Articles by Murtaza Hussain

We found 35 results.


The FBI Groomed a 16-Year-Old with Brain Development Issues to Become a ‘Terrorist’
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Jun 2023

15 Jun 2023 – An undercover FBI agent befriended the teenager online. When he turned 18, he was arrested for supporting ISIS. The only “terrorist” the boy was ever in contact with was the FBI agent.

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China, the Peacemaker? PODCAST
Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 May 2023

3 May 2023 – Historian Alfred W. McCoy discusses China’s rapid economic and political rise and how Beijing is well positioned to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. PODCAST

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Why No One Cared That Al Qaeda Honcho Zawahiri Got Droned
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Aug 2022

3 Aug 2022 – That Zawahiri’s killing went so quietly suggests that the cultural and political behemoth that was the war on terror had long preceded him into the grave.

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Israel Killed Up to 192 Palestinian Civilians in May 2021 Attacks on Gaza
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Dec 2021

9 Dec 2021 – More than 70 percent of the Israeli attacks that killed civilians in Gaza had no corresponding reports of militants hit alongside them. “I still don’t know why they bombed my house and killed my wife and children and my sister and her children.”

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Julian Assange’s Health Is Central to Upcoming Ruling on Extradition to the U.S.
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Nov 2021

28 Oct 2021 – In a case that puts press freedoms on trial, a British appeals court is considering the suicide risk should Assange be sent abroad.

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Over Two Decades, U.S.’s Global War on Terror Has Taken Nearly 1 Million Lives and Cost $8 Trillion
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Sep 2021

1 Sep 2021 – The U.S.-led global war on terror has killed nearly 1 million people globally and cost more than $8 trillion since it began two decades ago. These staggering figures come from a landmark report issued today by Brown University’s Costs of War Project, an ongoing research effort to document the economic and human impact of post-9/11 military operations.

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The Controversial Prosecutor at the Heart of the Julian Assange Case
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Jul 2021

17 Jul 2021 – The battle to extradite Assange from the UK to the US is of paramount importance to the future of national security reporting. Prosecutor Gordon Kromberg has been dogged by allegations of bias and politicized prosecutions. Now he could shape the future of journalism.

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Scientific American Retracted Pro-Palestine Article without Any Factual Errors
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Jul 2021

1 Jul 2021 – After right-wing outrage, the esteemed journal removed an opinion piece expressing solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.

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How to Understand the [Postjournalism] Rage Economy
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Feb 2021

13 Feb 2021 – In “Postjournalism,” media ecologist Andrey Mir analyzes the way the ‘News Economy’ shapes our perceptions of reality.

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With a Distracted Public, the Pentagon Tries to Get Away with Killing Innocent Civilians
Murtaza Hussain | The Intercept - TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 May 2020

8 May 2020 – The United States’ wars continue to rage in the Middle East and Africa against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump administration has shown itself to be not just indifferent, but positively encouraging of the killing of civilians in foreign wars. If there is a time to get away with killing people with no fear of accountability, it’s now.

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The Trump Administration Just Killed Iran’s Most Famous Military Commander. We’re Not Ready for What’s Next.
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 6 Jan 2020

3 Jan 2020 – The assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani may be President Donald Trump’s most reckless foreign policy move to date.

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Iraqi Children Born Near U.S. Military Base Show Elevated Rates of “Serious Congenital Deformities,” Study Finds
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 2 Dec 2019

25 Nov 2019 – More than a decade and a half after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, a new study found that babies are being born today with gruesome birth defects connected to the ongoing American military presence there. “The war has spread so much radiation here that, unless it is cleaned up, generations of Iraqis will continue to be affected.”

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War on the World: Industrialized Militaries Are a Bigger Part of the Climate Emergency Than You Know
Murtaza Hussain – The Interept, 16 Sep 2019

15 Sep 2019 – Not only do conflicts leave a poisoned landscape in their wake, but the U.S. military has a larger carbon footprint than most countries on earth.

