Information is power. Our mission at Portside is to seek out and to provide information that empowers you -- that empowers the left. Every day we search hundreds of sources to connect you with the most interesting, striking and useful material. Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help.

 

15 Years After the Iraq Invasion, What Are the Costs?

Stephanie Savell Other Words
We spend $32 million per hour on wars started during the Bush administration. The economic costs of the war on terror has cost Americans a staggering $5.6 trillion since 2001, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

George Herbert Walker Bush and the Myth of the 'Good' Gulf War

Nora Eisenberg AlterNet
This draws on articles about the 1991 Gulf War the author wrote which drew on the writer's extensive research for her 2008 novel, "When You Come Home" (Curbstone)-- which chronicles the lives of young veterans returning home from Desert Storm.

Green Day - American Idiot (With Lyrics)

Written and performed by British punk rockers Green Day for the George Bush presidency, and appropriately revived for Donald Trump's visit to Great Britain.

Neil Gorsuch Helped Defend Bush Torture Policies

Charlie Savage The New York Times
After visiting Guantanamo, Judge Gorsuch offered the prison operation commander a glowing review. "Being able to see first hand all that you have managed to accomplish with such a difficult and sensitive mission makes my job of helping explain and defend it before the courts all the easier.”

New York Times Editorial: Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses

The Editorial Board, New York Times New York Times
The New York Times editorial - in the paper of record - demanded that those responsible for the vicious torture policies be brought to trial. Any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington; the former CIA director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos. There are many more names that could be considered.

American Torture - Past, Present, and Future? - Beyond the Senate Torture Report

Rebecca Gordon TomDispatch
It came from the top and that's never been a secret. The president authorized the building of those CIA "black sites" and the use of what came to be known as "enhanced interrogation techniques" and has spoken of this with a certain pride. The president's top officials essentially put in an order at the Department of Justice for "legal" justifications that would, miraculously, transform those "techniques" into something other than torture. - Tom Engelhardt
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