Rebuilding Iraq: ‘Somebody Has to Do It’

While billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been awarded in lucrative contracts to companies such as Bechtel and Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), there are few signs that any reconstruction has actually taken place in war-torn Iraq. The...

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Intel Bill No Win for Rights

NEW YORK - Many of the more draconian provisions affecting privacy, secrecy, and asylum-seekers originally included in Congress' intelligence reform bill passed this week were omitted in the law's final version. But the agreed compromise still contains language that...

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Tillman’s True Tragedy

Although I had some thoughts at the time, I thought it would be churlish to question the decision of Pat Tillman, in his fourth year as a linebacker for the NFL Arizona Cardinals, with a $3.6 million contract, to give up professional sports and enlist in the Army...

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Rebellion in the Ranks

It was a Maalox moment for Donald Rumsfeld. At a forum held with U.S. troops in Kuwait who are headed to Iraq, the barrage of friendly fire soon scored a direct hit when a scout with the Tennessee National Guard, one Specialist Thomas Wilson, rose, and, his voice...

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Backtalk, December 11, 2004

Feeding the Iraq Moloch ... There is no excuse for government's paying for innocent hostages. Killing innocents will isolate the terrorists to the support of immoral people. The exchange of hostages is only reasonable if all are combatants. As long as we release their...

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US Attacks Global Court as GIs Sanctioned

The United States is poised to punish some of its closest friends overseas for supporting the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a growing number of its soldiers are being sanctioned for abusing prisoners in the "war on terrorism," said U.S. human rights...

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Something Rotten in the State of Ukraine

One of the advantages of writing anonymous editorials is that you can wantonly spew forth bile without worrying about anyone pointing the finger at you individually. In the Dec. 2 issue of the pro-Yushchenko English-language Kyiv Post newspaper, an editorial entitled...

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Bush Gets Weak Intel Reform – Barely

While opinions are divided over whether the revamp of the U.S. intelligence community laid out in the compromise bill just approved by Congress will improve the performance of the relevant agencies, there is little doubt that the failure of President George W. Bush to...

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US Hypocrisy on Ukraine

President Bush said last week that, "Any election [in Ukraine], if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence." I agree with the president wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, it seems that several U.S. government agencies saw things differently and sent U.S....

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