Covert Ops

Sednaya Prison and the CIA

Sednaya Prison and the CIA Sednaya Prison and the CIA

Coverage of Syria’s prisons overlooks their decades-long use as key destinations for extraordinary rendition, where terror suspects were sent for brutal interrogations.

Jan 7, 2025 / Barbara Koeppel

Syrians celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad regime and the New Year’s Eve in the capital, Damascus, on December 31, 2024.

Damascus Diary: A New Year in a New Syria Damascus Diary: A New Year in a New Syria

Syrians begin to learn to live without Assad.

Jan 6, 2025 / Nicolas Niarchos

Mugshots of Ethel Rosenberg in 1951, the year of her conviction alongside her husband, Julius, for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets.

President Biden Should Pardon Ethel Rosenberg President Biden Should Pardon Ethel Rosenberg

A newly released classified document shows that the National Security Agency knew Ethel Rosenberg was not a spy—and that the government executed her anyway.

Jan 2, 2025 / Phillip Deery

Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams: Convicted Liar, Defender of Dictators, Accomplice to Genocide—and Foreign Policy Wise Man Elliott Abrams: Convicted Liar, Defender of Dictators, Accomplice to Genocide—and Foreign Policy Wise Man

A career nearly as steeped in blood as Henry Kissinger’s hasn’t prevented the establishment from embracing—and whitewashing—this serial slanderer.

Jun 19, 2024 / Eric Alterman

A US Army soldier on patrol near the Turkish border in northeastern Syria, May 2021.

The US Military’s Long History of Killing Innocents The US Military’s Long History of Killing Innocents

The Department of Defense’s annual civilian casualty report is two years behind—but even when it finally arrives, will it say anything of substance?

May 30, 2024 / Nick Turse

9/11 memorial at Bellevue Hospital

Saudi Arabia’s September 11 Connection and the Contradictions of American Foreign Policy Saudi Arabia’s September 11 Connection and the Contradictions of American Foreign Policy

How the state that aided terrorism on US soil has become an indispensable ally that the Biden administration is determined to placate at all costs.

May 29, 2024 / Jeet Heer

A worker hangs an election campaign billboard of the Likud party showing former US President Donald Trump, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on September 8, 2019.

Will Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu Bless Donald Trump With an October Surprise? Will Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu Bless Donald Trump With an October Surprise?

Unlike Joe Biden, the former president benefits from international turmoil. 

May 24, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Gabrielius Landsbergis takes part in protest

Georgia Dreaming: Is Another Color Revolution About to Kick Off? Georgia Dreaming: Is Another Color Revolution About to Kick Off?

Ten years after the massive street protests that overthrew Ukraine’s president—and helped precipitate war with Russia—another former Soviet Republic teeters on the brink.

May 20, 2024 / Vadim Nikitin

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (L) and former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan (R)

If Joe Biden Really Wants to Celebrate Press Freedom, He Should Free Julian Assange If Joe Biden Really Wants to Celebrate Press Freedom, He Should Free Julian Assange

Joe Biden will celebrate World Press Freedom Day tomorrow. But it is a safe bet that he'll have nothing to say about Assange or Imran Khan, both behind bars for defying the US.

May 2, 2024 / Charles Glass

Palestinians standing next to a vehicle in the central Gaza Strip, where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli air strike.

How US Intelligence and an American Company Feed Israel’s Killing Machine in Gaza How US Intelligence and an American Company Feed Israel’s Killing Machine in Gaza

Because it isn’t so much the bombs that kill but the list that puts civilians in the way of the bombs.

Apr 12, 2024 / James Bamford

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