Month: June 2004

Rafah, Jenin, Khan Yunis, Zeitun: Foreign-sounding names of so distanced and disturbing a reality. All that we know of them is what the media have selectively determined to impart, if we are interested to hear the story. The Rafah refugee camp, a small strip of land at the southern edge of Gaza was the target … Continue reading “Celebrating Life in Rafah”

It had to happen, sooner or later, or else the irony would not be complete: news has emerged this week that oil has been discovered in Bosnia. Granted, the find is nowhere near as big as the Middle Eastern fields, but given the precious liquid’s current paucity in the world, chances are it will be … Continue reading “Once More, With Irony”

While Iraqi and American political players have been frenetically rearranging the chairs of interim government members on the Titanic that is occupied Iraq today, a massive car bomb explosion rumbles my hotel, miles from where it detonated outside of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan building near the so-called Green Zone. So rather than celebratory gunfire … Continue reading “New President, New Car Bomb”

TEHRAN (IPS) – While foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi has rejected claims that Iran received highly classified U.S. intelligence from Ahmad Chalabi, other government officials and the hardline newspapers that support them have remained largely silent on the allegations Washington has leveled against its former top Iraqi ally. The various mouthpieces of Supreme Leader … Continue reading “Despite US Backlash, Chalabi Still a ‘Kingmaker’”

CAIRO (IPS) – Egypt has presented a security initiative to support an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but wants to avoid being drawn into a “security trap.” The initiative calls for a bilateral ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis, and the resumption of negotiations aimed at implementing the stalled roadmap peace plan. Egypt … Continue reading “Egypt Eager to Help Israel Out of Gaza”

Last Wednesday it was Attorney General John Ashcroft – joined Friday by me-too Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge – claiming that “credible intelligence from multiple sources indicates that al-Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States” between now and the November election. If “credible intelligence” sounds to you like protesting too much, there … Continue reading “Beware of ‘Credible Intelligence’”

Recorded May 22, 2004 A “Philip Dru” interview with Lt. Col. (ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski spent her final four and a half years in uniform working at the Pentagon, where she was privy to much neoconservative chicanery in the run-up to war. She writes for LewRockwell.com WMV format (requires Windows Media Player) MP3 format (download … Continue reading “An Insider’s Look at the March to War”

The Editors have become concerned at the reporting in these pages over the last year. Accordingly, we have undertaken a painstaking review of all stories and reporting of the Emperor over the past 12 months. As other events have shown, we believe our dedication to the truth and – when necessary – cleaning our own … Continue reading “The Emperor May Have Had Fewer Clothes Than Originally Reported”

In detailing “the conservative crack-up” over the Iraq war, E. J. Dionne writes: “The isolationist conservatives around Pat Buchanan cannot understand why we went to war in the first place – and they opposed it from the beginning. These conservatives speak explicitly about the ‘costs of empire,’ much as the left does. They argue that … Continue reading “The Neocons’ War”

Fourteen months after reaching the zenith of their influence on U.S. foreign policy with the invasion of Iraq, neoconservatives appear to have fallen entirely out of favor, both within the administration of President George W. Bush and in Baghdad itself. The signs of their defeat at the hands of both reality and the so-called “realists,” … Continue reading “Neocon Collapse in Washington and Baghdad”