here was a screening in Washington, DC, for press and friends for journalist Jeremy Scahill’s new film, Dirty Wars. Scahill did a Q&A and also setup interviews with some media organizations the following day.

I arranged an interview with Scahill, who graciously gave me some of his time and sat down to talk about the film.

Journalist Jeremy Scahill’s film, Dirty Wars, is an effort to give Americans a peek at how the United States government is fighting the global war on terrorism in the shadows. It is also a plea to Americans to confront what their government is doing and challenge the justification for operations, which Congress is reluctant to scrutinize and which has at its core this idea that the “world is a battlefield,” an idea the press has been mostly unwilling to question.

Ahead of a major speech on counterterrorism policies tomorrow, the administration of President Barack Obama has officially declassified information related to drone strikes against four American citizens and also acknowledged for the first time that they were killed by the United States.

With neoconservatives and neoliberals amplifying calls for US military intervention in Syria, it is worthwhile to take a moment and consider all the places in the world, where the US currently has forces engaged in daily operations.

Secrecy, the reality that a substantial portion of US military or espionage operations with troops are likely happening covertly, may mean it is impossible to truly get a complete picture of where America is projecting power and targeting and killing people. But, Linda J. Bilmes and Michael D. Intriligator, ask in a recent paper, “How many wars is the US fighting today?”

Today, United States officials are “reaffirming” the US’s “commitment” to freedom of speech and a free press on World Press Freedom Day, however, there remains one glaring case of repression against a journalist, who President Barack Obama has ordered Yemen to keep imprisoned. His continued imprisonment grossly undermines any messages coming from the US government about its dedication to promoting press freedom.

There is no concrete evidence that the brothers, who are suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon, were inspired by US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Yet, CNN has posted a report with the headline, “From the grave, the cleric inspiring a new generation of terrorists,” that promotes this new detail as if it is certainly true.

In June 15, 2010, The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill reported that “sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince” had claimed that the embattled head of the world’s most infamous mercenary firm” was “planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).”

Scahill noted, “The Nation learned of Prince’s alleged plans to move to the UAE from three separate sources. One Blackwater source told The Nation that Prince intends to sell his company quickly, saying the ‘sale is going to be a fast move within a couple of months.’”

Journalist and national security correspondent for The Nation, Jeremy Scahill, appeared on “Democracy Now!” this morning for the entire program to discuss his project, Dirty Wars, which explores the United States’ global assassination program.

The project consists of a book and film. The book was released today. The film has been screening at film festivals and events around the country and the trailer for the film premiered on “Democracy Now!”.

Scahill spends the hour outlining in detail the life of US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was targeted and assassinated by a US drone strike in September 2011. He also discusses Anwar’s father, Nasser al-Awlaki, who mounted an effort to have evidence for why Anwar was placed on a “kill list” disclosed. Later in the program, he recounts the killng of Anwar’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who was born in Denver, Colorado, and the justifications and excuses the US government have uttered in relation to their deaths.

Senator Rand Paul took to the floor of the Senate on Wednesday to filibuster John Brennan’s nomination to the position of CIA chief. He decided to engage in a “talking” filibuster because he believed Attorney General Eric Holder had not given a clear and unequivocal answer to the question of whether a US citizen suspected of terrorism, who posed no immediate threat, could be killed by a drone strike on US soil.

Nobody doubts that Obama’s counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, who has been serving as an assassination czar developing a targeted killing program, will be confirmed to the position of CIA chief. In that sense, Jeremy Scahill was completely right to describe what the press and public saw yesterday during the confirmation hearing as “kabuki oversight.”