Senate Intelligence Committee, I found myself wondering if they would depart from the key (if politically delicate) consensus judgment that Iran is NOT working on a nuclear weapon. In last year’s briefing, Director of National Intelligence James ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

January 24th, 2012

US/Israel: Iran NOT Building Nukes

Has Iran decided to build a nuclear bomb? That would seem to be the central question in the current bellicose debate over whether the world should simply cripple Iran’s economy and inflict severe pain on its civilian population or launch a preemptive war to destroy its nuclear capability while possibly achieving ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

January 21st, 2012

Israel Tamps Down Iran War Threats

In a stunning departure from recent Israeli threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday used an interview with Israel’s Army radio to assert that any attack on Iran “is very far off,” adding, “We haven’t made any decision to do this.” When pressed as ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

January 4th, 2012

A Betrayal of the Founders

President Barack Obama desecrated the Constitution that he and I swore to defend when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which includes language violating the Bill of Rights and other constitutionally protected liberties. The NDAA affirms that the president has the authority to use the Armed Forces ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

August 17th, 2011

Did Tenet Hide Key 9/11 Info?

Bulletin for those of you who get your information only from the New York Times, the Washington Post and other outlets of the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM): Former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke has accused ex-CIA Director George Tenet of denying him and others access to intelligence that could ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

August 13th, 2011

They Died in Vain; Deal With It

Many of those preaching at American church services Sunday extolled as “heroes” the 30 American and 8 Afghan troops killed Saturday west of Kabul, when a helicopter on a night mission crashed, apparently after taking fire from Taliban forces.  This week, the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) can be expected to ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

August 6th, 2011

Obama Blows a Judas Kiss to the Poor

The unconscionable result of the manufactured crisis over the debt ceiling shows that the political Right knows how to play hardball, and that President Obama and his hapless party know how to get rolled.  There are other options; and we, the people, need to press them home. The Obama-brokered deal ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

July 16th, 2011

Neocons Fume Over US Boat to Gaza

My co-passengers and I of the U.S. Boat to Gaza have now gone from “High-Seas Hippies,” according to the right-wing Washington Times, to participants in a flotilla full of “fools, knaves, hypocrites, bigots, and supporters of terrorism,” says Alan Dershowitz in his usual measured prose. Poor Alan, he seems upset ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

July 3rd, 2011

A July Fourth Shame on the Founders

Yes, that was I standing before the U.S. Embassy in Athens on the eve of the July Fourth weekend holding the American flag in the distress mode — upside down.  Indignities experienced by me and my co-guests on “The Audacity of Hope,” the American boat to Gaza, over the past ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

June 26th, 2011

Spirits of Justice Going to Gaza

For those who engage in the common struggle for Justice, an invaluable grace comes from getting to know new friends similarly engaged — and equally willing to speak with more than words. Thus, it has been a great grace to get to know folks like Alice Walker personally as well as through ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

February 14th, 2011

Recalling the Slaughter of Innocents

Twenty years ago, as Americans were celebrating Valentine’s Day, Iraqi husbands and fathers in the Amiriyah section of Baghdad were peeling the remains of their wives and children off the walls and floor of a large neighborhood bomb shelter. The men had left the shelter the evening before, so their ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

June 1st, 2010

Obama's Timidity and Deaths at Sea

A chief lesson to learn from President Barack Obama’s recent unwillingness to stand up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Lobby is that such timidity can get people killed.Casualty figures are still arriving in the wake of Israel’s Sunday night-Monday morning commando attack on an unarmed flotilla ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

May 24th, 2010

Dirty Linen Gets Intel Chief Fired

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of how 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab soiled his underpants with a makeshift bomb over Detroit last Christmas hung out so much dirty linen on the crowded clothes line of the U.S. intelligence community that it was an easy call to get rid of Director ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

March 6th, 2010

Mullen Wary of Israeli Attack on Iran

Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came home with sweaty palms from his mid-February visit to Israel. Ever since, he has been worrying aloud that Israel might mousetrap the U.S. into war with Iran. This is especially worrying, because Mullen has had considerable experience in putting ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

