The publishers of the excellent Harper’s Weekly email newsletter sent out its “Yearly Review” newsletter. What a year!
A 1,600-inmate faith-based prison opened
in Crawfordville, Florida. Police began random bag checks
of subway passengers in New York City. It was revealed
that the CIA had set up a secret system of prisons, called
“black sites,” around the world; it was also revealed that
the National Security Agency was spying on Americans
without first obtaining warrants. Journalist Judith Miller
was released from jail and said she wanted to hug her
dog. U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay was arrested; U.S. Vice
President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter”
Libby was indicted. The Pentagon admitted to using white
phosphorus during the 2004 attack on Fallujah, Iraq, and
allocated $127 billion to build a robot army. The total
number of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war rose to
2,174, while the total number of Iraqi civilians killed
rose to 27,636. “We are all waiting for death,” said an
Iraqi soldier, “like the moon waiting for sunset.” The
U.S. Defense Department, in violation of the federal
Privacy Act, was building a database of 30 million 16- to
25-year-olds. The Department of Homeland Security
announced that it had wasted a great deal of money and
needed much more. Starbucks came to Guantanamo
Bay. Scientists began work on a complete, molecule-level
computer simulation of the human brain. The project will
take at least ten years.