Month: April 2005

On Wednesday, I posted The Normalization of War, the first of two excerpts from a remarkable new book – Andrew J. Bacevich’s The New American Militarism, How Americans Are Seduced by War. In the second excerpt, Bacevich takes up the subject of neoconservatism, which he terms “a singularly inapt label that suggests an ideological rigor … Continue reading “New Boys in Town: The Neocon Revolution and American Militarism”

When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited President George Bush at the White House on 11-12 April, the news coming out of the meetings should have been dominated by the president’s displeasure with Sharon permitting the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Instead, the New York Times headline on 13 April was Sharon Asks … Continue reading “Israel Guns for Iran”

There are no conspiracies to dissect, no hidden agendas to sort through and no oblique language to skillfully decode: the Bush administration’s position on illegal Jewish colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories is crystal clear. President George W. Bush did all of us a great favour when he once more articulated his stance on the … Continue reading “US Middle East Policy: Heedless But Unequivocal”

At the end of last month, the U.S. Selective Service System issued a report assuring President George W. Bush that it would be ready to implement a draft within 75 days. While stirring up a storm of speculation, this report may actually be the least compelling harbinger of a draft. Far more dire is the … Continue reading “An Army of the Unwilling”

Recently, Jackie Sanders, Special Representative of the President for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons has been asking herself this question – How should "we" deal with noncompliance with the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons? The problem is; nowhere in the NPT is "noncompliance" defined. The term "noncompliance" doesn’t even appear. It is a little … Continue reading “NPT in Trouble?”

The Halliburton corporation, already the Iraq war’s poster child for "waste, fraud, and abuse," has been hit with a new double whammy. A report from the U.S. State Department accuses the company of "poor performance" in its $1.2 billion contract to repair Iraq’s vital southern oil fields. And a powerful California congressman is charging that … Continue reading “Double Trouble for Halliburton”

In a case of incredibly bad timing, neoconservative columnist and author Joel Mowbray recently came out with a piece claiming that “stories on Larry Franklin, dual loyalties, and espionage for Israel look more far-fetched with each passing day.” According to Mowbray, the spy scandal that has enveloped AIPAC since last fall is all part of … Continue reading “Shaking Up Israel’s Spy Nest”

Demands by a key Republican senator for a two-week delay in the vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on John Bolton as Washington’s next UN ambassador mark a significant and potentially strategic defeat for Vice President Dick Cheney and the administration hawks he led during George W. Bush’s first presidential term. If Bolton’s bid … Continue reading “Delay on Bolton Vote a Defeat for Hawks”

At the U.S. Army War College’s 16th Annual Strategy Conference last week, a senior Department of Defense strategist defined U.S. “Grand Strategy” as the export of freedom and democracy. He added that the U.S. military would play a huge role in implementing the strategy. In short, and to paraphrase, the official said: “Get ready, soldiers, … Continue reading “Deliberately Destroying America’s Soul”

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of the National Capital Area filed an emergency motion Wednesday to open the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to the public during oral arguments tomorrow in a hearing over the termination of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. Several media outlets filed a separate emergency motion. The … Continue reading “ACLU Files Emergency Motion in Sibel Edmonds Case”