Four years ago, I published Subtle Tools, a book on the erosion of American democratic norms in the face of what came to be known as the Global War on Terror. Both what had been done in the name of “national security” in response to the 9/11 attacks and how it had been done — through the willing neglect of procedural integrity, the exploitation of all-too-flexible norms, a remarkable disregard for transparency, and a failure to call for accountability of any sort — left the country wide open to even more damaging future abuses of the rule of law. And — lo and behold! — now, that future is all too distinctly here. What happened in the first quarter of... Read more
Source: The First 50 Days appeared first on TomDispatch.com.