With the scandal over the abuse of prisoners in U.S. military custody in Iraq still growing, the administration of President George W. Bush appears to be shaken to its very core. While the immediate question is whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could be...
Life Imitates a Bad Porno Flick
All I can think of is that Tom Cruise line from The Color of Money: "It's like a nightmare, isn't it? It just gets worse and worse." And we may only be getting started: HERSH: This kind of stuff was much more widespread. I can tell you just from the phone calls I've...
Dying for an Exit Strategy
Wouldn't it be ironic if the current imperial venture I'm not so naive as to suppose our neocon buddies don't have more ventures in mind for your children and mine, and note that even as Iraq blows up the United States is stirring the pot in Cuba, planning to...
US Prison Labor: Another Cog in the War Machine
It's Saturday morning, May 1, 2004, and women here at Pekin Federal Prison Camp who watched CNN news feel indignant about the way Iraqi prisoners have been treated by US military guards. "Did you see those pictures?" Ruth asked. What in the world is going on...
Bush Tightens Cuba Embargo
Six months before an election in which the state of Florida may again play a decisive role, U.S. President George W Bush on Thursday announced new measures to tighten the 44-year-old US embargo on Cuba and hasten what he called "democratic change" on the Caribbean...
Iraq’s ‘Ali Baba’ Police
Along with an increase in temperatures here in Baghdad, there is an accompanying increase in tempers where the unfulfilled promises made by the U.S. to rebuild and rehabilitate Iraq are coming more into focus with each passing day. Daily life is a struggle for most...
This War and Racism Media Denial in Overdrive
Among the millions of words that have appeared in the U.S. press since late April about abuse and torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, one has been notably missing: Racism. Overall, when it comes to racial aspects, the news coverage is quite PC as in...
The S&M War
The pictures just keep coming at us: the latest batch of Iraqi humiliation photos appeared this [Thursday] morning in the Washington Post, along with a story revealing that the newspaper has come into possession of "more than 1,000" images, a mix of ordinary...
No Apology from Bush for Abusive Troops
The Administration, camera-shy over the last few days, was doing heavy-duty damage control Wednesday in Washington and Baghdad. US President George W. Bush went on Arab language satellite television stations on Wednesday to try to quench smoldering international anger...
Afghanistan Starting to Look Like Iraq
The growing instability in Afghanistan a country under virtual military occupation by U.S. and other western forces has been overshadowed by news of the escalating violence, torture and killings in U.S.-administered Iraq. But analysts who closely monitor...


