Washington Babylon

Laura Rozen has been running an interesting forum on Iran at Mother Jones, which asks: “How likely is a scenario in which the United States or Israel strikes Iran before…

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From IPS: Palestinian activist and former university professor Sami Al-Arian was arraigned Monday in U.S. federal court on two counts of criminal contempt for his refusal to testify in a…

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I’ve been away for the past week so over the next few days I’m going to catch up by posting some of the best stories and items I read on…

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I’m on vacation for a week, but before taking off I wanted to do a final column on the journalists’ speakers circuit I’ve been reporting on recently. The most surprising…

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From ProPublica: Alhurra, the U.S. government-funded Arabic news channel, paid former Bush and Clinton administration officials, lobbyists and high-profile Washington journalists tens of thousands of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money…

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From American Prospect: According to the NYT, the Energy Information Agency estimates that the total amount of oil in the offshore zone in question is about 16 billion barrels. If…

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From the New York Times: Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful…

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I’ve been mildly surprised that Howard Kurtz, the Post’s journalism ethics guru and a man always willing to critically examine his own employers, hasn’t discussed the cases of David Broder…

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Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell’s column on Bob Woodward’s and David Broder’s ethics was not as disappointing as I had feared. It’s a sign that the Post is at least…

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Plus: How Bob Woodward and Tim Russert Stack Up Deborah Howell, the Post’s ombudsman (or “permanent cheerleader,” as mediabistro.com calls her) has confirmed to me that she will this weekend…

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From Politico: Roberta McCain, the candidate’s Mom, was among those congratulating campaign manager Rick Davis and his wife, Karen, last night at the historic home of Lea and Wayne Berman.…

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From Jonathan Schwarz: Here are some statements by Ms. Rice in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq: “I think he [then Secretary of State Colin Powell] has proved…

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Via the Daytona Beach News-Journal: My sympathies go to Tim Russert’s family. My father died the same way: massive heart attack in the middle of the day, in the prime…

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Via Kevin Alexander Gray: Obama campaign announces “Senior Working Group on National Security” –Secretary of State Madeleine Albright –Senator David Boren, former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence…

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The situation in Afghanistan continues to worsen, with Asia Times reporting, “The battle for Kandahar, the city in the southern province of the same name where the Taliban rose to…

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From The Independent: So perhaps Mr. Bush’s most significant legacy, as far as Britain is concerned, will be the destruction of the instinctive trust of America and its leaders that…

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As I reported this morning, the Post’s ombudsman Deborah Howell told me in a phone conversation that she was not sure whether the Post had official, written guidelines regarding journalist…

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Plus: Post Ombudsman to Weigh In, Expect Heavy Hand on Scale The Chronicle of Philanthropy has picked up and advanced my story last week about Bob Woodward’s speaking engagements with…

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In my Friday story “Bob Woodward, Sponsored by Citibank,” I noted that Woodward’s speaking gigs included a stop at an event sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. I also said…

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Jeffrey Dvorkin, Executive Director of Journalism at The Real News Network and a former NPR Ombudsman, writes about my recent stories on David Broder and Bob Woodward: Good point on…

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A shocking new report from America’s leading investigative publication: Reports surfaced Tuesday that the New York–based Fox News Channel has obtained a tape which purportedly features another cryptic video message…

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Terrific piece from Portfolio: Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived…

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I reported yesterday on the public speaking arrangements of David Broder and Bob Woodward, neither of whom has thus far replied to requests for comment. Here’s more on Woodward. As…

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Good read from Wired: The U.S. military’s Missile Defense Agency signed a $97 million contract with a Kremlin-connected nonprofit, to help secure Russia’s aid in anti-missile projects. Pentagon higher-ups ultimately…

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I closed my item earlier today regarding David Broder’s speaking gigs with a 1995 quote from Ben Bradlee about journalists making big bucks for public speaking: I wish it would…

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Back in the mid-1990s, the fact that some big-name Washington reporters were receiving huge speaking fees created a scandal within the journalism world. No one was tougher in criticizing the…

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A number of people wrote with comments about the item I posted last week, “Obama Wins Coveted Hamas Un-endorsement with AIPAC Speech”. Here are two different takes, both that make…

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I’ve been writing about Vladimir Petrosyan, an important but little known figure involved in the ex-Congressman Curt Weldon scandal, since late-2006. Today, the Wall Street Journal ran a story which…

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