KABUL — On Oct. 24, two days before Eid, an opinion piece published in the elite U.S. journal Foreign Policy extolled the fact that U.S. forces are winning in Afghanistan, adding, “Why hsn’t the media noticed?” In the article, the author suggests that Taliban forces are so decimated and demoralized that they have been resigned …
Continue reading “Eid ‘Sensations’”
Many Americans are rightly disgusted by the non-choice they are offered in the presidential race every four years. This year is no different despite the serious problems that the United States faces at home and abroad. Mitt Romney has no actual plan to fix the economy, and the record of President Barack Obama over the …
Continue reading “The Bombs-Away Election”
At least seven Iraqis were killed and four were wounded in light violence.
“Mirwais, son of Hayatullah Haideri. He was 1½ years old and had just started to learn how to walk, holding unsteadily to the poles of the family tent before flopping onto the frozen razorbacks of the muddy floor. “Abdul Hadi, son of Abdul Ghani. He was not even a year old and was already trying …
Continue reading “Survival and Dignity in an Afghan Winter”
Failure and unintended consequences: these are often hallmarks of U.S. military interventions. Who could have imagined, for instance, that forcing open the Kingdom of Japan at the point of U.S. Navy guns would eventually lead to bombs falling on ships from that same navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii? Or who could have foreseen that attempting …
Continue reading “Ignoring American Decline”
More than 11 years after the 9/11 attacks, the American public is still barraged with sensational media coverage of the occasional uncovering of a terrorist plot. Many of these are so-called sting operations, which, rather than saving America from significant destruction from terror attacks, have the primary effect of showing off to the public how …
Continue reading “Sumptuous Counterterrorism Spending Must End”
The setup and railroading of Mansoor Arbabsiar, a mentally ill Iranian emigrant, in the alleged “terror plot” to kill the Saudi ambassador was completed last week when he entered a guilty plea. The 57-year-old Iranian-American, a naturalized citizen, was charged with plotting to bomb the Café Milano, in Washington DC, a favorite haunt of diplomats …
Continue reading “The Fall Guy”
Violence subsided dramatically, but at least five people were killed and seven more were wounded. Among them were two insurgent leaders.
When the Bush-Cheney administration was in power, Dick Cheney tried hard to find an excuse for military attacks on Iran. After all, according to Gen. Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000, Cheney and other hawks had plans for attacking and destroying seven countries in the Middle East and …
Continue reading “Israel Lobby Calls for an ‘Iranian Pearl Harbor’”
In 1998, the Defense Department vetoed a delegation of prominent U.S. nuclear specialists to go to Iran to investigate its nuclear program at the invitation of the government of newly-elected Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, according to the nuclear scientist who was organizing the mission. The Pentagon objected to the delegation’s mission even though it was …
Continue reading “Pentagon Nixed 1998 US Nuclear Scientists’ Probe of Iranian Program” 
