Today's column is my last for The Washington Post. And the first thing I want to say is thank you. Thank you to all you readers, e-mailers, commenters, questioners, Facebook friends and Twitterers for spending your time with me and engaging with me over the years. And thank you for the recent outpouring of support. It was extraordinarily uplifting, and I'm deeply grateful. If I ever had any doubt, your words have further inspired me to continue doing accountability journalism. My plan is to take a few weeks off before embarking upon my next endeavor -- but when I do, I hope you'll join me. It's hard to summarize the past five and a half years. But I'll try. I started my column in January 2004, and one dominant theme quickly emerged: That George W. Bush was truly the proverbial emperor with no clothes. In the days and weeks after
It says a lot about this presidency that there is so much else going on that the public has almost forgotten that our troops are still fighting two wars. And yet, there is big trouble on both fronts. In Iraq, where our troops are at least in the process of withdrawing, a recent spate of bloody attacks indicates things may be about to take an ugly turn. Even more disturbingly, in Afghanistan, where Obama has decided to escalate rather than extricate, there is still not even the glimmer of an exit strategy. Tomorrow will be White House Watch's last day at The Washington Post. One of my many regrets is that I didn't get around to writing more about Obama's Afghanistan policy, its extraordinarily bloody ramifications, how it threatens to sink the nation in a Vietnam-like quagmire -- and, most significantly, how the president has never really made the case
Colum Lynch writes in The Washington Post: "The United Nations' top human rights advocate, Navanethem Pillay, on Wednesday appealed to the Obama administration to release Guantanamo Bay inmates or try them in a court of law, and said officials who authorized the use of 'torture' must be held accountable." From her statement: "As [the Convention Against Torture] makes clear, people who order or inflict torture cannot be exonerated, and the roles of certain lawyers, as well as doctors who have attended torture sessions, should also be scrutinized.... Equally importantly, victims of torture must be helped to recover from one of the worst ordeals that a human being can face.... Victims of torture must be compensated and cared for – for as long as it takes to enable them once again to lead a relatively normal life." Mother Jones writer Bruce Falconer interviews Spanish attorney Gonzalo Boyé, who "has turned his
Jon Stewart shows a clip of Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer criticizing Obama for his restrained response to the Iranian crackdown. Stewart's response: "You can't believe Obama puts our national security in front of moral outrage?.. You know what I can't believe? That this bothers you -- Charles Krauthammer -- given your views on torture." The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cHard Corpswww.thedailyshow.com
