Month: June 2005

Iran’s most repressive clerics and the USA’s most militaristic neocons share a common interest: They’re very eager to see the failure of Iranian activism for democracy and human rights. On the surface, no outlook could be further from Washington’s reigning mentality than the ayatollah-led chant of “Death to America” that I heard at a big … Continue reading “Iran’s Theocrats and America’s Neocons Need Each Other”

Killers of People and Truth Almost two weeks since the airing of the controversial atrocity video, whose purveyors claim it represents proof of Serbian war crimes against the Muslims of Srebrenica, many questions about the horrifying film still remain open. That has not stopped the vast majority of the mainstream media from declaring the video … Continue reading “Snuff Reality”

I‘m not a big fan of Saddam Hussein. I know it violated the Geneva Convention, but when photos of the deposed dictator in his underwear appeared in newspapers around the world last month, I couldn’t help but smile. What else can you do when you see a man who killed hundreds of thousands during 25 … Continue reading “Justice for Saddam and His Victims”

The indictment [.pdf file] of Larry Franklin, the 58-year-old analyst who headed up the Pentagon’s Iran desk, marks a milestone in the FBI’s four-year-plus probe into Israel’s covert activities in the U.S. The investigation predates 9/11 and involves some of the leading figures associated with planning and agitating for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The … Continue reading “Indictment Shows Washington Is ‘Israeli-Occupied Territory’”

Two weeks after the Bush administration began attacking Amnesty International for calling the U.S. detention practices against suspected terrorists "the gulag of our times," it finds itself increasingly on the defensive on the issue. With the Senate Judiciary Committee poised to hold unprecedented hearings this week on the administration’s detention policies, the issue is also … Continue reading “Sen. McCain: Try or Release Detainees”

Sunnis and Shi’ites are now sliding toward a civil war, and the Bush administration has shown no interest in trying to avert it.  With Congress growing increasingly restless over the absence of an administration exit strategy, opponents of the occupation could take the offensive by offering a clear alternative policy of using U.S. influence to encourage … Continue reading “How Bush Is Contributing to Civil War in Iraq”

“Debt Cut Is Set for Poorest Nations” was the headline in Sunday’s Washington Post over the lead story. “The world’s wealthiest nations,” wrote Paul Blustein, “agreed yesterday to cancel more than $40 billion in debts that some of the world’s poorest nations owe to international lenders – a move inspired by the belief that full … Continue reading “Reviving the Foreign Aid Racket”

War: Realities and Myths Your article is a clear message of truth and paints war exactly for what it is, a tragedy made by men. As a career military officer and combat pilot, I find the Iraq war to be the greatest failure of the American system ever recorded. The death and destruction this country … Continue reading “Backtalk June 15, 2005”

In 1996, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen published Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. His thesis is that the mass murder of Jews was not done on the quiet by a few Nazi fanatics. Instead, Goldhagen writes, by their complicity, ordinary Germans were willing participants in the slaughter. In other words, the German people as … Continue reading “Enabling Evil”

What is the first picture the term “occupation” raises in our mind? Probably some kind of extreme violence among civilians: lethal fire in the middle of town, terrified kids in pajamas watching heavily armed soldiers searching a house, a helicopter firing a missile in the midst of Gaza. All these violent scenes do happen, but … Continue reading “The Quiet Occupation”