Cover Story: The Lie Factory
By Robert Dreyfuss & Jason Vest
A Mother Jones special report on the secret Pentagon unit of neoconservative hawks who cherry-picked the Bush administration’s case for invading Iraq

______
FEATURES

The Soul of the New Machine
By Michael Scherer
Grover Norquist is out to gut the federal government—to chop it in half and “drown it in the bathtub.” He couldn’t be more serious, and as leader of the most influential coalition in Washington, he has a knack for getting his way.

Gods and Monsters
By Mark Dowie
Genetically mix a human with a monkey?
With a sheep? With a rat? Dr. Stuart Newman says such technology already exists—and he’s fighting for a U.S. patent to make sure it’s never used.

Soldiers in a Forgotten War
Photographs by Tim Hetherington
Text By Daniel Bergner
When rebel troops drove dictator Charles Taylor into exile, Liberia briefly hit the nightly news. But what happens next in a country the world would just as soon forget?

Anatomy of a Whistleblower
By Laurie Abraham
Jesselyn Radack’s tale of being persecuted by the Justice Department is a lesson in what happens to people who feel compelled to “commit the truth.”

Against All Odds
By Adam Hochschild
The extraordinary legacy of the hopelessly idealistic, “absolutely unprecedented” campaign to abolish slavery in the British Empire

______
DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s Note
Masthead
Contributors
Backtalk

OUTFRONT
Two years and counting on Guantanamo; New Mexico’s nuclear pit stop; an all-American tax dodger; still hormone free and not cowed by Monsanto; plus librarian Trina Magi’s patriot acts

EXHIBIT
They were what they ate.

PUBLIC DOMAIN
Battling Bush: The Fight Plan
By George Packer
How to hit Bush early and often: a political memo ripe for the leaking

THE SLANT
Besting the Best-Sellers
By Ian Frazier
No, wait! I’ve got it. This is gonna be the best best-seller—ever.

EXPOSURE
Lords of the Ring
Photograph By Sye Williams
Chips off “The Rock”

MEDIA JONES
Douglas Brinkley on Kevin Phillips’ stark portrait of the Bush dynasty; Coldplay’s Chris Martin on fair trade and the perils of rock-star activism; plus more book, music, and film reviews

REACTION
Resources for getting involved

P.S.
Next Season’s Reality TV Shows
Cartoon by David Fullarton