Political climate change is heating up American minds, observes Eric Walberg

20/9/7 -- As the presidential primaries began to dominate the headlines in 2007, it started to look like 1968, when the dark horse Democrat, Senator Eugene McCarthy, stunned political analysts by leaping ahead of the pack with his promise to pull the troops out of Vietnam immediately. Interestingly this time round, the good news was in the Republican camp, where McCarthy's unlikely clone is the libertarian Ron Paul.

The question now swirling around political corridors is whether Obama will fight the monsters or let them off the hook, says Eric Walberg

30/4/9-- In response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), United States President Barack Obama authorised the release by the US Justice Department of four detailed memos describing and justifying torture techniques used by the CIA to gather information from prisoners. Bush's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) framed 14 techniques, such as waterboarding, forced nudity, and prolonged sleep deprivation, to appear legal despite the prohibition in international law against "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment.

Pornography, the feminisation of the enemy? Confused over Obama's view on Guantanamo and the backlog of torture images from Abu Ghraib? Join the club, laments Eric Walberg

21/5/9 -- The centrepiece of United States President Barack Obama's PR campaign to show the world the US is the nice cop was to end the military tribunals, which he called "an enormous failure" during last year's presidential campaign, and close the infamous Guantanamo prison. This was Obama's first major "achievement" upon assuming office.