You walk into a large, bright gallery full of large colorful portraits, portraits of men.  They are fairly ordinary looking men.  They could be from Western Asia or the "Middle East." 

You approach one and look at him for an instant.  He looks normal, relaxed, almost expressionless, certainly expressing no very strong emotion. 

Before you can look long, your eyes are drawn to the curving lines of words swirling around the canvas like leaves in water.  You read words like these, twisting your head almost upside down to follow them:

"FROM THE TIME OF MORNING PRAYERS THEY WOULD DRAW A CIRCLE ON THE WALL, AND I HAD TO STAND ON MY TOES TWO HOURS WITH MY NOSE TOUCHING THE CIRCLE."

You read on as more words flow around this one canvas.  You read about dogs and cattle prods and death threats and harm to loved ones, sleep deprivation and confinement in a box and living human beings piled up like suitcases in a truck.

Sigmund Freud once mentioned the defense offered by a man who was accused by his neighbor of having returned a kettle in a damaged condition. In the first place, he had returned the kettle undamaged; in the second place it already had holes in it when he borrowed it; and in the third place, he had never borrowed it at all.

That man's name?

Dick Cheney.

On "Morning Joe" on MSNBC on Thursday, the former Vice President claimed that the intelligence used to invade Iraq had been sound and accurate; the faulty intelligence was all Bill Clinton's fault; the invasion didn't do any damage but rather it was the Iraqis who damaged Iraq; and any invasion causes horrific things to happen, that just comes with the territory.

An upcoming Charlottesville conference highlights the importance of whistleblowers when addressing the corruption present in military contracting

Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse

David Swanson: Hold Public Officials Accountable! from William Hughes on Vimeo.

On Thursday, April 29, 2010, a “Teach-In on Capitol Hill,” was held in Room 2168 of the Rayburn Building, in D.C., dealing with the question of what the U.S. Congress must do to end the U.S. Wars and secure a peaceful Middle East. David Swanson, the author of “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union,” was one of the five panelists. During the Q&A, he was asked a question about the need for accountability for public officials who are suspected of breaking the laws and sanctioning torture, rendition and other unlawful acts.