Harper's Magazine

SCOTT HORTON—Taxi to the Dark Side at Princeton on Saturday Afternoon

Scott Horton — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:26:55 -0400

Scott Horton Fri, 09 May 2008 10:26:55 -0400 Saturday May 10th 2:30PM . . .

MR. FISH—A Cartoon

Mr. Fish — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:37:01 -0400

Mr. Fish Fri, 09 May 2008 07:37:01 -0400 . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—More on Hillary the Bloodthirsty Monster

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:13:48 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 09 May 2008 07:13:48 -0400 A number of readers emailed about yesterday’s post on why, for reasons I myself find baffling, I’ve started feeling sympathetic toward Hillary Clinton. None of the emails were friendly, but they raised a lot of good points. (I would note here that I said I sympathized with Hillary for certain reasons—mostly because the media, in general, hate her. I didn’t say I preferred her to Obama. Even though I’m not sold on Obama, his politics are far more interesting than Hillary’s, and the latter’s 2002 vote on Iraq was unforgivable, as I’ve written before. Beyond that, the idea of Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton is too much to bear.) Below, I include a particularly interesting note, from a reader who wished to remain anonymous, that makes a strong case against Clinton and for Obama. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Why I Like Hillary: She’s a bloodthirsty monster

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:02:31 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 08 May 2008 08:02:31 -0400 I’ve received quite a few complaints in recent months from readers who think I’m pro–Hillary Clinton and anti–Barack Obama. In fact, I believe Obama has better politics than Clinton, is personally more honorable, and that his victory would represent an important generational shift in American politics. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Kurt Andersen and the Media’s Obama Crush

Ken Silverstein — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:14:55 -0400

Ken Silverstein Wed, 07 May 2008 09:14:55 -0400 The most honest and insightful piece yet on the media’s love affair with Obama: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Africa’s Worst Dictator: No, it’s not Mugabe

Ken Silverstein — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:29:47 -0400

Ken Silverstein Wed, 07 May 2008 08:29:47 -0400 The situation in Zimbabwe is an outrage and I can understand why the Bush Administration, and the entire Western world, is appalled by President Robert Mugabe’s anti-democratic depredations. As has been widely reported by the American media, opposition parties won control of the national assembly in a March balloting, and Mugabe finished second behind an opposition leader in presidential voting, triggering a run-off as neither candidate won an absolute majority. The opposition is threatening to boycott the run-off, since it says that its candidate won the first-round election outright and “has ended Mugabe’s 28-year rule over the once prosperous country whose economy is in ruins.” . . .

GEMMA SIEFF—Weekly Review

Gemma Sieff — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Gemma Sieff Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400 Cyclone Nargis tore off roofs, shredded trees, overturned cars, and killed more than 10,000 people in Myanmar.1 Tens of thousands of Somalis rioted in Mogadishu over the high cost of food,2 President Bush pledged $770 million in international food aid,3 and an inmate awaiting trial for murder sued an Arkansas county jail for underfeeding him after he shed 105 pounds from his 413-pound frame. “About an hour after each meal,” he stated in a complaint, “my stomach starts to hurt and growl [and] I feel hungry again. We are literally being starved to death.”4 The sister-in-law of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian electrician accused of locking his daughter in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, told the Associated Press that Fritzl hadn't had sex with his wife in many years: “I believe it was because my sister had been getting bigger,” she said. “He never liked fat women.”5 Police in Germany discovered the bodies of three dead babies stored in a freezer in the cellar of a family home, after two of the family's older children went rummaging for a frozen pizza,6 and a former Mr Gay UK charged with murder was accused of carving up, dicing, cooking, and eating his victim's leg.7 8 Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, believed to be the last surviving member of the circle of plotters who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler with a briefcase bomb, died at the age of 90.9 . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Dirty Money

Scott Horton — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:50:17 -0400

Scott Horton Mon, 05 May 2008 13:50:17 -0400 Can a lawyer be indicted for issuing a bad legal opinion? This evening, Philippe Sands and I will be discussing this issue at NYU Law School, in Lipton Hall, from 6—8 p.m. However, Alice Fisher, the head of the Bush Justice Department’s Criminal Division—whose resignation was just announced—apparently believes the answer is “yes,” because she signed the charges against Miami lawyer Ben Kuehne. Among other things, Kuehne had previously advised Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 Florida recount litigation. Read my analysis of the case in the current issue of the American Lawyer, just out. . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Loser Take All

Scott Horton — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:39:07 -0400

Scott Horton Mon, 05 May 2008 13:39:07 -0400 You are cordially invted to a presentation . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—San Diego G.O.P. Headed by Co-founder of Piracy Group

Ken Silverstein — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:13:59 -0400

Ken Silverstein Mon, 05 May 2008 10:13:59 -0400 From Raw Story: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Hillary Shoots From the Left, Hits Foot

Ken Silverstein — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:49:35 -0400

Ken Silverstein Mon, 05 May 2008 09:49:35 -0400 From Politico: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Palestinians Responsible for Israeli Killing of Palestinians: Post Op-Ed columnist hits new low

Ken Silverstein — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:47:34 -0400

Ken Silverstein Mon, 05 May 2008 09:47:34 -0400 It’s always a mistake to read the Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl during breakfast (or at all for that matter), but his column today was particularly gag-inducing: . . .

