Judith Miller: From the Times to the nuts

Fish Dont Fry in the Kitchen
Some Schadenfreude for those of you who were right about WMD in the beginning: Judith Miller used to be a superstar. She was a major reporter at the New York Times for decades—at the DC bureau, in Cairo, in Paris, special correspondent to the Persian Gulf, embedded with a special unit in Iraq. She had the best sources. She had amazing scoops. Now she’s writing—on contract, not full-time—for Newsmax, a goofy right-wing magazine where Conservatives you’ve never hear...

Disgraced Iraq-Enabling Reporter Judith Miller Winds Up At Newsmax
Judith Miller was once an important war reporter person at The New York Times, but then she was sent to jail. But not for writing up fake stories about Weapons of Mass Destruction that helped the Bush Administration wage an illegal war! No, it was because she protected Scooter Libby’s telling her the name of Valerie Plame, another person from that decade. Anyway, Miller has finally found an actual journalism job, and it’s with Newsmax, which is rather hilarious, because that’s ...

Bush Administration Disapproved Muhammad Cartoon Reprinting
The Wikileaks dump establishes that the US Embassy in Copenhagen did not want the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten to reprint the Muhammad cartoons in 2006. (See here for a refresher on that crisis) Post´s public affairs counselor learned from a "Jyllands-Posten" Journalist (strictly protect) last week that the paper was considering several options to commemorate the cartoons´ first anniversary September 30, including re-publishing the original cartoons or running new ones on the subje...

Iraq scrubs Saddam from its history, but relics remain
Baghdad — Deep inside the walled-off Green Zone, in an air-conditioned room watched by round-the-clock security, is a particularly grisly collection of Iraqi Memorabilia: leg irons, bone fragments, a hangman's noose and photographs of skeletons unearthed from Mass Graves, some still wearing their clothes. They're relics of the most brutal periods of the Saddam Hussein era, collected by U.S. and Iraqi investigators as evidence in the ex-dictator's trial for crimes against huma...

Iraq scrubs Saddam from its history, but relics remain
BAGHDAD -- Deep inside the walled-off Green Zone, in an air-conditioned room watched by around-the-clock security, is a particularly grisly collection of Iraqi Memorabilia: leg irons, bone fragments, a hangman's noose and photographs of skeletons unearthed from Mass Graves, some still wearing their clothes. They are relics of the most brutal periods of the Saddam Hussein era, collected by U.S. and Iraqi investigators as evidence in the ex-dictator's trial for Crimes Against Humanity. He was exe...

Iraq scrubs Saddam from its history, but relics remain
Baghdad — Deep inside the walled-off Green Zone, in an air-conditioned room watched by round-the-clock security, is a particularly grisly collection of Iraqi Memorabilia: leg irons, bone fragments, a hangman's noose and photographs of skeletons unearthed from Mass Graves, some still wearing their clothes. They're relics of the most brutal periods of the Saddam Hussein era, collected by U.S. and Iraqi investigators as evidence in the ex-dictator's trial for Crimes Against Humanity. He was...

Iraq scrubs Saddam Hussein from its history, but relics remain
Leg irons, bone fragments and other gruesome items from the Saddam Hussein era are in the custody of the court that was set up to try members of the regime for atrocities. Baghdad -- Deep inside the walled-off Green Zone, in an air-conditioned room watched by around-the-clock security, is a particularly grisly collection of Iraqi Memorabilia: leg irons, bone fragments, a hangman's noose and photographs of skeletons unearthed from Mass Graves, some still wearing their clothes. They are relics of...

Best of TAP 2010: Bouie's Review of American Taliban.
The mark of a good Journalist is the acuity -- and intellectual honesty -- to identify Propaganda wherever it's coming from, and that's why one of my favorite pieces this year was Jamelle Bouie 's Homegrown Mujahideen, which took on Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas for his hyperbolic comparison of the religious right in America to the Taliban. It's not just that, as a liberal journalist, I have a soft spot for David-and-Goliath stories. It's that in this instance my instinct would be to join t...

