Ali Al-Marri, who was living in Peoria, Illinois, with his wife and children, was awaiting trial in 2003. A month before his trial, he was deemed an ‘enemy combatant’ by the president. He has been held in solitary confinement ever since. On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the president has the authority to detain…

DOUG HENWOOD Henwood is author of the book Wall Street and editor of Left Business Observer. He said today: “The U.S. economy continues to be dominated by the contradictory forces of stagnation and inflation — a reincarnation of that 1970s monster, stagflation. This morning we learned that inflation is running at a 5 percent annual…

ROBERT POLLIN Pollin is the Political Economy Research Institute’s founding co-director and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Pollin recently wrote the piece “The Housing Bubble and Financial Deregulation: Isn’t Enough Enough?” which states: “The collapse at the end of 2007 of the U.S. housing bubble and the speculative market for…

AP is reporting: “Some 500 American Indians are gathering near the White House to mark the end of a 8,300-mile walk across the nation. The trek from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., aims to bring attention to the impact of global warming on the environment. “Organizer Ricardo Tapia says the Longest Walk 2 also was…

WILLIAM BEEMAN Author of The “Great Satan” vs. the “Mad Mullahs”: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other Beeman said today: “You have the U.S. funding groups that are attacking Iran, most recently reported on by Sy Hersh, though we’ve known about it for a while; you have Israel conducting exercises that the…

Former Secretaries of State James Baker III and Warren Christopher have formed a commission on war powers and have published a piece in today’s New York Times. They are advocating replacing the 1973 War Powers Resolution. FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of international law at the University of Illinois, Boyle said today: “The President is already required…

LARRY BIRNS ERINA UOZUMI Birns is director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Uozumi is a research associate at COHA and a Colombian national specializing in U.S.-Colombian relations. Birns said today: “While it was perfectly appropriate for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to act to free the hostages, we should not lose sight of the fact…

The New York Times reported Monday: “A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.” Columnist Bob Herbert writes today: “President Bush…

Seymour M. Hersh in The New Yorker reports: “Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in…

ANISE JENKINS BILL MOSLEY Jenkins is president of the Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. Coalition (Free D.C.); Mosley is a member of the group. Jenkins said today: “The Supreme Court has succeeded where members of Congress have failed. There have been several attempts by members of Congress to overturn D.C.’s gun law. That’s because…