The first time they allowed Brandon Mayfield any visitors, he reached out toward the heavy glass partition and spoke into the telephone, trying to reassure his wife and mother: "Even after the FBI had searched his house, carried away belongings and confiscated credit...
Washington Pushes Freedom – But Not for Al-Jazeera
When the U.S. state department shyly released a human rights report two weeks ago amidst an international outcry over U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners, it slipped in some tough talk on media freedom – against the practice, not for it as would be expected....
Sadr’s Militia Grows
While U.S. troops continue to damage mosques in heavy fighting against resistance forces they say are holed up in holy sites of Kufa and Kerbala, men in the Sadr City area of Baghdad rushed yesterday to join the Mehdi Army, a militia force loyal to rebel cleric...
Report: US Needed 500,000 Troops to Pacify Iraq
Iraq could be heading for a far worse situation in weeks ahead, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) warns in its annual report published Tuesday. The IISS, one of the world's leading institutions for strategic relations, paints a bleak picture for...
Green Card Recruits Get a Raw Deal
The U.S. government says Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia is nothing more than a deserter who disobeyed direct orders to return to his army unit in Iraq. Mejia does not deny that he refused to go back. He says he witnessed abuse and mistreatment of prisoners at a detention...
Psyops In Fourth Generation War
I recently received an invitation to speak at a conference at Ft. Bragg on psychological operations, or psyops. Regrettably, a schedule conflict prevented me from accepting, but the invitation got me thinking: what are psyops in Fourth Generation war (4GW)? It is...
Escalation vs. Exit: The Costs of Both
"Nitwit pundits and Sunday morning television sages, with that faked look of thoughtfulness which is their trademark, talk about an exit strategy – as if it were just one more Mapquest printout. But any such exit strategy will lead us only on a short path to...
Motives for 9/11 I didn’t "get" September 11. It was worthy of a Hollywood summer blockbuster in terms of spectacle, and had immense symbolic value, but I was never sure exactly what bin Laden was up to. .... I had to start from the premise that bin...
Who is Stephen Cambone?
Stephen Cambone, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's right-hand man, was for the first time caught in the glare of media attention as part of the congressional inquiry into Iraq prison abuses. Under sharp questioning by a few senators on May 11, 2004, Cambone...
Bush Offers Nothing New Except Prison
Launching a new effort to stem the plummeting loss in public confidence in his Iraq policy, U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his commitment to bringing "freedom" and self-government to Baghdad and warned that US failure will "only mark the...