Assange Alerts His Hostages
Remember how I suggested that Obama was establishing a practice of only making deals with people-whether they be Republicans or Democrats-who take hostages? Well, Julian Assange just made it clear who his hostages are: Top Officials in several Arab countries have close links with the CIA, and many officials keep visiting US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with this key US intelligence agency, says Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing...

The 21th Century Decade Retrospective
The infamous " Axis of Evil " Propaganda parlance intentionally stoked the fires for retribution reprisal. The Bush-Blair collation produced fake evidence of WMDs in Iraq, setting the stage to target their manufactured outrage, against a former CIA asset, Saddam Hussein . With Defense Secretary Colin Powell's UN Speech justifying invasion of Iraq, he "could not escape the reality that this Speech greased the skids for death and destruction in Iraq and brought unprecedented shame on our country...

If Only WikiLeaks Existed Before the Iraq War Began: Die Zeit, Germany
Here’s an interesting question: would the release of internal White House documents before the Iraq War began have prevented the Bush Administration from going ahead with it? According to columnist Ulrich Ladurner of Germany’s Die Zeit, not only is it likely that the war would have been prevented - but Julian Assange may well have won the Nobel Peace Prize. For Die Zeit, Ulrich Ladurner writes in part: Julian Assange has been much reviled for his dogma that everything should b...

Raw Story: David Edwards: Greenwald trashes CNN contributors for "extreme misinformation" on WikiLeaks
"There is no question that even with his $1.3 million book contract, at the end of the day, his legal fees are going to be vastly more than that. What this is a way for him to survive the legal onslaught that governments are launching," he said. Assange is fighting Extradition to Sweden where is he wanted for questioning in connection to alleged sexual assaults. He was free on bail in London at the time of this story's publication. The Wikileaks founder has also said that he expects the US to ...

Art in Qatar: A Smithsonian in the sand
QATAR’S ambition to become the Gulf’s most important cultural destination took its first step with the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art in 2008. The stark white dome of travertine slabs, overlooking the waters of Doha bay and visibly Islamic in aesthetic, was designed by I.M. Pei, the Chinese-American architect who built the glass pyramid for The Louvre in Paris. For more than 20 years the al-Thanis, Qatar’s ruling family, had been buying the best Islamic objects that came ...

"Fox & Friends" Revives "Death Panel" "Controversy"
As the saying goes, the two certitudes in life are death and taxes. But the republican right seems to be seeking to avoid both. While normal, rational, sentient beings have no problem with the idea of long term care planning, which includes things like durable power of attorney and end of life directives, the Right Wing doesn't seem to want to deal with it - especially if it involves speaking to your doctor about it. (Better to have families fighting about "pulling the plug" so that Fox can have...

Entry 3: Hedy Epstein, an inspiration (and star of Egypt)
Nominated by Sandra Tamari: Hedy Epstein, 85-year old Holocaust survivor and tireless champion for Palestinian rights, traveled to Cairo in December 2009 to participate in the Gaza Freedom March. This was her third attempt to visit Gaza and break the siege. She has visited the West Bank several times since 2003 and tried to board the Mavi Marmara last May to be part of the Freedom Flotilla. She organizes a monthly vigil with Women in Black in St. Louis and speaks widely about the situation in ...

American Media?...Bah, Humbug!
If new calls for him to produce the original Birth Certificate move either Obama or the state of Hawaii to actually do so it will likely yield the same claims of it being a forgery that resulted from the release of the official State of Hawaii copy. In fact, Bloggers on right-wing web sites are already calling any new document that might be produced a Fraud. In the same December 25, 2010 edition of the Houston Chronicle, nationally syndicated columnist Paul Krugman uses a Charles Dickens metap...

is the hardly-ever-right wing smarter than a fifth grader?
don't ask us why the hardly-ever-right wing keeps on harping on previously-disproven hypotheses, if we can even dignify the garbage that spews out of their mouths w/such a scientific word as "hypotheses." fact: big Snow Storm hits the north east. stupid Wingnut statement: this disproves Global Warming! this is the problem w/Conservatives [ed. note: we're not saying there's only one problem): their thinking stops on the surface, w/o any acknowledgement that life is complex, layered, intricate and...

