20 Questions for CNN's president, Jonathan Klein, covering the war, Abu Ghraib and the 'obsequious press.'

1. Editors at the New York Times and the Washington Post have apologized for their Iraq war coverage and admitted it was not critical enough, thus acknowledging that their institutions made mistakes in coverage.

So have such broadcast network news presidents as ABC's David Westin and Andrew Heyward, your former boss at CBS. Isn't it time for cable networks such as your own to offer a public reappraisal of the war coverage?

If CNN does so, what form will it take? How do you as CNN's chief assess the network's coverage of the runup to the war, and the war itself? What would you have done differently?

2. Many viewers found a gap between the coverage of CNN International and the domestic channel, and complain that the U.S. channel was guilty of more jingoism. Even Wolf Blitzer seemed to admit as much. True?

3. CNN's own correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, was critical of the network for not asking enough questions about WMD. She attributed it to the competition for ratings with Fox, which had an inside track to top administration officials. Do you agree? Did you ever speak with Amanpour about her charges, and how to correct the situation?   more »

When word came out post-Oscar victory that George Clooney was telling the spineless fauxhawk Dems to “fuck off” in a blog on Arianna Huffington‘s Post, there was equal parts trashing of Clooney (liberal celeb mouths off again) and celebrating him (finally, someone who isn’t afraid to speak, to wear the liberal mantle proudly) from the usual suspects.

But for most, the post - headlined "I'm A Liberal! There I Said It!" seemed a pretty audacious way to celebrate an Oscar.

Clooney's blog post was written about around the world, with many headlined: Clooney Faults Democrats on Iraq War. Some thought that he was expanding on the more toned-down message he delivered when he picked up his Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Except apparently he wasn’t.

Word now that the blog post was not written by Clooney but was a cut-and-paste job by Huffington Posters from a couple of Clooney interviews.   more »

Ever since the attacks on 9-11 we have heard one slogan reiterated more frequently than any other, “Everything changed on September 11”.

The phrase has become the motto for transforming America according to the policy objectives of the men in power. In fact, the criminal conduct of government officials and their wars of aggression have all been causally brushed aside by invoking their keynote defense, “Everything changed”!

September 11 has been the most abused and manipulated propaganda scam in history. It is trotted out for every presidential speech, every executive press conference, and every appearance by an administration official. It is routinely used to undermine the rule of law and to vindicate the despotic powers of the president.

“Everything changed”; “The gloves came off”; “We must accept the new realities of the post 9-11 world”.

September 11 has become the defining moment in human history; the seminal event that provides the meager justification for butchery and repression.

The United States is now gripped by a form of low-grade state terror; the twin-axels of fear and deception keep the imperial bandwagon gliding along its path. America has been subsumed in a swamp of paranoia and lies; clearing the way for future hostilities and greater brutality.   more »

We should not be surprised that New Labour has become embroiled in a scandal that involves Silvio Berlusconi. There is something entirely predictable about it.

Tony Blair was perfectly happy to embrace Berlusconi, together with the former Spanish prime minister José Maria Aznar as an ally at the time of the breach between Europe and the US in the months prior to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.

He has seen Berlusconi as a valuable ally in pursuit of his pro-Bush foreign policy. In fact, he has consistently been closer to Berlusconi than to centre-left leaders such as the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

This sense of affinity has even acquired a personal and family dimension, with the Blairs accepting Berlusconi's hospitality and taking their vacations with the Italian leader at his holiday home.

Blair clearly feels a political and personal rapport with Berlusconi. And this has set the tone for New Labour: Berlusconi is regarded as a man to do business with.

This is deeply disturbing. How can New Labour regard Berlusconi in such a light? How can it fail to see and reflect upon the malign influence that he has had on Italian democracy?   more »

LESSONS OF IRAQ WAR START WITH US HISTORY

On the third anniversary of President Bush's Iraq debacle, it's important to consider why the administration so easily fooled so many people into supporting the war.

I believe there are two reasons, which go deep into our national culture.

One is an absence of historical perspective. The other is an inability to think outside the boundaries of nationalism.

If we don't know history, then we are ready meat for carnivorous politicians and the intellectuals and journalists who supply the carving knives. But if we know some history, if we know how many times presidents have lied to us, we will not be fooled again.

President Polk lied to the nation about the reason for going to war with Mexico in 1846. It wasn't that Mexico "shed American blood upon the American soil" but that Polk, and the slave-owning aristocracy, coveted half of Mexico.   more »

Ahmad Saadat, Mustafa's successor and the man blamed by Israel for Zeevi's killing, raced to the top of the army's wanted list. Under international pressure, the Palestinian Authority, in the days before it was entirely dismembered by the Israeli army, arrested him.

To prevent his targeting for assassination by Israel, and in the vain hope of winning a reprieve for Yasser Arafat from his effective house arrest in Ramallah, the Palestinian leadership brokered a deal with Britain and the United States in 2002.

The two countries agreed to provide monitors to guarantee Saadat's confinement in the tiny West Bank town of Jericho, in the sun-baked lowlands of the Jordan Valley.

Four years later, on Tuesday morning, Britain reneged on its understandings with the Palestinians and quit Jericho, but not before telling Israel it was going.

As if waiting for its cue, Israeli armour rolled into Jericho at once to capture Saadat and a handful of other wanted men.

To Palestinians, the British broken promise, as well as the hasty exit from Jericho and apparent collusion with Israel, all smacked a little too painfully of other episodes of British foreign policy in the Middle East.   more »

The former Iraqi leader then refused to answer questions from the chief prosecutor, demanding to see a copy of his testimony given to investigators before the trial began. The prosecution agreed to the demand and said they would question Saddam in the next session.

Saddam was the last of the case's eight defendants to be called to testify. Though he has spoken frequently since the trial began in October, Wednesday's session was to be the first chance for the judge and prosecutors to directly question him on charges of killing 148 Shiites and imprisoning and torturing others during a 1982 crackdown against the Shiite town of Dujail.

Instead, Saddam, dressed in a black suit, read from his statement, insisting he was Iraq's elected president and calling the trial a "comedy."

He addressed the "great Iraqi people," a phrase he often used in his speeches as president, and urged them to stop the wave of Shiite-Sunni violence that has rocked the country since the bombing of a major Shiite shrine last month.

"What pains me most is what I heard recently about something that aims to harm our people," Saddam said. "My conscience tells me that the great people of Iraq have nothing to do with these acts," he said referring to the bombing of the shrine in the city of Samarra.

Abdel-Rahman interrupted saying he was not allowed to give political speeches in the court.

"I am the head of state," Saddam replied.   more »

15 MARCH

For Sex-Starved Women: "Stud Farm" Staffed by Men

Artist's "Gas Chamber" Provokes Outrage Among Jews

Christian Fundamentalist Calls Radical Islam "Satanic"

Iraq: Will Bush-Blair Ever Admit They Fucked Up?

Maureen Dowd: Barack Obama for President?

Death of Milosevic Lets Bill Clinton off the Hook

Another Scandal Hits the White House

Taliban Ready to Turn Afghanistan into Another Iraq