January 9th, 2010

Answering Helen Thomas on Why

Thank God for Helen Thomas, the only person to show any courage at the White House press briefing after President Barack Obama gave a flaccid account of the intelligence screw-up that almost downed an airliner on Christmas Day. After Obama briefly addressed L’Affaire Abdulmutallab and wrote “must do better” on ... continue reading

Ray McGovern

Retired CIA analyst

December 24th, 2009

Break the CIA in Two

After the CIA-led fiasco at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, President John Kennedy was quoted as saying he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds." I can understand his anger, but a thousand is probably too many.Better is a Solomon ... continue reading

First Page 2 of 2

I signed this full-page ad in the New York Times calling on President Obama to close Guantanamo now: http://t.co/PgP0tDDxgW #closegitmo

May 24th
10:58 AM
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ALL killing is wrong. Just sayin' let's not feign shock when those innocents we've massacred might know ppl who may want to kill u or I.

May 24th
4:15 AM
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I am outraged that we can't kill people in other counties without them trying to kill us! http://t.co/CaQrq7YEzO http://t.co/IaiXUaUQro

May 23rd
2:14 AM
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Major congrats to Tavis Smiley whose 2,000th show will air Friday night. Honored to have participated in one or two or ten of them! #Tavis10

May 22nd
5:47 PM
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Disaster Porn. That's what it is. TV, just admit that's what you're doing. This isn't news. It's lazy, it's a distraction & it's fake. Stop.

May 22nd
1:47 AM
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More commentary on the efforts to kill "Citizen Koch" by WNET/ITVS: http://t.co/zUMeCBoO46

May 21st
8:54 PM
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"Bring Back Ken Starr" And u said Bill Keller couldn't write anything stupider than his column backing the Iraq war: http://t.co/BWvZTqND5U

May 21st
5:49 PM
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More on the attempt to suppress my friends' Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Koch Bros/Citizens United documentary: http://t.co/ZnxporOc7Y

May 21st
12:27 PM
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But, thanks to fear of the Koch Bros, YOU may never see it. At least not on PBS. This stuff goes on all the time, u just never hear about it

May 20th
10:30 PM
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They worked on BowlingForColumbine & Fahrenheit9/11 & made the Oscar-nom film Trouble the Water. I've seen their KochBros film & it's great!

May 20th
10:23 PM
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A stunning NewYorker piece today about my colleagues Tia Lessin & Carl Deal & how their KochBros film is being killed http://t.co/MtLpPoOGlu

May 20th
9:55 PM
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Right now on HuffPostLive: Carl Deal & Tia Lessin discuss how the film was killed by Koch Brothers http://t.co/cd8FRDZtuy

May 20th
4:30 PM
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Malcolm X's b-day. At 4yrs old, white supremacists in East Lansing, MI set his house on fire. FD, all white, just stood by & watched it burn

May 19th
10:32 PM
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RT @wastedsummers: @MMFlint Lots of people assuming Kanye meant new in the sense of recent, he means new in the sense of post-legal America…

May 19th
4:34 AM
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"@Myrone07: Yes he did!! They'll be mad once they run the tape again. Watch & see." I agree. West Coast-u will not see(onTV)what we just saw

May 19th
12:56 AM
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RT @marionbarryjr: @MMFlint Not "new". The slavery loophole has been active since the passage of 13th amend. We need to take profit out of …

May 19th
12:53 AM
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RT @PleasureDanger: @MMFlint except...it's not new....the racist prison industrial complex has been locking up black/brown ppl in dispropor…

May 19th
12:52 AM
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Wow. Kanye! Did that just air on TV? Amazing. "We da new slave." #SNL (CCA = Correction Corporation of America - the private prison system)

May 19th
12:48 AM
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So it turns out the War on Terror is never going to end: http://t.co/SWMx4HKjmI Why? See Fahrenheit 9/11: http://t.co/3G3PqrrMNo

May 18th
4:06 PM
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Great time last night on Bill Maher (& @galifianakisz !). Sat next to good-looking brainiacs S.E Cupp & Andrew Ross Sorkin. May've worn off.

