One year after invading U.S. and British forces consolidated their control over Iraq, the administration of President George W. Bush appears to be back at Square One, if not in negative territory, over how to ensure that control in the short to medium term. The...
The Basic Flaw in Neoconservatism
The basic flaw in the neoconservative ideology is that democracy cannot be imposed on other people at the point of a gun. Furthermore, if neoconservatives came from an American tradition rather than a Trotskyite tradition, they would understand that America itself is...
The Release of Mordechai Vanunu and US Role in Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal
The recent release on April 22 of Mordechai Vanunu from an Israeli prison provides an opportunity to challenge the US policy of supporting Israel's development of nuclear weapons while threatening war against other Middle Eastern states for simply having the potential...
Country Joe Band, 2004: ‘Uncle Sam Needs Your Help Again’
Taking the stage at a community center in the small Northern California town of Bolinas, a group of four musicians quickly showed themselves to be returning as a vibrant creative force centered very much in the present. Not that the music of Country Joe and the Fish...
The Real Lessons of 9/11
We are constantly admonished to remember the lessons of 9/11. Of course the real issue is not remembering, but rather knowing what the pertinent lesson of that sad day is. The 9/11 Commission soon will release its report after months of fanfare by those whose...
The Guantanamo Camps: a Mistake Repeated
Missing from the debate over the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are the lessons of this country's only previous attempt to imprison foreign suspected subversives, captured overseas, in special camps beyond the reach of the courts. Then, as now, casting aside...
Cuba Backs Down Over Guantánamo Challenge to US
The situation of the detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo has been taboo for the United Nations human rights system, but particularly since Cuba decided Thursday not to pursue its moderately worded resolution against the United States. Cuba's ambassador Iván...
Iraq Rationales Getting Weaker (If That Is Possible)
I keep thinking that sooner or later a cumulative effect will kick in and the American people will succumb to the evidence that the rationales for the Iraqi war and its still-bloodier-than-expected aftermath were the fantastical and thoroughly unjustified. True, the...
Majority Still Believe in Iraq’s WMD, al-Qaeda Ties
U.S. public perceptions about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al-Qaeda and stocks of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) continues to lag far behind the testimony of experts, boosting chances that President George W Bush will be reelected,...
Going Back Where They Came From
"If we have to make common cause with the more hawkish liberals and fight the conservatives, that is fine with me," William Kristol has told the New York Times. The Weekly Standard editor added that the neoconservatives may just abandon the Right altogether and...