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Archive for Torture

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Tuesday 17th June 2008

Bush Slanders Freedom Again

In a Tuesday interview in Britain, Sky News editor Adam Boulton asked George W. Bush: “There are those who would say look, lets take Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib, and rendition and all those things and to them that is the complete opposite of freedom.”
BUSH: “Of course, if you want to slander America.”
This is the [...]

Wednesday 9th April 2008

White House Choreographed Torture Sessions

9:38 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 11

ABC has a bombshell tonight about how Cheney and other top Bush administration officials would sit at the White House and decide exactly how Muslim detainees would be tortured.
ABC noted: “The high-level discussions about these ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to [...]

Wednesday 12th March 2008

McCain Again Votes for Torture

John McCain voted to uphold Bush’s veto of the latest anti-torture legislation to pass Congress.
McCain also voted against the initial version of this law that would ban waterboarding by U.S. government agents.
McCain also voted for the final version of the Military Comissions Act in September 2006. By giving Bush boundless discretion to define torture, this law [...]

Tuesday 6th November 2007

The Latest Torture Twists & Turns

3:54 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 20

The American Conservative today put online my article updating the torture scandal.
We Have Ways….. American Conservative, November 5, 2007
by James Bovard
On Oct. 4, the New York Times blew another ten-foot hole in the Bush administration’s torture cover-up. The Times revealed that the Justice Department produced a secret legal opinion in early 2005 permitting CIA interrogators [...]

Thursday 16th August 2007

Torture Correction & a Hat Tip to a Democrat

10:18 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 5

In the torture article I posted yesterday, I ragged on the Democrats for rolling over for Bush’s nominee to be the chief lawyer for the CIA.
Sen. Ron Wyden has proven me wrong.
The Associated Press reports tonight: “A Democratic senator said he would indefinitely block President Bush’s nominee to become the C.I.A.’s top lawyer. “I’m [...]

Tuesday 24th July 2007

New Torture Scandal Update in American Conservative

2:30 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 15

The July 30 issue of American Conservative contains a piece I did updating the latest twists and turns of the torture scandal. Here’s the lead paragraph:
From the first days after the Abu Ghraib photos hit the airwaves, the torture scandal has epitomized the worst of the Bush presidency. A timid media, a cowardly opposition party, [...]

Tuesday 20th March 2007

Gonzales’s Fall, Bush’s Impeachment?

Lew Rockwell suggested yesterday that I do a piece on the Gonzales meltdown and how it could affect Bush. Every now and then, I am not immune to good ideas, so I wrote it and he posted it on LewRockwell.com today.
I appreciate all the comments I received on the Gonzales blog entries in the past week. [...]

Friday 16th March 2007

Great Torture Humor

9:39 pm | Bovard | Torture | wool | Comments: 8

Tim O’Regan has the perfect response to the Establishment media’s groveling to the tortured confession and the redacted transcript out of Gitmo.
O’Regan reveals that KSM and his look-alike, porn star Ron Jeremy, are the “Hairy Brothers of Destruction.” O’Regan reveals:
KSM supplied a type-written note that listed all of the crimes the duo is responsible for masterminding. [...]

Friday 2nd March 2007

My Time in the Tower of London

The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted online an article of mine from the December Freedom Daily. I posted an excerpt of this piece here earlier; here is the full text.
MY TIME IN THE TOWER OF LONDON
by James Bovard
I visited the Tower of London in May on an overcast, dreary Friday afternoon. The home of [...]

Monday 5th February 2007

Bush Brings Medieval Justice to America

The Bush administration has been shockingly clear regarding its intentions to medievalize American justice. The memos vindicating torture written by high-ranking Bush administration officials should have woken up all Americans to the rising peril. Unfortunately, the memos have gotten far less attention than they deserve.
This article, posted today by the Future of Freedom Foundation, ran in [...]

Thursday 1st February 2007

Lively Interview Online - Torture, Iran, Dictatorship, etc.

Antiwar.com columnist Scott Horton interviwed me today for an hour about Attention Deficit Democracy. We had a good ol’ time - I hope folks get lots of laughs from the show. Scott, who has done some excellent writing on the danger of war with Iran, had excellent observations on the latest developments in the Middle [...]

