Month: April 2004

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 problem, however, is that the administration lacks any comprehensive strategy … Continue reading “US Starting From Square One in Iraq, One Year Later”

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 not a democracy. Benjamin Franklin emerged from the Constitutional Convention and a lady … Continue reading “The Basic Flaw in Neoconservatism”

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 for developing such weaponry. Vanunu, a nuclear technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant, passed … Continue reading “The Release of Mordechai Vanunu and US Role in Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal”

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 ever really disappeared. Since the release of the … Continue reading “Country Joe Band, 2004: ‘Uncle Sam Needs Your Help Again’”

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 reputations are at stake. The many hours and dollars spent … Continue reading “The Real Lessons of 9/11”

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 legal principles led to injustices while weakening support for the United States … Continue reading “The Guantanamo Camps: a Mistake Repeated”

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 Mora Godoy told the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that his country was … Continue reading “Cuba Backs Down Over Guantánamo Challenge to US”

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 enthusiasts are still out there (in more ways than one), but their case keeps … Continue reading “Iraq Rationales Getting Weaker (If That Is Possible)”

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, according to a survey and analysis released Thursday. Despite statements by such officials as the … Continue reading “Majority Still Believe in Iraq’s WMD, al-Qaeda Ties”

“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 convert to neo-liberalism. Alluding to his father Irving’s definition of a … Continue reading “Going Back Where They Came From”