Obama: CIA officers showed 'selfless sacrifice'
President Obama took time out last night to honor seven CIA officers who lost their lives a year ago in Afghanistan. In a statement, Obama also said that "al Qaeda's senior leadership is under more pressure than ever before," and "we are relentlessly pursuing our mission to disrupt, dismantle, and ultimately defeat that Terrorist Organization." The statement from last night: One year ago today (Dec. 30), at a remote outpost at Khost, Afghanistan, seven American patriots showed us the true meani...

New Flurry of Baghdad Bombs Target Christians, Killing Two
Adding to the pressure on Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority, at least 10 bombing attacks were launched today in the capital city of Baghdad, killing two Christians and wounding at least 20 others. The bombs, according to Iraq’s Interior Ministry, were planted near the homes of Christians. Officials say four additional bombs were defused before they were able to explode. So far there have been no arrests reported in relation to the strikes. Officials say the attacks were timed to ...

Safe Haven For Bad Journalists
by Zoë Pollock In classic style, Alex Pareene gloats about Judith Miller's new gig at Newsmax, "a goofy right-wing magazine where Conservatives you've never heard of (and John Stossel, apparently) report, constantly, that Barack Obama is bad and unpopular": While someone who's wrong about everything is an odd hire for any magazine, even one that exists mostly to sell old people Acai berries, Judith Miller, you must remember, was fired by the liberal New York Times. If li...

Stagehands Extort Hundreds of Thousands From Theater Goers
If there never was a story that explains how Unions are really little else but a criminal Extortion racket, the story by James Ahearn in the New Jersey Began Record helps explain it for us. Ahearn’s piece headlined “For Backstage Labor, Rich Rewards,” informs us that some stagehands in New York theater make upwards to $422,000 a year in Salary — and that doesn’t include benefits. These positions are not as highly skilled as brain surgeons, to be sure, yet these gu...

The Top Stories in Religion and Politics in 2010 -- What They Mean, Why They Matter
Journalists are making their lists and checking them twice in a post-Santa tradition that rewards both the naughty and nice by highlighting the major episodes of the past year, whether they were horrifying or edifying. Religion writers are no different in this regard, and we had lots of material to work with. The Religion Newswriters Association, which is the professional society for Journalists covering the "God beat," has its own ranking of the Top 10 religion stories from 2010, which starts...

Top 2010 McClatchy videos
Political lies, the War in Afghanistan, drug violence in Mexico. These were some of the major themes that McClatchy Journalists explored during 2010. Many of these stories were told in video as well as words. Please take a look at our selection of the best McClatchy videos of 2010 Harsh conditions at the Karkar Coal Mine. Factory, coal mine show connections matter most in Afghan business Some Conservatives are rewriting history. The rocky road to Badkhshan, Afghanistan / Flawed project prove...

Liberal paranoia and Fallujah
Image via Wikipedia Guardian: A study examining the causes of a dramatic spike in Birth Defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja has for the first time concluded that genetic damage could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults that took place six years ago. The research, which will be published next week, confirms earlier estimates revealed by the Guardian of a major, unexplained rise in Cancers and chronic neural-tube, cardiac and skeletal defects in newborns. The authors found that mal...

Wael Nawara: Amr Moussa May be Offering a Safe Exit for the Egyptian Regime
Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League (AL), has made a surprising statement regarding his intentions to run as a Candidate in Egypt's presidential race. "Every qualified Egyptian has the right to run for the presidency", said Moussa at an AL conference in Cairo on Monday. "As for my candidacy, I shall address it in due time," Moussa added. Moussa's short announcement, seemingly meant to keep his options open, may indeed be carrying a coded message for Mubarak himself; "I am here if ...