Tuesday 23rd January 2007

March on Washington this Saturday (Jan. 27)

This Saturday should see the biggest antiwar demonstration in Washington since September 2005. Details here.
I will be heading down to the big show. When I go to these events, I tend to saunter more than march, savoring the circus elements of these festivities and spending lots of time on the periphery.
Stopping Bush from expanding the Iraq [...]

Friday 17th November 2006

The Torturous Servility of Washington Think Tanks

The Globalist posted an article of mine today contrasting the courage of Washington vs. New York organizations.
Washington vs. New York: Wonks vs. Courage
Washington has long had a reputation as being the place for serious political thinkers. By contrast, New York was seen as a place where people go to earn bushels of money. Yet, the reaction of Washington [...]

Tuesday 14th November 2006

Radio LIVE ONLINE Wed. (11/15) 10:30 am Charles Goyette Show

Got a call this afternoon from Charles Goyette, who heard about my terrorist behavior on the Washington subway and wanted to get me on the air before they take me away.
I will be on his show 10:30 AM Eastern time Wednesday (11/14). Charles is one of the best libertarian hosts in the country; his political courage and [...]

Wednesday 1st November 2006

Anti-Torture Activism with a Smile

4:29 pm | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 4

Neil Alexander, a New Hampshire activist is doing a great job of haunting the incumbents for voting for torture. His signs are here.
This haunting and taunting should continue long after Nov.7.
And another hitch: malcontents could take the signs down.
Maybe we need something more indelible.
If these congressmen are going to brag about voting for the torture bill, [...]

Wednesday 25th October 2006

LISTEN LIVE - Thursday (10/26) - on the Brian Wilson Radio Show

Brian Wilson, one of the best talk show hosts in the country, invited me on his show tomorrow (Thursday, 10/26) at 4:30 pm Eastern time for half an hour. You can listen live here. He is on WSPD in Toledo, 1370 AM.
Should be plenty of laughs, especially about torture and Bush.

Live Online Today (10/25) at 2 PM Eastern - Salt Lake City radio

I will be on the “Born on the Fourth of July” radio show with host Barbara Whiteley today (Wed., 10/25) for one hour starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time. You can listen live on the net here (link is in the upper right corner). The station is at 630 AM on the dial.

Wednesday 18th October 2006

The Washington Post Makes Dictatorial Powers Mundane

3:14 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 10

Editor & Publisher posted online this afternoon my piece on a Washington Post article that made me shake my head ruefully at the breakfast table.
Update: Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin quoted a chunk of this column in his blog today here.
How to Make a Power Grab ‘Mundane’
The Washington Post’s story today - “Bush Signs Terrorism [...]

Tuesday 17th October 2006

Backstage at the Torture Signing Ceremony

The feds have become super vigilant in tapping our phone calls, tracing our movements, and intruding into our lives over the last 5 years.
Wouldn’t it be great to have hidden microphones around the White House this morning to hear what was said by dignitaries, congressmen, and other sociopaths invited for the signing ceremony of the [...]

Thursday 12th October 2006

Cartoon Freedom Fighters

Politics & Prose Bookstore in DC had a book event tonight for Attitude 3 - a collection of the work of “the New Subversive Online Cartoonists.” The book, edited with questions and commentary throughout by Ted Rall, features the work of people more than happy to expose the lies and crimes of the Bush regime.
Many of [...]

Wednesday 4th October 2006

Yesterday’s KAOS Radio Interview Now Online as an MP3

Scott Horton has converted our interview from yesterday into an MP3 which can be easily downloaded here.

Monday 2nd October 2006

LIVE ONLINE - Tuesday (10/3) 6 pm Eastern- Scott Horton KAOS radio show

Scott Horton will be having me on his show on KAOS radio tomorrow (Tuesday, 10/03) evening at 6 pm Eastern. You can listen online live here. Or tune up in the Austin, Texas area at 92.7 FM.
We will be bantering on torture, dictatorship, Attention Deficit Democracy, and, if I’m lucky, beer. Scott is a hardliner [...]

Friday 29th September 2006

Happy Dictatorship Day

The prize for the headline of the year goes to today’s Washington Post for the following gem:
“Many Rights in U.S. Legal System Absent in New Bill”
The Post article on the military tribunal bill the Senates passed yesterday details some of the legal and procedural rights that people seized as “enemy combatants” will not possess. (Amnesty [...]

