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AP Scandal and the War on Whistleblowers
KEVIN GOSZTOLA, kevin.gosztola at firedoglake.com, @kgosztola
Gosztola is co-author of Truth & Consequences: The U.S. vs. Bradley Manning. He said today: “This assault on freedom of the press is an outgrowth of this administration’s war on whistleblowers or alleged leakers.” See Gosztola’s articles on whistleblowers at FireDogLake.
Contrary to the administration’s claims this week, Gosztola writes in “The Obama Administration’s Propensity for Chilling News Sources” that: “The Obama administration has not maintained any kind of a reasonable balance. The framing by the administration, where it is suggested that freedom must be balanced against national security interests, is not only a false choice but also a tension sustained to give the administration cover as it expands and claims new powers.
“In exhibiting a disdain for the free flow of information, the administration has targeted a record number of alleged leakers or whistleblowers. It prosecuted former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is now serving a 30-month jail sentence for providing the name of someone involved in the CIA’s rendition, detention & interrogation program to a reporter. It pursued former NSA employee Thomas Drake, who provided details on fraud, waste, abuse and illegality to a Baltimore Sun reporter. It put former FBI linguist Shamai Leibowitz in prison for 20 months for providing a ‘blogger’ documents on a possible Israeli strike on Iran.”
Gosztola also recently wrote “No Justification for Obama’s War on First Amendment,” for Salon which states: “Lawmakers have expressed outrage, but citizens should understand that they helped create the political climate for which the Justice Department would find it permissible to engage in this conduct. This is an inevitable result of leaks hysteria on Capitol Hill in June of last year.
“Recall, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Mike Rogers, Sen. John McCain, then-Sen. Joe Lieberman, Rep. Peter King and others urged the Justice Department to investigate ‘leaks’ on the Obama administration’s ‘kill list’ to reporters at the New York Times.”
And in “Holder’s Gutless Recusal & the Justice Department’s Seizure of AP Records,” Gosztola writes: “Holder recused himself early in the investigation into the leak and delegated authority to Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole, which means he would be the one in charge of deciding whether to subpoena records from press organizations. …
“Multiple representatives asked Holder if Cole could come before the committee to answer questions. Not surprisingly, Holder cautioned against this because he is the lead prosecutor in an ‘ongoing prosecution.’ So, who answers for this? Cole cannot. Holder won’t. Everyone below is not in a position to make official statements publicly. Everyone escapes accountability.”
Recent Blog Posts
Obama’s Economic Race Legacy
One has to believe in something or someone in order to betray it or them.
From the start, President Barack Obama has shown little interest or loyalty in the issues that affect the poor, working class and people of color in the United States. For almost his entire first term he didn’t utter the words poor or poverty. Early on he reminded African Americans: ‘I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America…’
So it’s not so surprising that Obama hasn’t done much of substance or impact to ease, let alone end, the depression in the black community. He’s been on the side of the banks and Wall Street since co-signing George Bush’s and Hank Paulsen’s TARP ‘too big to fail’ bank bailout at the expense of underwater homeowners and middle-class taxpayers. [more]
What We Should be Talking About: Romney’s Foreign Policy Advisers
John Kennedy used to say, “Domestic policy can hurt us; foreign policy can kill us.”
But despite the fact that lives (American, allied, and civilian) continue to be lost in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel is blustering about attacking Iran before the US election (in order to drag in a reluctant Obama administration), much more time will be given to domestic policy rantings then foreign policy. In the 2000 election, there was very little debate about foreign policy, though anyone who looked closely might have guessed that Bush’s foreign policy advisors (who called themselves “the vulcans,” and had complex and long-standing links to groups and think tanks pressing for war on Iraq, would undertake that project at the slightest provocation.
This year, with less excuse (given the large deficit and two ongoing military operations), we have had very little discussion in the media about Romney’s foreign policy advisors. Yet, they are a far more coherent group of militarists than the Bush team.
