Al-Hayat reports that the Interim Governing Council (IGC) is rejecting any role for the United Nations in overseeing Iraqi elections save that of “help and consultation). Iraqi National Congress spokesman Intifadh Qanbar said that the UN delegation was told by the IGC that elections would have to be a purely Iraqi affair, that Iraqis would …
Continue reading “Iraqi Council Bars UN from Overseeing Elections”
Suicide bombers, pitched battles, and a massive police mobilization over the past three days have thrust the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan into the headlines – and demonstrated why our endless “war on terrorism” is doomed to not only fail, but to create the sort of “blowback” that is a windfall for America’s enemies. Uzbekistan …
Continue reading “Getting Ugly in Uzbekistan”
Tuesday’s White House decision to permit National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly under oath before the so-called 9/11 Commission marks an unusual reversal by an administration that has fiercely resisted taking any moves that suggests it is capable of making mistakes. It also signals recognition by President George W. Bush’s political handlers that …
Continue reading “Clarke, Watergate Echoes Prompt Rare Bush Reversal”
Both the ferocity of the White House attacks and his lionization by the liberal press testify: Richard Clarke has drawn blood. The former counter-terrorism chief seeks to dynamite the central pillar of the Bush presidency: that the president has bravely and brilliantly led us in the War on Terror and that the war on Iraq …
Continue reading “The Defector”
In finally accepting the 9/11 Commission’s request for public testimony under oath from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the White House was not the one that flinched. It was the 9/11 Commission. The fine print of the deal takes the chance of the commission taking sworn public testimony from any other White House official – …
Continue reading “Is Fix in at 9/11 Commission?”
Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to a speech made by a member of a top-level White House intelligence group. IPS uncovered the remarks by Philip Zelikow, who is now the executive …
Continue reading “9/11 Commission Director: Iraq War Launched to Protect Israel”
About two weeks ago, the world’s attention suddenly turned to a dramatic battle in Pakistan. The Pakistani Army, we were told, had trapped a large force of al Qaeda, including a "high-value target," possibly Ayman Zawahiri. The Pakistanis brought in artillery and air power. The fate of the al Qaeda fighters was sealed. Then the …
Continue reading “Pakistan: The Battle That Wasn’t”
http://www.independent.org/tii/antiwar/e040330.html
Contrary to President Bush, it is clear that Saddam Hussein posed no “grave and gathering threat” to the U.S. However much a monster he may have been, he possessed no weapons of mass destruction. Due to the severe regime of UN sanctions and weapons investigations, he had long since been effectively defanged. One year after …
Continue reading “Occupational Hazards: Iraq One Year Later”
Forgive this quote, but it’s eloquent and wonderfully apt today with respect to Iraq: The man of system…is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it. …
Continue reading “The Education of Fred Barnes” 
