Antiwar.com

With Arkan Hamed BAGHDAD – The new clashes between Shia militiamen dressed in Iraqi military and police uniforms and resistance fighters and residents from the Sunni Adhamiya district of Baghdad have convinced many that what Baghdad is witnessing is no less than a civil war. For long now, some leaders from both Shia and Sunni … Continue reading “Baghdad Slipping Into Civil War”

When U.S. President George W. Bush breaks bread with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, for lunch at the White House Thursday, their diplomatic – if not their culinary – plates will almost certainly be full to overflowing. Given China’s astonishing ascent to global-power status over just the past decade, there is scarcely any issue in … Continue reading “Guest Hu Coming to Lunch”

As recognition of the defeat in Iraq spreads, so also does the process of sweeping up the debris. Both civilian observers and a few voices inside the military have begun the "lessons learned" business, trying to figure out what led to our defeat so that we do not repeat the same mistakes. That is the … Continue reading “Sweeping Up the Debris”

America’s Newest Strategic PartnerLots of talk at your site (Gordon Prather and others) about what a dumb nuclear deal Bush made with India. How it doesn’t safeguard anything since India’s military reactors are not part of the deal, only the “domestic” reactors are (the ones painted in pastels). So India gets the benefit of receiving … Continue reading “Backtalk, April 20, 2006”

Amid a new escalation in threats between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, some prominent Republicans are calling for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to engage Tehran in direct talks. At the same time, indications that Tehran may itself be hoping to engage Washington have been growing steadily, despite … Continue reading “Amid Threats, Some Republicans Seek Talks on Iran”

On Tuesday April 18, Chinese President Hu Jintao landed in the United States and, after a tour of a Boeing plant, made his official way, with all due pomp and ceremony, to the expectable “state banquet” in Washington… no, not at the White House but at the Washington State home of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. … Continue reading “Greeting Hu With
a 21-Gun ‘Salute’”

It’s odd that just as the tide turns irrevocably against the U.S. occupation of Iraq – both here and there – the otherwise steady Scott Ritter panics. He recently posted a harsh critique of the contemporary U.S. antiwar movement on his blog. In it, Ritter makes three main claims: (1) There is a “growing despondency” … Continue reading “Ritter Gets It Wrong”

"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiqués are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration … Continue reading “The Ongoing War on Truth in Iraq”

The drumbeat in some Washington foreign policy circles for "regime change" in Iran has striking similarities to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and is being led by some of the usual suspects – like the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Ledeen. Though not well-known outside of Washington, Ledeen’s "views virtually define the stark departure from … Continue reading “Iran War Drumbeat Has a Familiar Rhythm”

Review of Fools’ Crusade by Diana Johnstone 317 pages, Monthly Review Press, New York, 2002 Books that have accompanied the 1990s Balkans wars have by and large been complete rubbish. There were, to be fair, some works worth reading. Yet the Balkans tragedy was missing a book that would explain things in layman’s terms – … Continue reading “Birth of an Empire”