The Beatles’ First US Tour

On February 7, 1964 — exactly fifty years to the day after Charlie Chaplin unleashed the Little Tramp to conquer the world — the Beatles arrived in New York and the next British Invasion was officially launched.

Their first appearance was on the “Ed Sullivan Show” two days later, and their first US concert, at the Coliseum in Washington DC was on the 11th. A few more shows and they were back in England on the 22nd; just two weeks and the Beatle’s first US tour was over. But it sure left its mark.

Publicly Supporting Torturers

The US has always tended to the strong-man theory of governance outside the US itself. Let “democracy” be a useful but distant aim, but let’s have stability before freedom.  That’s how Mubarak, as the present example, has survived for so long.

But now, with Suleiman, the US is publicly supporting a person who’s only known background — and well-know at that — is as a torturer and a willing assistant to the US’s illegal rendition program where terrorism “suspects” were herded on CIA flights from one torturing regime to another.

With Suleiman there are no peace treaties to hide behind, no stable borders with Israel. Just torture.

Perhaps we should welcome this new transparency in American foreign policy?