Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/2/americas_secret_afghan_prisons_investigation_unearths

A new investigation by journalist Anand Gopal reveals harrowing details about US secret prisons in Afghanistan, under both the Bush and Obama administrations. Gopal interviewed Afghans who were detained and abused at several disclosed and undisclosed sites at US and Afghan military bases across the country. He also reveals the existence of another secret prison on Bagram Air Base that even the Red Cross does not have access to. It is dubbed the Black Jail and is reportedly run by US Special Forces. AMY GOODMAN: A major UN report on secret detention policies around the world concludes the practice could reach the threshold of a crime against humanity.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/budg-f02.shtml

The Obama administration’s budget for the 2011 fiscal year, unveiled Monday, projects massive US government deficits for the next decade, fueled by gargantuan military spending and the impact of the financial and economic crisis of American and world capitalism. The US national debt is projected to more than double over the coming decade, increasing by $8.5 trillion. Administration officials also revealed that for the current fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2010, the federal deficit will approach $1.6 trillion, by far the largest ever, and nearly 11 percent of total US gross domestic product. This is up sharply from the $1.35 trillion estimate last week by the Congressional Budget Office.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/pers-f02.shtml

Bush administration lawyers whose secret memos justified waterboarding and other forms of torture will not be referred to authorities for possible sanctions, according to a forthcoming ethics report. Unnamed sources who spoke to Newsweek magazine said the Obama Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has concluded that John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who penned the infamous memos, used “poor judgment” but will not be subject to disciplinary action. Yoo and Bybee worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, along with Steven Bradbury, who is also named in the report.

Link: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m62853&hd=&size=1&l=e

It is not only suicide bombers that make up the problem of terror in today’s Iraq. Also the new republic itself is looking more Jacobin by the day. After the French revolution, Maximilien de Robespierre in 1793 famously concentrated almost all power in a committee called Comité de salut public or the committee of public safety. Until its dissolution in 1794, this body fought a relentless war against real and imagined enemies of internal and external origin. Its preferred method for dealing with dissent was the guillotine; its year in power became known as "the reign of terror".

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/02-7

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Criticism is mounting over Washington's refusal to say anything about missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Pakistan's northwest, prompting even supporters to argue the U.S. needs to be more open to counter militant allegations that only innocent civilians are dying.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/02/america-europe

Barack Obama's $3.8tn budget is a vastly complex affair. But one fact stands out plainly: in layman's terms, America is broke. The federal government's outgoings will exceed income by about $1.6tn this year; over the next 10 years combined, the predicted gap is $8.5tn. Given the partisan impasse on Capitol Hill over spending cuts and higher taxes, there is no reason to assume matters will improve any time soon.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/02/iran-dismisses-us-missile-shield

Iran today dismissed the US buildup of a missile shield in the Gulf as a "puppet show" as details emerged of an unsuccessful US missile test designed to simulate an Iranian attack amid a tense standoff between the two countries.

Link: http://www.truthout.org/president-obama-and-cia-what-must-be-done56605

What the CIA should be and what it should do is less clear than at any time since the beginning of the cold war. There should have been major reform of the intelligence community with the end of the cold war, but there was none. The intelligence failures that contributed to the 9/11 terrorist attacks created an opportunity for reform, but the flawed thinking of the 9/11 Commission and the Congressional rush to judgment led to changes that have made a bad situation worse.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24574.htm

Circumstances are propitious, and the American people would support it. I do not customarily offer advice to a president whose election I opposed, whose goals I fear, and whose policies I work against. But here is an idea for Barack Obama to salvage his tottering administration by taking a step that protects the United States and its allies.

Link: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/525267/no_defense_for_this_budget

Deficit hysteria has reached new levels yet where is the attention to an out of control defense budget that is now the largest since World War II? While the Obama Admistration's three-year freeze on discretionary spending is a bad idea, it's made even worse because unprecedented Pentagon spending is exempted from it.

