KIRKUK - Two members of Kurdish parties are touring a soccer stadium turned refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Iraq's northern oil-rich city Kirkuk on a sunny morning. They are carrying a petition asking Kurds whether they want ethnic federalism in Iraq or...
‘Good’ Military Families vs. ‘Bad’ Military Families
"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." ~ Donald Rumsfeld In times of war, particularly when that war is starting to look meaningless and futile, its promoters must keep one highly influential group under control: the families and friends of...
We’ve Been Warned
The state of our union:
perpetual war
The State of the Union was, in many ways, a reiteration of the president's second inaugural address: the look on that chimpy little face as he repeated "the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world" was at once self-satisfied and defiant, as if he were telling...
The New Kosovo War
A Diplomatic and Propaganda Assault Last week’s report by the International Crisis Group advocating the "independence" of Kosovo seems to have been the first shot in an all-out propaganda war to decide the future of that occupied Serbian province. The report has...
Casualties of Polling
He writhes in pain, moaning with every other breath. The Iraqi police colonel's chest is covered in bandages, his legs from the knees down nearly completely hidden from view due to thick bandages holding what is left of his shins together. "We gave him first aid...
US Invokes Secrets Privilege in Torture Lawsuit
NEW YORK - The Justice Department has again asserted "state-secrets privilege" in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was detained in the United States in 2002 and sent against his will to Syria, where he says he...
Living Under the Bombs
One of the least reported aspects of the U.S. occupation of Iraq is the oftentimes indiscriminate use of air power by the American military. The Western mainstream media has generally failed to attend to the F-16 warplanes dropping their payloads of 500-, 1,000-, and...
Nothing Accidental About This Disaster
"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. We value life. And we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life. And – but it is the long-term objective that is vital…." - George Bush, Jan. 26, 2005, referring...
Liberal Wimps for War
Liberal columnist Mark Brown, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, is a typical liberal: he opposed the war – but "not to the point of joining any peace protests," heaven forfend. Content to wave from the nearest Starbucks, where he was nursing his...
Neocons: More Cannon Fodder, Please
Amid rising concern about the over-extension of U.S. military forces and the growing budget deficit, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neoconservative group whose past foreign policy recommendations have often been followed by President George W....