Wednesday 27th September 2006

Republican Honor Roll on the Torture-Tribunals Bill

The following Republican members of the House of Representatives voted against the Torture-”Terrorist” Tribunal bill (HR 6166) today.
Ron Paul, Roscoe Bartlett, Wayne Gilchrest, Walter Jones, Steven LaTourette, James Leach, Jerry Moran.
These folks deserve hearty applause for their courage in rebuffing the surge of authoritarian sentiments now sweeping the Grand Old Party.
The final vote was 253-168, [...]

Tuesday 26th September 2006

A Divine Torture Cartoon

10:44 am | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 13

The Washington Post’s Tom Toles has a cartoon on Congress and torture that is worth its weight in thumbscrews.
The cartoon perfectly captures how Congress is partnering with the Bush administration in sanctioning U.S. barbarity. The cartoon is here - at least for today (9/26).
Yet, as long as congressmen blindfold themselves to any and all atrocities committed with their [...]

Monday 25th September 2006

The United States of Barbarism

The Future of Freedom Foundation is shotgunning out today an oped I wrote on the torture deal.
FFF is one of the few places that has remained true to its principles since 9/11. FFF chief Jacob Hornberger refused to compromise or kowtow no matter how high Bush’s approval ratings rose.
The United States of Barbarism
by James Bovard, September 25, 2006
The [...]

Friday 22nd September 2006

Torture, the Law of the Land - and The Torture Mastermind Reviewed

The key players in the U.S. Senate have agreed with the Bush administration to retroactively legalize torture by U.S. government agents. The compromise deal struck yesterday will block prosecution for CIA officials who tortured detainees since 9/11. I would expect that, in the name of “fair play,” someone will begin pushing similar legislation to give [...]

Sunday 27th August 2006

How to Pry the Truth out of Congressmen

The Los Angeles Times ran a piece of mine today on fair play for our elected representatives. Online here (registration required?) and following:
Modest Proposal: Waterboard Congress
Maybe White House-favored interrogation techniques would coax lawmakers to tell the truth about U.S. anti-terror policies.
By James Bovard
JAMES BOVARD is the author, most recently, of “Attention Deficit Democracy” (2006).
August 27, [...]

Friday 28th July 2006

Redefining War Crimes out of Existence

The Washington Post today details how the Bush administration is desperately scrambling to get Congress to pass a law to retroactively legalize torture.
OK, this is not exactly what the Post said — they would not be so ill-mannered towards the government.
But the Supreme Court’s decision last month declaring that the Bush order on enemy combatants [...]

Tuesday 27th June 2006

My hit on Bush’s Dictatorial Signing Statements

The American Conservative posted here my hit on Bush’s dictatorial signing statements.
Here’s the lead of the piece:
“For generations, Republican politicians have spoken reverently of the rule of law. But since 2001, this hoary doctrine has been redefined to mean little more than the enforcement of the secret thoughts of the commander in chief.
George W. Bush [...]

Thursday 30th March 2006

Fan Letter of the Week: “Thy Name is Cowardice”

9:45 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Torture | Comments: 8

Email Subject line: James Bovard, thy name is Cowardice
“Five to seven million Iraqis disappeared, the majority of them Shiites.” - National Geographicmagazine, June 2004, page 28More to the point, WHO is doing the majority of the killing of Iraqi civilians?(HINT: It is NOT Americans. Can you say “Suicide Bombers”? Or how about “Islamofascist Hit Squads”?)Here [...]

Sunday 5th February 2006

Bush Now Entitled to Kill at Home?

The February 13 issue of Newsweek reveals that President Bush is entitled to order killings here in the United States, the same as he has been doing around the globe for the last few years. Newsweek notes that, “Steven Bradbury, acting head of the Justice department’s Office of Legal Counsel [the office which in 2002 [...]

Friday 30th December 2005

Did Bush Personally Choose Torture Methods?

The Washington Post has another excellent piece today on how the Bush administration exempted the CIA from the Rule of Law after 9/11. Bush issued edicts permitting the CIA “to maintain secret prisons abroad” and “to use interrogation methods that some lawyers say violate international treaties,” among other new powers.
John Radsan, assistant general counsel at [...]

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