Link: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/02/obama-administration-vision-war-without-end/

Suicide bombers inside the United States. Nuclear-armed nations collapsing and losing control of nuclear weapons. Bloody new conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. American troops under attack at bases around the world. Terrorist attacks using unknown new diseases. Chinese missile attacks on Taiwan.

Link: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=12086

So the propaganda war is on. Forget Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the 15,000 Lebanese and Palestinian dead. Forget the Sabra and Shatila massacre that same year by Israel's militia allies as their troops watched. Erase the Qana massacre of 1996 – 106 Lebanese killed by Israeli shellfire, more than half of them children – and delete the 1,500 in the 2006 Lebanon war. And forget, of course, the more than 1,300 Palestinians slaughtered by Israel in Gaza last year (and the 13 Israelis killed by Hamas at that time) after Hamas rockets fell on Sderot. Israel – if you believe the security elite of Israel's right wing here in Herzliya – is now under an even more dangerous, near-unprecedented attack. Britain – this came yesterday from Israel's ambassador in London, no less – is "a battlefield" in which Israel's enemies wish to "de-legitimise" the 62-year-old Jewish state.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50190

Defenders of Israel’s aggressive stance have for many years been recognised as a powerful force shaping United States foreign policy. A less well-known fact is that the pro-Israel lobby has been making a concerted effort to strengthen its presence in Europe.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson02022010.html

If the economy deteriorates in the L-shaped “hockey-stick” rut that many economists forecast, what political price will President Obama and the Democrats pay for having returned the financial keys to the Bush Republican appointees who gave away the store in the first place? Reappointing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may end up injuring not only the economy but also the Democratic Party for years to come. Recognizing this, Republicans made populist points by opposing his reappointment during the Senate confirmation hearings last Thursday, January 27 – the day after Obama’s State of the Union address.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/02/201022151350906994.html

North Waziristan is home to fighters loyal to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network. Missiles fired by suspected US drones have killed at least 17 people and wounded 15 others in Pakistan, residents and security officials say. Officials said the missiles rained down on the Degan area in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal region near the Afghan border, on Tuesday.

Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/02/obama-grows-the-drug-war/

The Obama administration, he said, would move toward handling drug addiction as a medical problem, moving away from the brash enforcement tactics that hallmarked prior administrations. "We're not at war with people in this country," Kerlikowske told The Wall Street Journal in May. However, if the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) budget for fiscal year 2011 is to be believed, Kerlikowske was full of hot air. According to 2011 funding "highlights" released by the ONDCP (PDF link), the Obama administration is growing the drug war and tilting its funds heavily toward law enforcement over treatment.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/business/03walk.html

In 2006, Benjamin Koellmann bought a condominium in Miami Beach. By his calculation, it will be about the year 2025 before he can sell his modest home for what he paid. Or maybe 2040. Benjamin Koellmann paid $215,000 for his apartment in Miami Beach in 2006, but now units are selling in foreclosure for $90,000. “There is no financial sense in staying,” he said. New research suggests that when a home’s value falls below 75 percent of the amount owed on the mortgage, the owner starts to think hard about reneging on a home loan. “People like me are beginning to feel like suckers,” Mr. Koellmann said. “Why not let it go in default and rent a better place for less?”

Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0202/Obama-ups-Pakistan-drone-strikes-in-assassination-campaign

The use of drones to assassinate Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan has soared under President Barack Obama. Several US unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, fired a volley of missiles at houses in a village in Pakistan's northwest on Tuesday and killed roughly 16 alleged Taliban militants, news agencies reported. Information on civilian casualties, if any, was not immediately available.

Link: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/02/burgeoning-federal-payroll-signals-return-of-big-g/

The era of big government has returned with a vengeance, in the form of the largest federal work force in modern history. The Obama administration says the government will grow to 2.15 million employees this year, topping 2 million for the first time since President Clinton declared that "the era of big government is over" and joined forces with a Republican-led Congress in the 1990s to pare back the federal work force.