Ear to the Ground

Air Raid Kills Family of 12

Staff / Truthdig Jan 4, 2006 Intensifying U.S. air raids in Iraq keep down American casualties but take the lives of many Iraqi civilians. Full story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Pope Assails World Leaders Who Lie

Staff / Truthdig Jan 4, 2006 Pope Benedict XVI, in his World Day of Peace speech Jan. 1, had more than a few choice words for world leaders who use lies to incite their citizens towards violence. more (hat tip: Stephen Rivers) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

NSA Whistleblower to Testify

Staff / Truthdig Jan 3, 2006 A former NSA agent tells Democracy Now! that he will testify to Congress about Bush's "unlawful and unconstitutional" spy program. Story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Abramoff Pleads Guilty, Will Make Deal

Staff / Truthdig Jan 3, 2006 Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud, agreeing to cooperate in a corruption investigation that could rock the Republican congressional leadership. Story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

A Life, Wasted

Staff / Truthdig Jan 3, 2006 The father of a soldier killed in Iraq calls his son's death "wasted in a belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator--a careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires." Read the column Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Argentina defeats the IMF and moves South America left

Staff / Truthdig Jan 3, 2006 Just four years after defaulting on more than $100 billion in debt, Argentina is expected to completely re-pay its debt to the International Monetary Fund and strengthen its alliance with Venezuela's populist leader, Hugo Chavez. Read the story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iraqi Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda

Staff / Truthdig Jan 2, 2006 The same Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print pro-U.S. stories written by American soldiers masquerading as indepenent journalists has also been "compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work," according to the New York Times. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush Tries to Clarify Apparently Misleading Remarks About Wiretaps

Staff / Truthdig Jan 2, 2006 The president attempts to explain how his 2004 claim that "a wiretap requires court orders" squares with his warrantless surveillance program. Times reporter Eric Licthblau calls Bush's comments "at odds" with those of his senior aides. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Ashcroft’s Deputy Opposed Parts of Spy Program

Staff / Truthdig Jan 2, 2006 Two of Bush's most senior advisors made an emergency visit in 2004 to a hospitalized John Ashcroft to get him to override his deputy and sign off on a continued warrantless domestic surveillance program. Read the story Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

How Do the Iraqis Treat Their Prisoners?

Staff / Truthdig Jan 2, 2006 A maverick US Army major finds that some of his Iraqi counterparts have fewer scruples about going "over the line" while interrogating suspected insurgents U News & World Report has the story . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Family Values Graft and the GOP scandal of the century

Staff / Truthdig Jan 1, 2006 New details of the sordid ties between Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff. Read the full story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Catholic Church Slashes Offers, Ups Burden of Proof in Abuse Cases

Staff / Truthdig Dec 31, 2005 In negotiating with a second wave of sexual abuse victims, the Catholic Church has "reverted to the bare-knuckles tactics it had long used to silence or marginalize them," critics tell the New York Times, "largely because public attention to the scandals had abated." Read the story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )