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Tobacco money | Parsing an op ed ad in the Times COMMENTARY On May 4th a DC group, the Washington Legal Foundation, attacked trial lawyers, saying that “one industry—Litigation, Inc.”—is parasitic and in pursuit of riches that “restrains the U.S. economic recovery.” Morton Mintz thinks the press should know a little more about the group behind the ad, especially its ties to the tobacco industry. 
Looking backward | Following the paper trail to the top COMMENTARY| May 126, 2009 We're learning more about the decisions that were made by the last administration, but we still don't know nearly enough about how they were made and who exactly made them, says Caroline Fredrickson of the ACLU. If you really believe in the rule of law – and that no one is above the law -- then you've got to bring accountability to the top of the chain of command.
Searching for truth | Almost everyone remains anonymous COMMENTARY We still don't know the answer to some of the most basic questions about Bush's detainee legacy, writes the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Who were the prisoners? Who were the torturers? And who authorized the program?
Remember Francis Gary Powers? | A defensive crouch is nothing new for the CIA COMMENTARY George Wilson goes back some to recall the U-2 plane shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 on a mission whose director, Richard Bissell of the CIA, later said should never have been undertaken. It resulted in worsened relations between the U.S. and the USSR, and there never was an examination to find out what went wrong. Instead not long afterward Bissell was put in charge of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The overseas press | Detainee torture, seen from abroad COMMENTARY Writes a columnist in the Guardian: ‘It might be fun to see Dick Cheney behind bars for condoning torture, but there are more urgent priorities.’ But a writer in Asia Times says those responsible must be held accountable.
Investigating the Bush years | To look forward, you have to look back COMMENTARY| April 112, 2009 Eric Stover, a professor who investigates human rights abuses, wants to focus on what our national security response should be to terrorism going forward -- but in doing so, he poses some disturbing questions about what we did.
An obligation to look back | Is there a price for departing from our values? COMMENTARY Fritz Schwarz, who helped lead the Church Committee's investigation into intelligence abuses more than 30 years ago, writes that we need to further explore whether our conduct helped al Qaeda's recruitment efforts, and how much excessive secrecy and a complaisant Congress were to blame.
An obligation to look back | How many detainees were wronged? COMMENTARY McClatchy Foreign Editor Roy Gutman argues that we won't genuinely understand the scope of Bush's detainee program until we fully document each detainee's experience and make amends to those who were wrongly held and mistreated.
The overseas press | ‘Obama may have shut up his critics…for the moment’ COMMENTARY International reaction to the rescue of an American sea captain from pirates is favorable toward Obama but with a concern that piracy will continue and become more bloody in the future.
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