Month: January 2005

The International Crisis Group – ICG for short (though they’ve recently decided to shun the acronym) – has long been a player on the Balkans scene, deployed first as rhetorical support for the Clinton regime’s interventions, then as a pressure group to ensure the preservation of their pet policies under the reign of Bush II. … Continue reading “The ICG Strikes Again”

In the United States, the long-awaited Jan. 30 Iraqi election, assessed below by Dilip Hiro, might be labeled the “until” election or, more recently, the “in-the-days-before” election. Since “sovereignty” was turned over to the interim Iraqi government last June (a previous “until” event), American officials have been predicting – and American press and TV reports … Continue reading “The Iraq Election: Another Dead End?”

In a democracy, we are supposed to have choices. Our Constitution gives us those choices. Our Constitution is founded on the highest order of morality. As a soldier, my husband, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, has a sworn duty to defend his country and its Constitution. As a soldier, my husband therefore has a sworn duty to … Continue reading “My Husband Is Defending Democracy”

Quick! Anyone! Who can put the brakes on Vice President Dick Cheney before we have another war on our hands? Current and former intelligence analysts are reacting with wonderment and apprehension to his remarks last week in an interview with Don Imus. Cheney made questionable claims about Iran’s nuclear program and resuscitated his spinning on … Continue reading “Rein in Cheney”

Beyond Buzzwords In his second inaugural address, George W. Bush preached that freedom (mentioned 27 times) and liberty (15 times) are powerful medicines – they “break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant.” And he warned that unless we prescribe freedom … Continue reading “His Rhetoric, Our Reality”

Redwood City, CA – The Rachel Corrie Rebuilding Campaign in Gaza has been nominated for a GlobalGiving.com competition. Through January 27th, at www.globalgiving.com/cb/gpf/pr/1000/proj929a.html, people throughout the world can vote online and rate the entries they deem best. The Gaza project is one of only two in the Human Rights category. 15 semifinalists chosen through open … Continue reading “Rachel Corrie Rebuilding Campaign in Gaza nominated in GlobalGiving.com competition”

On Jan. 17, the Cryptome Web site posted a remarkable document that affords us a glimpse inside the secret war now taking place all around us. I refer, of course, to the war on terrorism, which, we’ve all been informed, will be a “generational” struggle, the outcome of which is uncertain – and, what’s more, … Continue reading “The Shadow War”

IRBIL, Northern Iraq – Irbil is normally a quiet place. Capital of the Kurdish autonomous area in Northern Iraq, the city of 800,000 has largely avoided the bloodshed of 22 months of war and occupation. Kurdish fighters here fought alongside the United States in the initial invasion. Since the fall of Saddam, the area has … Continue reading “How the US Can Attack an Ally”

Kidnapping has become the crime of choice among Iraqi criminal gangs. With 70 percent unemployment in "liberated" Iraq, crime is running rampant, with organized crime enjoying a free hand amid the terrible security situation. The families of the kidnapped are at times forced to pay up to several million dollars ransom – unless they want … Continue reading “Iraqi Women Paying the Price for Their ‘Liberation’”

Readers in numbers beyond my ability to reply individually have challenged me whether President Bush’s inaugural speech is a statement of his intentions or merely a celebration of himself and American democracy. Surely Bush doesn’t believe America has the power to remake the world in its own image other than by being an example for … Continue reading “Wake Up! Bush Is Serious”