Month: July 2004

Somebody ought to tell President George Bush something he obviously doesn’t know. He keeps talking about wanting democracy in the Middle East and reform in general as an antidote to extremism. What apparently his staff members have not told him, probably because they themselves don’t know, is that most of the reformers in the Middle … Continue reading “Islamic Democrats”

Come payday a crew of us head toward Chengdu’s Computer City and stroll past a riot of electronics and dance groups touting their goods to techno beats. Underemployed and bored locals gather with migrant workers and stare at the computers and dancers. We continue on and enter an older building with a rickety elevator. A … Continue reading “In Defense of Piracy”

How are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan going? Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to look at what is happening in Saudi Arabia. Until about a year ago, Saudi Arabia was one of the safest countries on earth. Crime was rare, and everyone, including Americans, was secure almost anywhere in the … Continue reading “Iraq: A Failure Without Borders”

JERUSALEM – The security wall Israel is building around Jerusalem is raising concerns among Palestinians about their future and where they belong. The wall is firming up Israeli control in areas it occupied after the 1967 war. Up until then Israel had more or less clear control of territory in west Jerusalem within a border … Continue reading “Palestinians Walled In, and Walled Out”

There is certainly some justification for being less than completely satisfied, as Elaine Cassel certainly is, with the Supreme Court’s decisions this week on people detained without trial or access to friends, family or lawyers by the Bush administration, notably Jose Padilla, Yaser Esam Hamdi and the 600 or so foreign fighters held in the … Continue reading “Restoring Some Balance”

The cliché about bad news – “it never rains but it pours” – was in full view the week of June 20. And the forecast is for more of the same for the foreseeable future. The proverbial torrents in question were the documents and statistics made public by the Bush administration as it tried to … Continue reading “A Deluge of Bad Advice and Statistics”

BAGHDAD – On what was to have been the day of the handover of sovereignty back to the Iraqi government, another symbolic handover took place. The U.S. army formally transferred Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein to the legal custody of the new government. “I know just what I want done to Saddam,” says Hamid Faraj … Continue reading “Saddam Dragged to His Past”

Page one and page two But How Could She Have Been Hired? CD: Why was she allowed to stay, and keep her security clearance? Were they trying to protect someone higher up? SE: I don’t know. Is it possible? Yes. But I just don’t know. But at the unclassified meeting between the senators and FBI … Continue reading “An Interview with Sibel Edmonds”

Page one Incompetence, Corruption and Cover-ups: The Kevin Taskasen Affair CD: In your October 25 2002 interview with 60 Minutes, “Lost in Translation,” you charged the FBI with incompetence and greed – and also of allowing infiltration by foreign intelligence outfits. Some of these charges have also been substantiated by other sources, both congressional and … Continue reading “An Interview with Sibel Edmonds”