Related Posts

Torturers For Hire

But didn’t CIA officers have to approve the request? Former FBI supervisory special agent Ali Soufan, writing in an op-ed in the New York Times today, makes this parenthetical point regarding CIA torture: (It’s worth noting that when reading between the lines of the newly released memos, it seems clear that it was contractors, not C.I.A. officers, who requested the use of these techniques.) I’m not sure if that puts a different gloss on Obama’s decision not to prosecute CIA officers, but it’s a point worth noting. [From Torturers For Hire]

Rep. Peter King’s hearings on Islamic radicalization: Fuel for the bigots

Richard Cohen – Rep. Peter King’s hearings on Islamic radicalization: Fuel for the bigots. King is setting a dangerous precedent. The government has no business examining any peaceful religious group because a handful of adherents have broken the law. If it did, it would be past time to look into the Roman Catholic Church, which clearly was – or maybe still is – concealing the sex crimes of priests and others. The organization BishopAccountability.org reports that “perhaps more than 100,000 children” have been sexually abused since 1950 by Catholic clergymen of one sort or another. Nearly 6,000 priests have been…

ISPU Report “Shari’a Law: Coming to a Courthouse Near You?: What Shari’a Really Means to American Muslims” by Julie Macfarlane

Wait, there’s actual evidence of what American Muslims think about shariah? But what will we do with the Islamophobia industry who thinks they know everything about everything? ISPU Report “Shari’a Law: Coming to a Courthouse Near You?: What Shari’a Really Means to American Muslims” by Julie Macfarlane. This is the first empirical study to ask North American Muslims what shari’a means to them in their everyday lives. The study demonstrates that the present “moral panic” over shari’a and its alleged impact on American legal and social culture is wildly overblown. Based on the study, for most American Muslims shari’a represents…