Newsletter: The Spin Strategy In The Afghanistan War

Afghanistan War
In this file photo taken Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, a U.S. special operations member pays his final respects for a comrade killed in Afghanistan's Farah province. Maya Alleruzzo / Associated Press
Afghanistan War
In this file photo taken Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, a U.S. special operations member pays his final respects for a comrade killed in Afghanistan's Farah province. Maya Alleruzzo / Associated Press

Newsletter: The Spin Strategy In The Afghanistan War

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Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and I’ve watched the trailer for the new Wonder Woman movie a million times (but not at work). There’s also a trailer out for the new Ghostbusters movie . Here’s what you need to know today. (PS: You can have this delivered to your inbox by subscribing here.)

1. U.S. officials systematically misled public about Afghanistan War

The Washington Post reports that “senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.”

The Post obtained “a confidential trove of documents” after a three-year legal fight with the U.S. government.

The documents include interviews with more than 400 people who played a role in the war, from generals to aid workers, and includes “unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare.” [Washington Post]

2. GOP calls impeachment hearings “unfair” as Dems say Trump “put himself before his country”

The impeachment inquiry advanced today as Democratic and Republican attorneys presented evidence to the House Judiciary Committee.

Daniel Goldman, the Democratic staff counsel, accused President Donald Trump of being a “clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security.”

U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican member on the committee, said Democrats have a “personal vendetta” and “can’t get over the fact that Donald J. Trump is president of the United States.”

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said he expects to bring formal articles of impeachment to the committee “at some point” this week. [NPR]

3. Authorities were waiting for Juice WRLD at Midway before his death

Federal agents and Chicago police officers were waiting for Chicago rapper Juice WRLD at Midway Airport over the weekend because authorities suspected he was “carrying contraband,” reports the Chicago Tribune.

Juice WRLD, who was named “top new artist” at the Billboard Music Awards in May, began having seizures as authorities searched two carts of luggage taken from a private plane carrying the musician. Juice WRLD was later pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and his exact cause of death remains unknown.

Authorities found 41 bags of marijuana, six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, three pistols, a high-capacity ammunition magazine and metal-piercing bullets, the Trib reports. Two of Juice WRLD’s guards were charged with illegally possessing guns and ammunition.[Chicago Tribune]

4. Russia banned from Olympics for 4 years

The World Anti-Doping Agency voted today to bar Russia from competing in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and other major global sporting events for four years. That means the Russian flag and anthem will not appear at those events, but Russian athletes not implicated in the country’s doping scandal could still compete under a neutral flag.

The decision, if upheld, comes years after details began to emerge about Russia’s state-sponsored doping scheme in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the ban is part of “chronic anti-Russian hysteria.” [BBC]

5. Watchdog finds no political bias in Russia investigation

The Justice Department’s inspector general said there was no anti-Trump plot in the FBI’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

But the inspector general’s report, released today, criticized the bureau’s surveillance of a junior campaign aide to Donald Trump. The report found numerous, significant errors in the FBI’s application for a court order approving a wiretap targeting the aide, Carter Page. [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

  • The FBI is investigating last week’s Navy base shooting in Florida as an act of terrorism. [NPR]

  • A recent Craigslist post at a Naperville school is highlighting long-standing problems with racism the district says it’s committed to addressing. [WBEZ]

  • Here’s a look at what Chicago can learn from other cities where lead in drinking water pipes was a problem. [WBEZ]

  • This week is going to be a cold one. [Chicago Tribune]

Oh, and one more thing …

Ever wonder who really jump-started political corruption in Illinois?

“Every time a politician collects three salaries, writes a law benefiting himself, or appoints a friend to a government job, we should remember Stephen A. Douglas,” writes Chicago magazine.

Douglas, a Democrat and political rival of Abraham Lincoln, maneuvered his way into various political offices before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1847, a position he used to create his own political machine decades before Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. Douglas died in 1861 and is buried beneath a 70-foot-tall monument on Chicago’s South Side. [Chicago magazine]

Tell me something good …

WBEZ’s Making Beyoncé is among the podcasts that The New York Times says are “worthy of your time.” So I’d like to know what podcasts you’re listening to.

Me? I’m listening to another podcast on the Times’ list: An Arm and a Leg by former WBEZ-er Dan Weissmann. The podcast examines the many problems with our health care system and how it affects us.

What podcasts are you listening to? Feel free to email at therundown@wbez.org or tweet to @whuntah.

Have a nice night! I’ll see you tomorrow. And if you like what you just read, you can subscribe to the newsletter here and have it delivered to your inbox.