Craig Murray

[Robert Parry's Note: In this modern age – and especially since George W. Bush declared the “war on terror” eight years ago – the price for truth-telling has been high, especially for individuals whose consciences led them to protest the torture of alleged terrorists.

One of the most remarkable cases is that of Craig Murray, a 20-year veteran of the British Foreign Service whose career was destroyed after he was posted to Uzbekistan in August 2002 and began to complain about Western complicity in torture committed by the country’s totalitarian regime, which was valued for its brutal interrogation methods and its vast supplies of natural gas.

Murray soon faced misconduct charges that were leaked to London’s tabloid press before he was replaced as ambassador in October 2004, marking the end of what had been a promising career. Murray later spoke publicly about how the Bush administration and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government collaborated with Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov and his torturers. [See, for instance, Murray's statement to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Torture.]

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Mary Shaw

Republicans and others who oppose a public health care option say they do not want the government "interfering" with their health care. And that is fine -- for them. With a public option in place, those people can ignore it, and they can continue to spend their money on traditional health "insurance" from for-profit corporations, allowing those companies instead to be the ones to interfere with their health care. That is why it is called an option. You do not have to subscribe to the public option if you do not want to. Option = choice. (No, relax, it is not that kind of choice.)

But those people do not speak for me, and they do not speak for the 57 percent of congressional constituents who told a recent Washington Post/ABC poll that they want a public option.

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Steve Amsel

The timing seems too coincidental for the ‘riots’ around the AlAqsa Mosque to be the fault of the Palestinians. The ‘Second Intifada’ started nine years ago, almost to the day, when Palestinians were provoked by a visit by Ariel Sharon to the same area. Again, the Palestinians have been pushed too far to remain silent…. it is not only their nationhood that is at stake this time, it’s their very lives. Israel has chosen this period to finally proceed with their plan of ridding the land of every Palestinian and any trace that they ever even existed.

Those nations that voted against the Goldstone Commission Report last week literally gave Israel the ‘Carte Blanche’ to carry out the ‘final solution’ against Palestine which has been on their agenda for the past 61 years. Israel has seized this opportunity by attempting to provoke a ‘third intifada’, thereby being able to show the world that the Goldstone Report was total rubbish and offer proof that the Palestinians are the ones that are once again attempting to destroy everything that is sacred to Israel.

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by Stephen Lendman

Tariq Mehanna

Post-9/11, Muslims have been victimized, vilified, and persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, prominence, activism, and charity. They've been targeted, hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence, convicted on bogus charges, given long sentences, then incarcerated for extra harsh treatment as political prisoners in segregated Communication Management Units (CMUs) in violation of US Prison Bureau regulations and the Supreme Court's February 2005 Johnson v. California decision.

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Stuart Littlewood

Nick Griffin

For the past week Britain, goaded by the media, has whipped itself into a frenzy over whether the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, should have been allowed to appear on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme, Question Time.

The BNP is widely regarded as a racist organization. They don't like foreigners, basically. It is a whites-only party.

However, the BNP’s electoral success now entitles Griffin to a place with the state broadcaster alongside representatives of the mainstream parties. This has caused panic among the political establishment, whom many accuse of failing to get a grip on immigration and presiding over an open-door policy that has made Britain an easy touch for immigrants, asylum seekers and assorted criminals.

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Stuart Littlewood

This year's traditional 'silly season' has been… well, exceptionally silly.

We've seen Netanyahu make an exhibition of himself in front of the UN with his ignorance of justice and utter disrespect for his neighbours. He may have impressed certain adoring western leaders but he didn’t fool the rest of us.

We've seen The Most Powerful Man in the World meekly cave in to Netnayahu's desire to carry on building illegal settlements and screwing up any hopes of peace. Darling Bibi must be allowed to pursue his wrecking tactics with impunity. In less than a year in office President Obama has lost all credibility in the Middle East, and for this and other blunders he is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – the ultimate daftness.

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Jalal Alavi

The first day of October was the day on which six world powers (P5+1) and Iran met in relation to the latter’s controversial nuclear program.

Reports that have come out of that meeting depict the Islamic Republic as willing to concede on at least two grounds: negotiating the fate of its nuclear program with the P5+1 and holding direct high-level talks with the country the Islamic Republic has for years called the Great Satan (i.e., the United States).

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