May 18th
4:04 PM
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Close Guantanamo Full Page Ad To Appear in New York Times ...by Emma Kaplan www.michaelmoore.com An irresistible and irrepressible demand must well up from...

May 23rd
1:29 PM
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Last night on the Colbert Report -- "I guess for a donation of $75 you get the PBS tote bag. And for $23 million, you get PBS's nut sack." May...

May 23rd
9:48 AM
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I signed this ad about the Guatanamo hunger strikers and calling for the prison to be closed that will appear in the New York Times tomorrow: Our Message in...

May 22nd
8:54 PM
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Statement about “A Word From Our Sponsor,” by Carl Deal & Tia Lessin www.citizenkoch.com We decided to go public with our experience hoping that, like the...

May 22nd
12:10 PM
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Problems at PBS, From Rose to Koch www.fair.org It is a fascinating and frightening look at how this kind of pressure works, where a public TV station is so...

May 21st
7:14 PM
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Mass Rally for Bradley Manning! Ft. Meade, MD. June 1 | MichaelMoore.com www.michaelmoore.com Sponsored by the Bradley Manning Support Network and the...

May 21st
9:45 AM
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How Far Did PBS Go To Placate Sponsor? - HuffPost Live live.huffingtonpost.com The Koch brothers are a frequent boogeyman for liberals due to their vast sums...

May 20th
5:20 PM
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Read this blockbuster New Yorker article about how public TV cowardice helped defang one documentary criticizing the Koch Brothers and then defund another...

May 20th
8:21 AM
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Tonight! It's yours truly and Zach Galifianakis on Bill Maher, 10 PM ET/PT (rerun at 11:30 PM ET/PT) on HBO. HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher: Homepage...

May 17th
6:59 PM
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ICYMI -- It's time to re-up our walks! Got the flu in March & that threw off my routine. Decided to get back at it. Join me! We're on twitter at...

May 16th
8:05 AM
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The Deepening Shame of Guantanamo ...by Ray McGovern www.michaelmoore.com We have been spared hearings on how 86 of the remaining 166 prisoners at Guantanamo...

May 16th
8:04 AM
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I just signed this, and hope you will too: Urge NYT Public Editor to Investigate Biased Reporting on Venezuela & Honduras | NYTimes eXaminer...

May 15th
9:19 AM
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My Breasts and My Life Not as Valuable as Angelina's ...by Donna Smith www.michaelmoore.com What of the women like me who do not have insurance or enough...

May 14th
5:38 PM
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Daily Kos: Thomas Friedman, private eye www.dailykos.com Click to embiggen

May 14th
1:01 AM
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The first Mother's Day in 1870, proclaimed by Julia Ward Howe (author of Battle Hymn of the Republic), was a call for peace and disarmament: ...

May 12th
4:43 PM
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The workers of Chicago's Republic Windows & Doors, seen during their 2008 sit down strike in 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' just opened a new...

May 12th
8:49 AM
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It's time to re-up our walks! Got the flu in March & that threw off my routine. Decided to get back at it today. Join me! We're on twitter at...

May 11th
10:04 PM
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Please check out this post from Cathy Youngblood, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Andaz in West Hollywood, and the campaign she's a part of, Hyatt Hurts:
...

May 10th
3:23 PM
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The workers of Chicago's Republic Windows & Doors, seen here during their 2008 sit down strike in 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' are opening a...

May 9th
8:13 AM
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Michael Moore touts Mayor Bloomberg’s gun control campaign: ‘It’s wonderful!’ www.nydailynews.com Michael Moore isn't known for his high praise of...

May 8th
1:46 PM
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Ribbon cut on new downtown movie theater www.amny.com Filmmakers Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock Tuesday welcomed the arrival of an all-documentary theater...

May 8th
12:54 PM
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'And Then There Was One: Imperial Gigantism and the Decline of Planet Earth' ...by Tom Engelhardt www.michaelmoore.com

May 7th
5:16 PM
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Reminder: The U.S. Government Lies About Who Uses Chemical Weapons in the Mideast ...by Jon Schwarz www.michaelmoore.com The State Department guy who lied in...

