The Legal Research Society

This week’s Economist has an interesting leader in which it discusses the ability of the Democratic Primary frontrunner Barack Obama’s ability to deliver on his promising campaign and impressive surge in popularity. The leader, inter alia, asserts that a black president in the White House is likely to transform America’s image abroad – something that is desperately needed following the Bush tenure. Overall, the Economist notes, probably rightly so, that Obama has, thus far, not faced the same level of scrutiny as have his rivals, which has allowed him to rely on rhetoric and high expectations rather than political substance. Similarly, the economist notes that Obama’s voting record in the Senate is one of the most left leaning ones among Democrats. Although this is likely to appeal to most Europeans, as this would arguably place him firmly in the centre of the political scale over here, one should not get too carried away. It is evident that even a left leaning Democratic President is...

Today’s New York Times holds a short but very interesting article, by Jules Witcover, on the comparison between Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. Although the correspondent notes he is not in a position to assess whether Bush is a candidate for the worst president in time, he has a number of good points on the comparison between Nixon, widely thought of as a strong contester for the worst president in recent times, and the incumbent Bush. He notes, for instance, “Like Nixon in 1972 winning re-election by feeding off unrest and violence in the streets, Bush in 2004 tapped into post-9/11 fears and appeals to patriotism to gain a second term. Although there is not yet any domestic scandal of Watergate dimensions hanging over him, an odor of incompetence in the management of the war, in the care provided to returning wounded, and in the disarray of his Justice Department stifles the atmosphere for his remaining time in the White House.” The article concludes that while Nixon’s f...

It emerged today that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to the killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, who was killed in Pakistan in 2002. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was apprehended by the American forces in Pakistan in 2003, confessed before a military tribunal at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - the centre where the US keeps more than 400 detainees awaiting trials before the special military tribunals the Bush administration set up in wake of the 9/11 atrocities. Mohammed had previous confessed to planning the attacks of 9/11. In addition to this, Mohammed has confessed to have taken responsibility for the 2002 Bali bombings and has made plans for a line of other terrorist attacks. Pearl was working as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in Pakistan in 2002 when he was kidnapped and later beheaded. Images of the beheading were distributed by the kidnappers on the internet and made for gruesome viewing of Pearl’s last minutes. While the heinous crimes of 9/11 and Pearl's behea...

"Are you ready for that great Atomic Power?" -Charlie Louvin I. Lewis Libby, aka "Scooter" was convicted yesterday for lying to a grand jury and FBI agents. Libby was Vice-President Cheney's chief of staff. The New York Times has a story here . Slate has an excellent feature as well. NPR has audio here , where you can hear interviews from many of the players involved. This is a conviction stemming out of the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Wilson, after her husband diplomat Joseph Wilson was sent to Nigeria to look into claims that Iraq had been attempting to purchase "yellow cake", a substance which could be refined and made into a nuclear weapon. He found no evidence that Iraq was attempting to acquire the material, and when President Bush made such claims at the state of the union address, he publicly criticized the claims. In response, the identity of his wife, Valerie Wilson, was disclosed to the press. Libby was convicted of lyi...