One of the key rhetorical struggles surrounding the war in Iraq is war supporters’ efforts to define the enemy. Listen to any debate long enough — on the Hill, on TV, etc. — and you’ll soon hear a conservative suggest we’re “fighting al Qaeda” in Iraq. Pesky reality-based reports note that less than 10% of […]
Last week, we talked about former U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin and his role in a 2004 “vote-caging” scheme in Florida. To briefly review, “caging” is an illegal voter-suppression scheme created by Republicans to disenfranchise likely Democrats. It’s a straight-forward trick: the GOP sends hundreds of thousands of letters marked “Do not forward” to targeted voters’ […]
Dick Cheney’s office was required by executive order to report to the National Archives on how it safeguards classified materials. When Cheney refused, the Information Security Oversight Office within the National Archives requested an on-site inspection of the Office of the Vice President. Cheney refused again, arguing it’s not part of the executive branch. The […]
Yesterday’s jaw-dropping profile on Dick Cheney in the Washington Post was just the first in a four-part series. Today, Barton Gellman and Jo Becker add to the story by explaining how Cheney and his team were responsible for the U.S. torture policies. The vice president’s lawyer advocated what was considered the memo’s most radical claim: […]