Month: March 2004

My fellow Americans, I’m angry. My blood started bubbling when I read that our government is still paying $340,000 per month to Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi, who calls himself a “hero in error” for spreading distortions that midwifed a war, is pulling down four million a year? Outrageous! After all, the economy’s … Continue reading “Come on Down to the Intelligence Blowout Sale!”

It is a key to winning any war that one knows the nature of their opponent. However, from the moment the planes hit the World Trade Center, the United States government has not only made no meaningful effort to understand the nature of its enemy but has sought to obfuscate any understanding of the causes … Continue reading “America’s Financial War on Terror: Fighting for Failure”

An interview conducted by Saul Landau on “Hot Talk” radio Cal Poly Pomona. Check out his other interviews. High Bandwidth (DSL or Cable modem): Low Bandwidth (dial-up modem):Leila Farsakh, a Palestinian political economist, is a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University and research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of … Continue reading “The Deteriorating Political Economy of Palestine”

Last month, Judge G. Mallon Faircloth sentenced me to three months in prison for participating in a November, 2003 peaceful protest, organized by the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), at Fort Benning, GA. During three days of trial, 27 activists offered moving testimony about why they carried crosses and coffins onto the base. Defendants … Continue reading “The Further Invention of Nonviolence”

More than two million people defied the cold and the heavy rain in the Spanish capital Friday, and millions of others came out in the streets all around the country to protest the terrorist attacks on commuter trains in Madrid that left 199 dead and 1,463 injured Thursday. The demonstrations, which drew as many as … Continue reading “12 Million March in Spain Against Terrorism”

Southeast Asian regimes known for their human rights violations are receiving a reminder here of how close the US government is to marching in their step, including having the habit of detaining without trial people deemed to be national security threats. On Friday, a senior US official appealed for more global understanding about a this … Continue reading “On Rights, US Government Not Too Far from Asian Regimes”

Washington’s policymakers might believe they have scored a diplomatic coup of sorts in South Asia by reportedly reaching a deal with Pakistan to allow US troops to be deployed in Pakistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden. This deal with Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is supposedly in return for the pardon that Musharraf gave … Continue reading “US Move Is Bad News for South Asian Security”

As I was finishing a piece for the Orange County Register on Iraq a year after hostilities began (if you’re interested it should be available on the Register web site) on Sunday morning, or maybe even on Saturday if they post earlier) I got to thinking about some of the more fundamental problems that make … Continue reading “Middle East: More Fundamental Problems”

The U.S.-backed government in Kabul is facing large-scale desertions by western-trained local security forces as it tries to establish a safe environment in the run-up to scheduled June elections. The success of the upcoming vote has been predicated primarily on the creation of a 10,000-strong Afghan National Army (ANA) and a 20,000-strong police force, both … Continue reading “Army Desertions Complicate Afghan Election Plans”

A cornered rat will fight to the death, squealing and clawing and baring its yellowed fangs – just like Max Boot in today’s (Thursday’s) Los Angeles Times, who lashes out at war opponents with rat-like ferocity. He doesn’t say they’re wrong, he doesn’t dispute the facts: instead, he employs a time-honored device straight out of … Continue reading “Inside the War Party”