SCOTT HORTON—A Discussion with Philippe Sands

Scott Horton — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:51:07 -0400

Scott Horton Fri, 02 May 2008 08:51:07 -0400 Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Heckuva Job, Palfrey Prosecutors

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:43:22 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 02 May 2008 07:43:22 -0400 So, the trial of Deborah Palfrey ends with her apparent suicide, the public outing and humiliation of a number of the women who worked for her, and her company’s list of (male) clients almost entirely suppressed. If you missed it at the time, go back and read Dana Milbanks’s article on the trial from last month, entitled, appropriately, “The D.C. Madam Case, All Sordid Out.” . . .

MR. FISH—A Cartoon

Mr. Fish — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:52:19 -0400

Mr. Fish Fri, 02 May 2008 06:52:19 -0400 . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Goldberg’s Online Mugging

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:32:07 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 01 May 2008 20:32:07 -0400 From Gawker: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Bolton and “Conservatism”

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:31:52 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 01 May 2008 20:31:52 -0400 I mentioned the other day that I was taking part in a debate/conversation at TPM Book Club about Peter Scoblic’s new book, “U.S. Versus Them: How a Half-Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America’s Security.” From my latest post: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—North Carolina “Robo-callers” Exposed

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:17:35 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 01 May 2008 09:17:35 -0400 From Facing South: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Journalism Ethics Lessons from the Iraqi War’s Chief Salesman

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:26:17 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 01 May 2008 08:26:17 -0400 In his new blog, Jeffrey Goldberg complains that he recently was insulted by Matt Haber of the New York Observer. Haber cited an old item I wrote which said that Goldberg had helped sell the Iraq War with reporting that relied “heavily on administration sources and war hawks (and in at least one crucial case, a fabricator).” Goldberg said that in doing so, Haber had “repeated a discredited accusation made by an ethically-challenged journalist about my reporting.” . . .

SCOTT HORTON—The Afghan Opium Dreams of David Ignatius

Scott Horton — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:10:31 -0400

Scott Horton Thu, 01 May 2008 08:10:31 -0400 The Washington Post’s David Ignatius is just back from a U.S. Government- sponsored trip to Afghanistan, in which he was able to examine the situation up close and form some first-hand conclusions. He wrote about the trek, with the obligatory citations to Rudyard Kipling and Gertrude Bell, in a recent column in the Post. And last night he expanded on his voyage into the dark heartland of Inner Asia during an appearance on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, where he delivered utterly predictable findings. His message was identical to that of his host: there are problems in Afghanistan, certainly, but the U.S.-driven counterinsurgency efforts are “finding some traction” and scoring important successes. “Surge” talk has moved east. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Obama Roundup: Reverend Wright and Robert Blackwell

Ken Silverstein — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:34:32 -0400

Ken Silverstein Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:34:32 -0400 I don’t have a lot to add to the uproar over Barack Obama and his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, other than to state that it’s clearly going to hurt Obama badly in a race against John McCain, assuming he gets the Democratic nomination. Wright says some things with which I strongly disagree but I still believe that the story has been blown out of proportion and fanned by the national media. (And often in an incredibly bizarre manner, like a Chicago Tribune story yesterday that said passively, as if it had no role in covering the whole matter, “News reports…have often employed the words ‘controversial’ and ‘bombastic’ to describe Wright’s sermons.” (I can’t find those words repeated in the online version, so perhaps someone had the sense to strike them.) That’s great–citing “news” reports” in a news report. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Book Debate at TPM Cafe

Ken Silverstein — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:00:32 -0400

Ken Silverstein Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:00:32 -0400 Peter Scoblic, executive editor of the New Republic, has written a provocative new book called “U.S. Versus Them: How a Half-Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America’s Security.” It’s the topic of debate this week at TPM Caf�’s Book Club, where commentators include M.J. Rosenberg, Jeffrey Lewis, Jacob Heilbrunn–and me. . . .

