Apocalypse Now, Iraq Edition

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Sep 25, 2014 As someone who cares deeply about this country, I find it beyond belief that Washington has again plunged into the swamp of the Sunni-Shiite mess in Iraq. A young soldier now deployed as one of the 1,600 non-boots-on-the-ground there might have been 8 years old when the 2003 invasion took place. What happened in the blink of an eye? Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Dead Is Dead: Drone-Killing the Fifth Amendment

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jul 25, 2014 Thanks to a much contested, recently released but significantly redacted Justice Department white paper providing the basis for the extrajudicial killing of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, we finally know the president in post-constitutional America is officially judge, jury and executioner. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Shredding the Fourth Amendment in Post-Constitutional America

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jun 27, 2014 The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the people from their government. If the First Amendment’s right to speak out publicly was the people's wall of security, then the Fourth Amendment’s right to privacy was its buttress. It was once thought that the government should neither be able to stop citizens from speaking nor peer into their lives. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

What We’ve Lost Since 9/11

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jun 16, 2014 America has entered its third great era: the post-constitutional one. Deeper, darker waters lie ahead. And we seem drawn down into them. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

An Apartheid of Dollars

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Apr 25, 2014 There are many sides to whistle-blowing. The one that most people don't know about is the very personal cost, prison aside, including the high cost of lawyers and the strain on family relations, that follows the decision to risk it all in an act of conscience. Here's a part of my own story I've not talked about much before. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

How Many Watch Lists Fit on the Head of a Pin?

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Apr 7, 2014 No one knows how many names are on the no-fly list. According to one source, 21,000 people, including some 500 Americans, are blacklisted; another puts the figure at 44,000. The actual number is classified. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

You Can’t Opt Out: 10 NSA Myths Debunked

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jan 13, 2014 Instead of a careful examination of what the NSA does, the legality of its actions, and how effective it has been in its stated mission of protecting Americans, we increasingly have government officials or retired versions of the same demanding -- quite literally -- Edward Snowden’s head and engaging in the usual fear-mongering over 9/11. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

Welcome to the Memory Hole

Staff / Truthdig Dec 5, 2013 What if Edward Snowden was made to disappear? I’m not suggesting some future CIA rendition effort or a who-killed-Snowden conspiracy theory of a disappearance, but a more ominous kind. Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Ramblin’ Man

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Nov 4, 2013 Four decades after his Vietnam experience, John Kerry has achieved what will undoubtedly be the highest post of his lifetime: secretary of state. And he’s looked like a bumbler first class. Has he also once again been a true man of his time, of a moment in which American foreign policy, as well as its claim to global moral and diplomatic leadership, is in remarkable disarray? Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

What If Congress Says No on Syria?

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Sep 12, 2013 The past 12 years have not been good ones. Our leaders consistently let the missiles and bombs fly, resorting to military force and legal abominations in what passed for a foreign policy, and then acted surprised as they looked up at the sky from an ever-deeper hole. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

Welcome to Post-Constitution America

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Aug 5, 2013 On July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress created the first whistleblower protection law, stating “that it is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds, or misdemeanors committed by any officers or persons in the service of these states.” Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Edward Snowden’s Long Flight

By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch Jul 2, 2013 As a State Department whistle-blower, I think a lot about Edward Snowden. I suspect we have a lot in common, though I’ve never had the slightest contact with him. Still, as he took his long flight from Hong Kong into the unknown, I couldn’t help feeling that he was thinking some of my thoughts, or I his. Here are five things that I imagine were on his mind as that plane took off. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )