Month: September 2004

The Bush administration’s three-year "war on terrorism" has amounted to a "major failure of leadership and makes Americans more vulnerable rather than more secure," according to a new report by Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF), a network of mainly progressive policy and security analysts. The report, "A Secure America in a Secure World," concludes that … Continue reading “‘Realist’ Group: War on Terror a Failure”

NAIROBI – Sudan’s government has launched a scathing attack on the United States, accusing it of spearheading a campaign to have the United Nations apply sanctions against Khartoum over the crisis in Darfur. "The question of sanctions will be the continuity of unfair actions of the U.S., such as what it has done to Iraq," … Continue reading “Sudan’s Govt Lashes Out at US Over Possible Sanctions”

TomPaine.com blogger Robert Dreyfuss talks with Scott Horton about the Israeli spy scandal and the neoconservatives behind it. Interview conducted Sept. 4, 2004. Listen to Streaming Audio Download MP3 Robert Dreyfuss is a freelance writer based in Alexandria, Virginia, who specializes in politics and national security issues. He is a contributing editor at The Nation, … Continue reading “Spy vs. Spy, at Your Expense”

GENEVA – The stalemate continues in the Conference on Disarmament (CD), which for the eighth year in a row ended its annual sessions this week without reaching an agreement on a working program among its 66 member states. The CD works by consensus, which means it cannot undertake new work without the agreement of all … Continue reading “Eight-Year UN Disarmament Stalemate Continues”

The third anniversary of 9/11 reveals nothing but our continued ignorance of the circumstances surrounding that event, which seems ever more shrouded in mystery. This in spite of the plethora of official reports, issued by the Senate, various congressional committees, and an official U.S. government commission devoted to the subject, which held public hearings, and … Continue reading “Ghosts of 9/11”

It may not have been obvious in the beginning, when the smoldering ruins of the Towers in New York and the burning ring of the Pentagon loomed large in people’s minds, but the war that followed Black Tuesday three years ago was doomed from the start. For a brief moment, there was a historic opportunity … Continue reading “The War God’s Own”

Pat Buchanan spoke with Bill Maher on Sept. 3 about Iraq and the "War on Terror." The following is a transcript from Real Time With Bill Maher. MAHER: First of all, if Osama bin Laden was captured and killed today, it would have the same effect on terrorism as Ray Kroc had dying for McDonald’s. … Continue reading “Terrorism Is the Price of Empire”

This afternoon I learned that my friends, Raad and Simona, were abducted (along with another Iraqi and another Italian) from their Bridges to Baghdad office in Baghdad. This did not come as quite the shock it might have because recently Raad had emailed our mutual friend Cynthia that their office had just been shelled (fortunately … Continue reading “A Plea for the Abducted”

ROME – Without being exactly encouraging, the Italian peace movement had been sympathetic toward the resistance in Iraq. Not any more. The Stop the War coalition, which brings together several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is still calling for "withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq." It wants to "avoid leaving the Iraqi people alone under the … Continue reading “Italian Sympathy for Iraqi Resistance Dwindles”

Adding their voice to a steadily growing clamor, eight retired generals and admirals have called on President George W. Bush to appoint a bipartisan, independent commission to conduct a comprehensive investigation of U.S. detention and interrogation practices in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. In a letter to Bush, the former flag officers, most of whom reached … Continue reading “Retired Brass Call for Independent Torture Probe”