CHRISTIAN LORENTZEN—Weekly Review

Christian Lorentzen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Christian Lorentzen Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 Hillary Clinton gained nine more delegates than Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary and challenged him to debate without a moderator. Obama, who declined, reportedly seemed “tired” and “brittle” campaigning in Indiana. “Seniors, listen up,” he said. “I'm getting gray hair myself. Running for president will age you quick.” 1 2 3 John McCain's campaign received a $1,000 discount on the rental fee for a public space for a fundraiser in Homewood, Alabama, along with $100 worth of free labor from the inmates of a local jail.4 All three candidates taped messages for World Wrestling Entertainment's “W.W.E. Raw”: Clinton declared herself “ready to rumble” for the American people; Obama, echoing former wrestler Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, asked, “Do you smell what Barack is cooking?”; McCain, speaking with a surly tone, equated the Iraq war with a wrestling match and said that Americans “do not watch wrestling because we're 'bitter,'” but rather because “wrestling is about celebrating our freedom.”5 In Basra, Iraq, a 17-year-old girl, Rand Abdel-Qader, was stomped, suffocated, and stabbed to death by her father, who accused her of having an affair with a British soldier. Local police arrested the father but released him without charge after two hours. “Not much can be done when we have an honor-killing case,” said police sergeant Ali Jabbar. “You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws.” Rand's mother divorced the killer and went into hiding.6 C3, the firm that developed Disneyland, announced plans to build a $500 million amusement park in Baghdad. 7 . . .

SCOTT HORTON—An Interview with Tom Farer, Author of ‘Confronting Global Terrorism’

Scott Horton — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:10:02 -0400

Scott Horton Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:10:02 -0400 Tom Farer is dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, a school whose best-known alumna is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and which was founded by the father of her predecessor, Madeline Albright. Farer’s career has been diverse, and much of it was passed far from academia. He trained an African police force in Karate, wrote about military strategy (Warclouds on the Horn of Africa, and served in a war zone (Somalia ‘93). Farer served in the Defense Department and the State Department when Kissinger was Secretary of State, and was nominated by the Ford White House to the OAS Human Rights Commission. Starting with a series of lectures he delivered in Florence, Dean Farer undertook to formulate a grand strategy for American national security policy with traditional liberal values. The book critiques Bush Administration policies, but it presents an entirely different structure for counterterrorism policies, addressing the core questions surrounding the use of force (including preemptive force), interrogation techniques, the role of human rights law, and what combination of military and police tools can be used most effectively in a war against terrorists. His book Confronting Global Terrorism is just out from Oxford University Press. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Six Questions for Patricia Gossman on Afghanistan

Ken Silverstein — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:21:18 -0400

Patricia Gossman is an independent consultant on human rights and rule of law issues in South Asia, Afghanistan in particular. She is currently a grantee of the United States Institute of Peace to write a book about justice and stability in post-2001 Afghanistan. In 2001 she established the Afghanistan Justice Project to document past war crimes in Afghanistan. Prior to that, she was a senior researcher on South Asia at Human Rights Watch. She recently responded by email (from Istanbul, where she is based) to six questions about the current situation in Afghanistan. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Headline of the Week

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:36:39 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:36:39 -0400 From Thursday’s Politico, print version: “Pelosi Wants Stimulus Before Trade.” . . .

NATHANAEL JOHNSON—The revolution will not be pasteurized: Inside the raw-milk underground

Nathanael Johnson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:05:59 -0400

The agents arrived before dawn. They concealed the squad car and police van behind trees, and there, on the road that runs past Michael Schmidt’s farm in Durham, Ontario, they waited for the dairyman to make his move. A team from the Ministry of Natural Resources had been watching Schmidt for months, shadowing him on his weekly runs to Toronto. Two officers had even infiltrated the farmer’s inner circle, obtaining for themselves samples of his product. Lab tests confirmed their suspicions. It was raw milk. The unpasteurized stuff. Now the time had come to take him down. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Hold the Presses! Journalist Challenges Karl Rove for Lying

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:01:30 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:01:30 -0400 I missed this when I was traveling, but two weeks back The Week magazine invited journalists, think-tankers and politicos to a Georgetown hotel to hand out its Opinion Awards. For the most part, the affair seems to have been the standard (if repulsive) media-political lovefest that for which Washington is famous. For example, when emcee Margaret Carlson of Time magazine “made a joke about wiretapping abuses, [guest Karl] Rove stage-whispered a joke: ‘Your calls aren’t that interesting, incidentally’.” . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Obama to Azeri Dictator: Set Our Big Macs Free

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:58:10 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:58:10 -0400 A reader recently called to my attention to a 2005 Chicago Tribune story detailing a trip to Eastern Europe that Obama took early in his Senate career. At the time, Obama was seeking to establish his foreign policy gravitas and hence joined then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana on a trip to inspect weapons sites across the former Soviet Union. “I very much feel like the novice and pupil,” Obama was quoted as saying of his relationship with Lugar (a man who gets uniformly positive press, though he easily makes the list of Top Five Overrated Members of Congress). . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—The “Stupidest Guy on the Face of the Earth” Points Fingers

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:42:46 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:42:46 -0400 General Tommy Franks was complaining about his job one day, and said: “I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day.” He was talking about noted neoconservative Douglas Feith, who was then the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy. . . .