May 6th
6:22 PM
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From This Modern World: Daily Kos: Threat assessment www.dailykos.com Click to embiggen

May 6th
3:57 PM
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RootsAction | Nominees for Worst Government Official act.rootsaction.org Here come three new Obama nominees, and they could all be nominees in a contest for...

May 6th
2:36 PM
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Donna Smith, seen in 'SiCKO' and a contributor to MichaelMoore.com, has a new blog: Donna SiCKO's Blog donnasicko.blogspot.com

May 5th
2:48 PM
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Bill Maher Slams Hype Over Boston Bombing Case Don't Let Terrorist 'F-ck-Ups' Scare Us www.youtube.com Bill Maher closed out his show tonight...

May 4th
4:13 PM
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Health Care Injustice in America – Painful Reality ...by Donna Smith www.michaelmoore.com So, how did I get myself to the place where I do not have coverage?

May 2nd
7:15 PM
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Top Economist Unloads On Wall Street & White House - HuffPost Live live.huffingtonpost.com Economist and Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs...

May 2nd
12:13 PM
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The Pope Called One Of The Foundations Of The Global Capitalism System 'Slavery' www.businessinsider.com Pope Rips Bangladesh Slave Labor

May 2nd
10:58 AM
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Open Mike

  • May 16th, 2013

    The Deepening Shame of Guantanamo

    There have been nine congressional hearings on the Benghazi controversy – with more to come – but almost no one in Congress dares put the ...

  • March 18th, 2013

    A Last-Second Appeal for Sanity

    Ten years ago, the U.S. invasion of Iraq was only hours away, but the case for this unprovoked war was already falling apart with exposure ...

  • March 5th, 2013

    ‘Talking Points’ for Hagel on Iran

    From: Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern To: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Subject: Proposed Talking Points on Iran for Your Meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud ...

  • February 25th, 2013

    Eyes Wide Shut on the Iraq War

    Ten years ago, as President George W. Bush and his administration were putting the finishing touches on their unprovoked invasion of Iraq, the mainstream U.S. ...

  • February 22nd, 2013

    Brennan’s Loose Talk on Iran Nukes

    The Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing on John Brennan to head the CIA focused on lethal drones, but Brennan’s loose talk lumping Iran with North Korea ...

  • February 12th, 2013

    To Obama: Close the Deal with Iran

    Dear Mr. President: As you put the final touches to your State of the Union Address, I urge you to avoid overstating the “threat” from Iran. ...

  • February 10th, 2013

    John Brennan’s Tenet-Like Testimony

    CIA Director-designate John Brennan’s assertion to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Iran is “bent on pursuing nuclear weapons” is precisely the kind of dangerous “mistake” ...

  • August 13th, 2011

    They Died in Vain; Deal With It

    Many of those preaching at American church services Sunday extolled as “heroes” the 30 American and 8 Afghan troops killed Saturday west of Kabul, when ...

  • July 3rd, 2011

    A July Fourth Shame on the Founders

    Yes, that was I standing before the U.S. Embassy in Athens on the eve of the July Fourth weekend holding the American flag in the ...

  • September 17th, 2012

    Why the Mideast Exploded, Really

    “Why Is the Arab world so easily offended?” asks the headline atop an article by Fouad Ajami, which the Washington Post published online last Friday ...

  • February 5th, 2013

    Colin Powell: Conned or Con-Man?

    Ten years ago, Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations in a speech which routed what was left of American resistance to the ...

  • July 16th, 2011

    Neocons Fume Over US Boat to Gaza

    My co-passengers and I of the U.S. Boat to Gaza have now gone from “High-Seas Hippies,” according to the right-wing Washington Times, to participants in ...

  • June 25th, 2012

    Asylum for Julian Assange -- Former Awardee for Integrity

    (for Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence) Holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London seeking political asylum sits Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, ...

  • August 17th, 2011

    Did Tenet Hide Key 9/11 Info?

    Bulletin for those of you who get your information only from the New York Times, the Washington Post and other outlets of the Fawning Corporate ...

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