Stephen Lendman

America's longstanding policy is permanent war. It's the only nation ever to wage them ever year in its history abroad and/or at home. Multiple direct and proxy wars rage now. Obama plans more. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He violates fundamental human and civil rights. He mocks rule of law principles and democratic values. He should be in prison, not high office. He serves wealth, power and privilege. He spurns peace, equity, justice, and basic human needs. He and George Bush made America a police state. It's a hair's breadth from full-blown tyranny. He plans four more years of harsher than ever lawless governance. Another day, another outrage. Headlines announced the latest.

■ The New York Times said "US Will Grant Recognition to Syrian Rebels."
■ The Washington Post headlined "Obama administration formally recognizes Syrian opposition group."
■ The Wall Street Journal said "US Recognizes Syria's Main Rebel Group."

Other headlines said much the same thing. No provision in international, US statute, or constitutional law permits this. What reports omitted matters more than what they said. Washington recognized an illegitimate opposition terrorist coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people. It can't be "legitimate" if it's illegitimate. Its members are death squad killers. They're imported from other countries. They commit daily atrocities. They're war criminals. Supporting them reveals America's moral bankruptcy. Obama now recognizes them as Syria's government. Doing so adds more war crimes to Obama's resumé.

Philip Giraldi

Most Americans would prefer to forget that we are approaching the first anniversary of the expulsion of U.S. military forces from Iraq. The Republican Party, which rallied behind George W. Bush to invade the country and occupy it, has suffered from a short memory relating to that misbegotten war even as it agitates for new and similar military interventions. Much of the silence on the subject is certainly due to the fact that most Democrats and nearly all the media were also on board, though perhaps for reasons that did not completely coincide with the Bush neocons’ imperial vision. And after the war began and the occupation took on its misbegotten form under Jerry Bremer, Dan Senor, and a host of neocon acolytes brought on board to reshape the country, the saga ran on and on. As Iraq broke down into its constituent parts due to Bremer’s inept proconsulship, a development that might normally lead to a rethink of the entire project, Pentagon-based neoconservatives instead regrouped, doubled down and contrived the 2007 “surge” to fix things. That the surge was a poorly conceived and executed military dead end and a complete failure to do anything but deepen the divisions within Iraq seemed irrelevant, political partisanship inevitably rushing in to interpret it as a success to provide cover for the foolish politicians, generals and bureaucrats in Washington who had conceived it. As recently as the Republican presidential debates earlier this year the “surge” in Iraq was cited by several candidates as a litmus test for those who believe in the “right kind” of foreign policy. Those who did not believe in the myth of the surge as a subset of American Exceptionalism were outside the pale, most notably Representative Ron Paul.

David Wallechinsky

Many documents produced by the U.S. government are confidential and not released to the public for legitimate reasons of national security. Others, however, are kept secret for more questionable reasons. The fact that presidents and other government officials have the power to deem materials classified provides them with an opportunity to use national security as an excuse to suppress documents and reports that would reveal embarrassing or illegal activities.

I’ve been collecting the stories of unreleased documents for several years. Now I have chosen 11 examples that were created—and buried—by both Democratic and Republican administrations and which cover assassinations, spying, torture, 50-year-old historical events, presidential directives with classified titles and…trade negotiations.

1. Obama Memo Allowing the Assassination of U.S. Citizens

When the administration of George W. Bush was confronted with cases of Americans fighting against their own country, it responded in a variety of ways. John Walker Lindh, captured while fighting with the Taliban in December 2001, was indicted by a federal grand jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison. José Padilla was arrested in Chicago in May 2002 and held as an “enemy combatant” until 2006 when he was transferred to civilian authority and, in August 2007, sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiring to support terrorism. Adam Gadahn, who has made propaganda videos for al-Qaeda, was indicted for treason in 2006 and remains at large.