Month: March 2004

“It all began when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, effectively ending the Cold War and prompting the Pentagon to undertake a search for a new set of principles, in part to prevent Congress, then controlled by the Democrats, from slashing the defense budget. The key participants were Cheney, Wolfowitz and Colin Powell … Continue reading “Was It All Planned? Iraq and Empire-Builders”

The events in Madrid should be proof enough that Australia has no choice but to follow Washington – George Washington, that is. In 1796, George Washington penned his farewell address in which he expressed what was known as the “Golden Rule” of American foreign policy. At the time, Europe was the America of today: powerful, … Continue reading “Australia Must Follow Washington”

Last week’s organized campaign of ethnic violence aimed at Kosovo’s Serbs petered off Saturday, with the arrival of NATO reinforcements and announcements they were prepared to shoot to kill. Diplomatic and media attacks continued, though, and the spin machine honed over the years to justify the illegal occupation of this Serbian province is hard at … Continue reading “Rummaging Through the Ashes”

In 1991, the U.S. imposed an arms embargo on Haiti, which included the police force. Now the Haitian police chief is reasonably concerned that the police will not be able to control the extremely turbulent situation in that country without adequate weaponry. And in the meantime, what the hell is the U.S.-led coalition force doing? … Continue reading “To the Garbage Cleaners Go the Spoils”

“They will never give the full story” – that’s what former Senator Max Cleland, who resigned from the 9/11 Commission in protest over White House stonewalling, said to Amy Goodman on the “Democracy Now” radio program. But of course not. The Bushies would just as soon commit collective suicide. Just as we had to find … Continue reading “9/11 Revisionism”

On the day after his nineteenth birthday in 1966, my father received his commission as an officer in the same North Carolina National Guard unit that took his father to Europe in World War Two. By 1969, having left the Guard, Dad was in Vietnam with the Fourth Infantry Division for the first of his … Continue reading “The Antiwar Movement in a Military Town”

Kosovo Burning Must agree with you. Have listened to BBC reports and also our local commercial and state-funded media reports, and the blatant ignoring of reality of the situation so that their little Albanian buddies are absolved of their crimes is nauseating. Thanks for your information. ~ Jim Rendevski, Melb, Australia Nebojsa Malic replies: Thank … Continue reading “”

David R. Sands makes excellent points about the connection between Ariel Sharon’s murder of Shaikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday and the security of Americans in Iraq and elsewhere. (I use the word “murder” to refer to extra-judicial killing outside the framework of conventional war between states). Sands points out that Iraqis in the north and … Continue reading “Israel’s Killing of Yassin Endangers Americans in Iraq and Elsewhere”

The Bush administration believes that habeas corpus is a luxury that the US cannot afford in its war against terror. Habeas corpus is the legal principle that is the foundation of Anglo-American freedom. It prevents the government from picking up a person and holding him indefinitely without charge. Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were not … Continue reading “Terror War’s Legal Cost”

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s major surprise this week – making Pakistan a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally of Washington – was greeted with enthusiasm in Islamabad, but with stony silence here in New Delhi. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri exulted that with the new status, relations between Washington and Islamabad … Continue reading “Pakistan’s Reward Could Turn Into Liability”