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India Moves to Strip Kashmir of Autonomy, Potentially Setting Up Conflict in Disputed Territory
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 12 Aug 2019

5 Aug 2018 – Early morning today, the Indian government announced a change to its constitution, revoking the autonomy of the disputed northern state of Jammu and Kashmir and potentially setting the stage for a major new conflict. The change opens the door to a situation similar to Chinese policy in Tibet and Xinjiang and Israeli policy in the West Bank, allowing the Indian government to move huge numbers of settlers into Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority region, thereby forcibly transforming its demographics.

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The Indian Government Has Systematically Used Torture to Crush Opposition in Kashmir, New Report Finds
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 27 May 2019

26 May 2019 – “Torture is an ongoing issue in Kashmir, but the reality is that most cases are not even reported.” A landmark report has accused the Indian government of “systematically and indiscriminately” using torture as a tool to crush an independence movement in the northern state of Kashmir.

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After 18 Years of War, the Taliban Has the Upper Hand in Afghanistan Peace Talks
Bilal Sarwary and Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 25 Feb 2019

15 Feb 2019 – For many observers, the negotiations register as a defeat — recognition that the Taliban has not only survived, but will be central to Afghanistan’s future.

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Study: U.S. Newspapers Are More Than Twice as Likely to Cite Israeli Sources in Headlines than Palestinian Ones
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 14 Jan 2019

12 Jan 2019 – The study analyzed 50 years of news headlines on the Israel-Palestine conflict and found an overwhelming slant toward the Israeli point of view.

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The U.S. Goes to War against the ICC to Cover Up Alleged War Crimes in Afghanistan
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 17 Sep 2018

12 Sep 2018 – John Bolton is on a jihad against the ICC, seeking to ensure that the U.S. is free of international norms on human rights.

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U.S. Military Operations Are Biggest Motivation for Homegrown Terrorists, FBI Study Finds
Murtaza Hussain and Cora Currier – The Intercept, 17 Oct 2016

11 Oct 2016 – A secret FBI study found that anger over U.S. military operations abroad was the most commonly cited motivation for individuals involved in cases of “homegrown” terrorism. The report also identified no coherent pattern to “radicalization,” concluding that it remained near impossible to predict future violent acts. Government officials rarely acknowledge the role that political grievances play in driving attacks.

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Trauma and Deprivation Lead Syrian Youths to Extremist Groups, Says New Report
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 23 May 2016

Syrian youths overwhelmingly cite practical rather than ideological reasons for joining militant groups after five years of civil war.

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Retired General: Drones Create More Terrorists Than They Kill, Iraq War Helped Create ISIS
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 20 Jul 2015

“What we have is this continued investment in conflict,” the retired general says. “The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just … fuels the conflict.”

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The Atlantic Ignores Muslim Intellectuals, Defines “True Islam” As ISIS
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 23 Feb 2015

In the piece, author Graeme Wood makes the case that the militant group represents a highly authentic version of Islam. Far from being an aberrant or deviant offshoot of traditional Islamic beliefs, it is described as being a faithful expression of them — representing “a coherent and even learned expression of Islam.”

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Is Your Child a Terrorist? U.S. Government Questionnaire Rates Families at Risk for Extremism
Murtaza Hussain, Cora Currier, and Jana Winter – The Intercept, 16 Feb 2015

Are you, your family or your community at risk of turning to violent extremism? That’s the premise behind a rating system devised by the National Counterterrorism Center, according to a document marked For Official Use Only and obtained by The Intercept.

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Sami Al-Arian, Professor Who Defeated Controversial Terrorism Charges, Is Deported from U.S.
Murtaza Hussain and Glenn Greenwald – The Intercept, 9 Feb 2015

5 Feb 2015 – In 2003, Sami Al-Arian was a professor at the University of South Florida, a legal resident of the U.S. since 1975, and one of the most prominent Palestinian civil rights activists in the U.S. The government ultimately failed to produce any evidence of Al-Arian’s involvement in terrorist activities and his ordeal finally ended last night, 12 years after it began, as Al-Arian was deported to Turkey. “I came to the United States for freedom, but four decades later, I am leaving to gain my freedom.”