Dying to Live in Mexico
Cuernavaca, Mexico — In 2011, some 12,000 people were murdered in situations presumably related to the drug trafficking industry in Mexico. In 2010, the number was more than 15,000 killed. Between December 2006, when Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) took office and declared a “war on drug traffickers” and January 2012, depending on the source, some 47,000 to 60,000 people have been slain, and some 5,000 disappeared. This grim fact has become the centerpiece of Mexican politics and an inescapable force in daily life throughout much of the country.
But neither the number of people killed nor the cruelty of the killings can be understood without simultaneously taking account of another pair of figures. First, Calderón has repeatedly said that more than 90 percent of those killed were involved in “the struggle of some cartels against others.” Calderón does not cite a source for this estimate. The underlying logic, however, is clear: if you’re dead, you’re guilty. The perennial official refrain is “en algo andaba,” or, they were up to something; they were in the game. [more]
THE PAYROLL TAX CUT: Talk about a Ponzi Scheme!
Is President Obama trying to kill Social Security without explicitly saying so? He put Social Security “on the table” for consideration by his Deficit Commission — even though Social Security has not contributed to creating or sustaining the deficit/debt in the first place. He kept Social Security on the table when he made a deal to delegate deficit reduction authority over entitlements to an undemocratic Super Committee. Now, in a speech reportedly about jobs, he proposed to extend and increase the ill-considered FICA tax cut he embraced last December — a tax cut that directly undermines the financial integrity of Social Security.
According to the White House Fact Sheet on “The American Jobs Act” the FICA tax holiday for workers will be increased to a 50% reduction, lowering it to 3.1%. Under the 2010 tax deal, the payroll tax for workers was reduced from 6.2% to 4.2%. In addition to expanding the tax cut for workers, the President proposes to extend the FICA tax holiday to employers by cutting in half the employer’s share of the payroll tax through the first $5 million in payroll. [more]
In The News
James Henry on NPR
IPA expert, former chief economist at McKinsey and lead researcher of the Tax Justice Network’s report, “The Price of Offshore Revisited” featured on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show” speaking on international tax havens.
Norman Solomon Debates Ex-Powell Aide Lawrence Wilkerson
Following his inclusion in the IPA news release “Colin Powell’s Infamous U.N. Speech, 10 Years Later: Deceiving Public, Ignoring Whistleblowers Led to War,” Norman Solomon was featured in a debate on Democracy Now!, “Decade After Iraq WMD Speech at UN, Ex-Powell Aide Lawrence Wilkerson Debates Author Norman Solomon.”
‘Two Anaheims’
After an IPA news release highlighting police brutality, economic inequalities, and lack of Latino representation in the Latino-majority city of Anaheim, Al Jazeera English’s ‘Faultline’ produced a 24 minute documentary, ‘Anaheim: A Tale of Two Cities.’
Ray McGovern in Al Jazeera English
Following his inclusion in the IPA news release, “After Petraeus,” Ray McGovern was featured in the Al Jazeera English article “Obama backs Allen as Petraeus inquiry widens.” He said, “If people see these folks as being unfaithful in small things, how can you expect them to tell the truth about progress in Afghanistan? You cannot expect them to do that. What we have here is a situation where the troops know that they cannot trust their superiors.”
“So, if Ríos Montt is found guilty of genocide, then the question becomes: Well, what about the man who was the field commander for the massacres that got Ríos Montt convicted of genocide? That man is now the president of Guatemala. Pérez Molina did everything he could to see to it that his name did not come up in this trial. That was the bargain under which the trial was allowed to go forward. He let it go forward very, very reluctantly. One witness, to everyone’s surprise, a former military man, testified that Pérez Molina had ordered atrocities. I was due to testify in the trial but then was blocked at the last minute from testifying because there was fear that I would also mention Pérez Molina’s role. And, what about the U.S. sponsors who were providing the weapons, the money, the bombs, the bullets and the political support for the crimes for which Ríos Montt may today be convicted of genocide? …”