Once upon a time, “homeland” was a word of little significance in the American context. What American before 9/11 would have called the United States his or her “homeland” rather than “country”? Who sang “My homeland, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty”? Between my birth in 1944, as World War II was drawing to …
Continue reading “The Shadowy Boondoggle That Is ‘Homeland Security’”
Secretary of State John Kerry has long urged increased US support for Syria’s Islamist rebels, and now he has his wish: shortly after being confirmed, he announced the US would now directly aid rebel groups, rather than "indirectly," as we’ve supposedly been doing. Not only that, but the definition of "non-lethal" aid is being stretched …
Continue reading “The Syrian Back Door to War With Iran”
For two decades, the Atlantic Empire and its European satellites have claimed to have reached the end of history, bombing or blockading anyone who dared disagree. Certain of their own invincibility, they’ve treated reality with contempt, and scoffed at Canute’s lesson as something that did not apply to them. They think they can command the …
Continue reading “Commanding the Tides”
t least 34 people were killed and 70 more were wounded in a string of attacks. The most significant violence took place in the capital and in towns south of Baghdad.
Like many habitues of antiwar.com, I generally do not find much time for sitting down and reading a book since I have become accustomed to obtaining most of my information in easily digestible bites over the internet. This year for Christmas I received a copy of The Outpost by ABC’s White House correspondent Jake Tapper, …
Continue reading “The Outpost”
In Falluja, the body of a beheaded teenager was discoverd. Gunmen killed a policeman. A bomb wounded two civilians in Zuba’. In Mosul, gunmen killed a human resources manager. A bomb wounded a man who works for the Appeals Court as a driver. A bomb blast at a market in Baghdad left two wounded. No …
Continue reading “Three Killed, Five Wounded in Quiet Day in Iraq”
The United States and Saudi Arabia appear to be ramping up aid to the Syrian rebels. Here we go again on the road to debacle. Why? The media never holds anybody to either their predictions or their results–officeholders, politicians, and of course their own pundits. And it’s a good thing for people like Bill Kristol, …
Continue reading “Hold US Policymakers to Their Abysmal Record on Foreign Meddling”
A recent poll showed most Americans didn’t know enough about Chuck Hagel to have an opinion on his confirmation as Secretary of Defense. You’d never know that, however, with all the drama emanating from Washington on the subject. So did all that sound and fury signify nothing? What seems like an inside-baseball brouhaha actually maps …
Continue reading “What Was That All About?”
On the eve of resumed talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany) in Almaty, Kazakhstan over its nuclear program, two former hostages of the U.S. embassy takeover in Tehran argued that the aura of mistrust that has dogged relations for decades must be addressed. “The ghosts of 1979 …
Continue reading “Former Hostages Call for Broadened Dialogue with Iran”
At least 15 people were killed and 26 more were wounded in violence that focused on restive Diyala province.