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Saudi Arabia’s Tyrant King Misremembered as Man of Peace
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 26 Jan 2015

It’s not often that the unelected leader of a country which publicly flogs dissidents and beheads people for sorcery wins such glowing praise from American officials and the Western press.

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NSA Releases Christmas Eve Surprise
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 29 Dec 2014

26 Dec 20145 – The NSA on Christmas Eve day released twelve years of internal oversight reports documenting abusive and improper practices by agency employees. Releasing bad news right before a holiday weekend is a common tactic for trying to minimize press coverage.

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What Happened to the Humanitarians Who Wanted to Save Libyans With Bombs and Drones?
Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 18 Nov 2014

Just three years after NATO’s military intervention in Libya ended and was widely heralded by its proponents as a resounding success, that country is in complete collapse.

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A Small Band of Activists Is Humiliating an Israeli Shipping Giant
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 3 Nov 2014

Capping a series of victories by a modest band of pro-Palestinian activists, an Israel-based shipping company has re-routed a container ship from the Port of Oakland, where protestors had vowed to keep the ship from unloading, to an alternate destination in Russia.

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The Fake Terror Threat Used to Justify Bombing Syria
Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 6 Oct 2014

Administration officials suddenly began spoon-feeding their favorite media organizations and national security journalists tales of a secret group that was even scarier and more threatening than ISIS, one that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland: “The Khorasan Group.”

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No, Snowden’s Leaks Didn’t Help the Terrorists
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 22 Sep 2014

Did Edward Snowden’s revelations on NSA surveillance compromise the ability of intelligence agencies to monitor terrorist groups? Contrary to lurid claims made by U.S. officials, a new independent analysis of the subject says no.

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New ISIS Propaganda Film Features Canadian-Sounding Fighter
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 22 Sep 2014

The militant group Islamic State released a slick and disturbing new propaganda film, “Flames of War,” narrated entirely in English and featuring an Islamic State fighter who speaks with an American or Canadian accent.

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The NSA’s New Partner in Spying: Saudi Arabia’s Brutal State Police
Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 28 Jul 2014

25 Jul 2014 – The NSA last year significantly expanded its cooperative relationship with the Saudi Ministry of Interior, one of the world’s most repressive and abusive government agencies. An April 2013 top secret memo provided by Edward Snowden details the agency’s plans “to provide direct analytic and technical support” to the Saudis on “internal security” matters.

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The Washington Post Uses Biased Experts to Promote Propaganda on Venezuela
Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 10 Mar 2014

That the sources of this supposedly expert analysis are funded by corporations and governments openly hostile to the Venezuelan government, and which have even attempted its overthrow in the past, would appear to be a fairly glaring omission.

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The Moazzam Begg Arrest: Part of the Effort to Criminalize Muslim Political Dissent
Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain – The Intercept, 3 Mar 2014

Moazzam Begg, a native-born British citizen of Pakistani descent, spent three years incarcerated in Guantánamo without ever being charged with any crime. On Tuesday [25 Feb 2014], Begg was arrested in an “anti-terror raid” on his home outside Birmingham, charged with “terrorism” offenses for having allegedly traveled to Syria to assist Syrian rebels.

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Malala and Nabila: Worlds Apart
Murtaza Hussain – Al Jazeera, 4 Nov 2013

The only people to be recognized for their suffering in this conflict are those who fall victim to the Taliban. Malala for her struggles was to be made the face of the American war effort while innumerable little girls such as Nabila will continue to be terrorized and murdered as part of this war without end. There will be no celebrity appearances or awards ceremonies for Nabila. At her testimony almost no one even bothered to attend [5 congressmen].

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