Passing the Buck in Iraq

The allegations of prisoner torture by our troops in Iraq are disturbing, and clearly drastic action must be taken to ensure such conduct stops immediately. But why are we condemning a small group of low-level reservists when we do not yet know the full story? As...

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To Neocons, Reality Is ‘Treason’

President Bush learned about the US torture of Iraqi detainees the same way you did – from TV news – compelling evidence that Bush has been manipulated by VP Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the neocon warmongers. And you thought President Bush was in...

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Some Settlers Only Settle In Some More

On a barren hilltop in the Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood Abu Dis, a gap of several hundred meters interrupts the wall Israel is building in the city. The grey concrete elements come to a stop just before a property with Israeli flags, armed guards and a...

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Abu Ghraib Defendants: Pawns in a Game

The court martial of Army reservist Jeremy Sivits for his alleged role in the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison is scheduled to start on May 19. The folks back home in Hyndman, Pennsylvania, however, are skeptical: "Despite the graphic photos of prisoners...

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China and Islam in the Northwest Chinese Region

Kingdoms have risen and fallen in China's Xinjiang region for the past 2000 years. In the early 20th century, foreign archaeologists were surprised and delighted to find Muslim communities built upon Tang dynasty ruins built upon Tibetan villages built upon Han forts...

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Big Talk

Where I grew up, the code of the hills says (among many other things) to never talk a bigger game than you are prepared to play. The United States has done this twice in Iraq and now has egg on its face that no amount of Washington spin can clean off. Example No. 1 is...

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Perhaps Not So Exceptional After All

To understand the impact in the United States of the photos of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners, it is necessary to recall what then-Secretary of State Elihu Root said in 1899, as the country first emerged as a global power in the Spanish-American War....

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‘We Will Fight Them Again!’

An older Iraqi man is wailing near the grave of a loved one in the dusty heat of a football stadium converted into a cemetery. Between wails he raises his fist and yells, "Allahu akbar!" (God is great). We wait outside until he slowly exits the new cemetery...

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