Shepard Fairey has admitted that he lied about which photo he used to make his “Hope” poster of then-candidate Barack Obama. Both photographs in question were taken by the same photographer and both were covered by AP copyright. However, Fairey’s work was more transformative of the first photograph than of the one that, well, looks exactly like his poster. That added transformation would aid him in his fair use claim. Fairey’s lawyers have filed notice that they intend to withdraw from his suit as a result of his misleading them.
The Obama administration may scrap the pre-emptive war part of the “Bush Doctrine.” Hat tip to Julian Ku. Meanwhile, Russia and the U.S. both continue to claim the right to use nuclear weapons in a first-strike capability.
Peter J. Wallison penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in which he points a finger at the federal government for the mortgage crisis. Wallison points out that the predatory lending theory only tells half the story: Someone had to buy all these toxic assets; often as not, the buyers were government-backed agencies. Ilya Somin concurs and extends: Not only did government back the purchase of these bad mortgages, they also encouraged excessive risk-taking by the private sector. Kevin Drum is angered not because of this, but rather because the banks are recovering faster than the rest of the economy because of further government intervention. And Matthew Yglesias says that we are repeating the pattern.
The Justice Department issued guidelines (.pdf) to prosecutors instructing them to deprioritize the investigation and prosecution of medical marijuana dispensaries. Jonathan Adler explains that this is a valid exercise of power and thus, like, totally legit, man.
The military is currently meeting all of its recruiting goals. The Pentagon credits the recession, along with marketing, for the success. Fred Kaplan, however, says that the Pentagon is fudging.
The White House now plans to diplomatically engage with Sudan in an effort to stop the violence in Darfur. Sudan has now hired a lobbyist, with Sen. John Kerry’s assistance.
The British High Court has reversed itself and now orders that the British government release information about how former detainee Binyam Mohamed was tortured after being rendered by the CIA to other countries. The British had refused to release memos detailing the torture after the U.S. threatened to stop sharing information with British intelligence about terrorist activities. Glenn Greenwald’s take is linked above; Scott Horton has a few additional details; Adam Serwer provides information on Mohamed’s case in the United States, which is still sitting before the Ninth Circuit.
Jay Bybee, the head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the time the “Torture Memos” were drafted, has been cleared of a judicial complaint by the Ninth Circuit, as Scott Horton reports. The complaint was dismissed without attention to the merits because it concerns behavior that occurred prior to his becoming a judge and would not have prejudiced the Senate had it been known. Meanwhile, Daphne Eviatar reports that the Obama administration is continuing to use many of the theories adopted during the Bush years.
U.S. intelligence is buying access to Visible Technologies, a company that monitors blog comments, forum posts, and billions of other interactions that take place on the internet every day. The post notes that this raises some thorny issues about what use intelligence agencies may make of so-called “open source” information on Americans.
Strange story from Afghanistan: Italian officials decided to pay the Taliban in their area in exchange for peace. The Italians then turned over responsibility for the area to the French and left, without telling France about the “arrangement.” Also, they stopped paying the Taliban. Militants then attacked the French, resulting in ten dead soldiers and a possible loss of a NATO ally in Afghanistan. Italy and the U.S. deny the charges. But Kelley Vlahos says that protection rackets are a fact of life in the country.
Afghanistan blogging is fairly light this week. Debates over the proper shape of our strategy continue, but, as Andrew Exum points out, we have only one fully-shaped plan to wrangle over. When another emerges, I will let you know. In the meantime, if you want to get the wonky details of that plan, here is the Joint Chiefs’ report on counter-insurgency strategy. A lighter read on the subject is available here and a roundup is here. Or, as all of the milbloggers appear to be saying, watch Frontline .
Interesting graph showing how often the U.S. is supported by other countries at the U.N.
Harvard Law School has started up a National Security Journal, complete with its own blog and a heavyweight cast for an advisory board. Welcome, guys.
Joseph Cirincione presents “Five Myths about Iran’s Nuclear Program” in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Key among them is the assertion that an arms race in the Middle East is now inevitable. Meanwhile, a Sunni terrorist in Iran killed 31 people.
Note for county zoning boards: Your real-estate maps are subject to disclosure to the public. They are not protected from disclosure by “national security,” especially if you are willing to sell them to anyone who pays your requested price. However, 40-year-old CIA files on Lee Harvey Oswald are still unavailable.
Image: Shepard Fairey (left), Mannie Garcia/AP (right).
Tags: Weekly Web Watch
