Month: March 2005

WASHINGTON – Sibel Edmonds, who was fired after exposing national security concerns at the FBI, will testify before Congress for the first time Wednesday. Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist for the FBI, will share her story with members of the House Committee on Government Reform’s Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International … Continue reading “FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds to Testify Before Congress for First Time Wednesday”

Two major U.S. human rights groups Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight named Afghan and Iraqi plaintiffs who say they were tortured and abused while in the custody of the U.S. military. The 76-page filing by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and … Continue reading “Rumsfeld Sued Over Torture in Iraq and Afghanistan”

Amid charges that hundreds of whistleblower cases may have been arbitrarily dismissed, the U.S. Justice Department has admitted that it retroactively classified information that posed no threat to national security. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the admission could help former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) translator Sibel Edmonds, who has filed a … Continue reading “Exposing Corruption Doesn’t Pay, Gov’t Watchdog Warns”

ARBIL – Two years and three elections after the fall of the Saddam regime, Kurdistan is taking shape as a nation within a nation. Kurds voted Jan. 30 for the Iraqi National Assembly, for a Kurdish parliament, and for local government through the governorate councils. That does not all add up to independence, but it … Continue reading “A Nation Within a Nation Takes Shape”

Why pick a military town as the site for an antiwar rally? As a veteran and a resident of Fayetteville, N.C. near Ft. Bragg, I can think of at least 50 reasons. Each of those reasons has a name and each were members of our community prior to their deaths in Iraq.  Some may argue … Continue reading “Recruiting Iraq Vets Against the War”

Here’s the strange thing. In the decade that followed the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, nuclear weapons more or less disappeared from American sight – despite a near-nuclear war in South Asia, despite the fact that the U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals continued to sit in place without particular justification or obvious “mission.” Those potentially … Continue reading “Attacking Iran: I Know It Sounds Crazy, But…”

The Feb. 15 Christian Science Monitor describes a situation that, to anyone familiar with American-Turkish relations in the post-World War II period, is almost beyond imagining: an American attack on Turkey. According to the Monitor‘s story, "The year is 2007. After a clash with Turkish forces in northern Iraq, U.S. troops stage a surprise attack. … Continue reading “Turkey Imagines the Unimaginable”

It is often pointed out that presidents get too much praise and blame for the economy, since the domestic economy has its own rhythms. We are now going to see everything that happens in the Middle East attributed to George W. Bush, whether he had much to do with it or not (usually not). What … Continue reading “Lebanon: Background and Forecast”

The broader implications of the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was seen by many as the embodiment of the Lebanese people’s efforts to rebuild their country in the aftermath of its 15-year civil war, are yet to unfold. A Sunni Muslim, Hariri reached out to all of Lebanon’s ethnic … Continue reading “All Set for War With Syria”

As Herr Schroeder was babbling on in Mainz, during his joint press conference with President Bush, about a need for carrots to coax Tehran off its nuclear program, Bush interrupted the chancellor to issue yet another demand – that “the Iranian government listen to the hopes and aspirations of the Iranian people.” “We believe,” said … Continue reading “A Republic, Not a Democracy”