Here’s a partial history of Obama’s dealings – listed (roughly) chronologically, most recent first:
- 10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free (read).
- Has Obama taken Bush’s ‘preemption’ strategy to another level? (read).
- Obama sending 5 US military officers to South Sudan (read).
- The White House has declared the government of South Sudan eligible to receive weapons and defense assistance from the U.S. The announcement came amid an outbreak of violence between two South Sudanese tribes that may have left thousands dead and some 50,000 people needing aid (read).
- The White House has declared the government of South Sudan eligible to receive weapons and defense assistance from the U.S. The announcement came amid an outbreak of violence between two South Sudanese tribes that may have left thousands dead and some 50,000 people needing aid (read).
- President Obama Signs the NDAA Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law The statute contains a sweeping worldwide indefinite detention provision. “President Obama’s action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director (read).
- Weapon’s proliferation: In same week $30 billion weapon deal with Saudi Arabia is finalized, Pentagon reaches $3.5 billion weapon deal with UAE (read).
- White House rejects calls for oversight on drone killings (read).
- TSA spreading its wings beyond airports (read).
- The Obama administration has decided in principle to allow the embattled president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter the United States for medical treatment (read).
- National Defense Authorization Act – By signing the ‘anti-terror’ bill the president could end up being worse than his Republican predecessor on civil liberties (read).
- The Zenith of Civil Libertarian Anger at President Obama (read).
- Secrecy defines Obama’s drone war (read).
- Obama asks Iran to return downed U.S. surveillance drone (read). Stealth drone highlights tougher U.S. strategy on Iran (read).
- Obama Promises to Label GMOs (read).
- Inside Romania’s secret CIA prison (read).
- Obama: U.S. to expand military in Australia (read); 2,500 US Marines to be stationed in Australia (read).
- Obama Administration Delays Keystone Pipeline Decision to After Election (read).
- Obama’s Offshore Oil Plan a Disaster for Wildlife, Climate (read).
- Palestine Wins UNESCO Membership… And Obama Withdraws (read).
- Obama’s new war in Uganda (read).
- Obama’s proposal would gut Freedom of Information Act (read).
- As troops pull out of Iraq, Obama plans more combat forces elsewhere in the Middle East (read).
- The U.S. will maintain a presence in Iraq even after “ending” of war (read).
- New Obama Foreclosure Plan Helps Banks At Taxpayers’ Expense (read).
- US Troop Deaths in Afghan War Under Obama Now Twice That Under Bush (read).
- Obama sends 100 US combat troops to Uganda to help fight ‘rebels’ (read).
- Obama vows to seek ‘toughest’ Iran sanctions to punish Iranian officials whom he accused of complicity in an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States (read).
- Obama Waives Penalties on Countries That Employ Child Soldiers – Again! (read).
- U.S. drone strike in Yemen kills U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki. The lethal strike marked the first known case in which the Obama administration tracked down and killed a U.S. citizen. The raid also killed a second American, Samir Khan. (read). With the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, the due-process-freeassassination of U.S. citizens is now reality (read).
- Obama accomodates Turkey’s request for drone aircraft in fight against Kurdish separtists (read).
- Photos & videos of Bin Laden’s killing should not be released because they would reveal military and intelligence secrets and could lead to violence against U.S. personnel, the Obama administration argued (read).
- Obama quietly renews U.S. embargo on Cuba (read).
- U.S. drones attack in souther Somalia (read).
- Obama secretly sold bunker-busting bombs to Israel: report (read).
- US Resumes Arms Sales to Bahrain. Less than three months after including Bahrain on a list of human rights offenders requiring the United Nations’ attention, the Obama administration seems to have changed its mind (read).
- Obama silent as U.S. murders Troy Davis (read).
- Peace Prize-Winner Obama SavagesSomalia (read).
- U.S. assembling secret drone bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, officials say (read).
- “Obama cozies up to Uzbekistan dictator” – lobbies congress to sell more military equipment to one of the world’s most repressive leaders (read).
- U.S. to build new massive prison in Bagram, Afghanistan (read).
- New American Ally in Somalia: ‘Butcher’ Warlord (read). (Also check out Jeremy Scahill’s extensive piece on U.S. history in Somalia).
- The United States reserves the right to pursue terrorists unilaterally in other countries, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said in a speech at Harvard Law School (read).
- The Obama administration has significantly increased the frequency of drone strikes and other air attacks against the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen in recent months amid rising concern about political collapse there (read).
- Obama Pushes NAFTA Style Trade Policy Despite 2008 Promise (watch).
- Obama said that if the Palestinians try to achieve statehood in the UN Security Council, the US will oppose the proposal (read).
- Obama abandoned a contentious new air pollution rule, buoying business interests that had lobbied heavily against it, angering environmentalists and rejecting the advice of his top environmental regulators (read). Related: Obama asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw a plan to limit smog pollution that was projected to prevent as many as 12,000 premature deaths from heart and lung complications (read).
- US kills 30 in airstrikes on Yemen (read).
- Jeremy Scahill: What’s happening in Libya is essentially a “NATO enforced regime change” and that President Obama is “implementing the Bush domino agenda in the Middle East” (watch).
- Obama Goes All Out For Dirty Banker Deal (read).
- A secret war in 120 countries: Somewhere on this planet an American commando is carrying out a mission. Now, say that 70 times and you’re done … for the day. (read).
- Progressives Complain Obama’s Debt Deal ‘Trades People’s Livelihoods for the Votes of a Few Unappeasable Right-Wing Radicals’ (read).
- Rep. Luis Gutierrez Arrested Outside White House Protesting Record Deportations Under Obama’s Watch (read).
- Obama exploits the tragedy in Norway
“It’s a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring,” Obama said prior to learning the identity of the assailant, clearly trying to justify his military strikes in 6 Muslim nations. No doubt Obama was later stunned, if not disappointed, that the person responsible for the killings in Norway was a non-Arab Christian, and not a ‘Muslim terrorist’. - Obama’s escalating war in Yemen –
As its government teeters, the impoverished and chaotic Gulf nation is the focus of a U.S. bombing campaign (read). - Obama’s approval ratings across the Arab World are 10% or less, according to a Zogby study of about 4,000 people (read).
- CIA Exhales: 99 Out of 101 Torture Cases Dropped (read).