Month: September 2005

Why This Soldier Can’t Support This WarDear Sirs: Just as I heard the truth about Vietnam from veterans who were there, it is always refreshing to read an article like Justin Gordon’s. Wars built on lies, deceit, and greed will always fail and so will empires fall! I suggest that Mr. Gordon and others do … Continue reading “Backtalk, September 18, 2005”

Sixteen months ago, I published a special investigative report on a deadly U.S. military raid. On May 2, 2004, American soldiers raided a Human Rights Office in the ancient city of Babylon while a peaceful meeting was in process.  American forces shot two sheiks in the head and arrested the man who was addressing the … Continue reading “Sheik Beaten, Blinded, Tasered, Released Into the ‘New Iraq’”

While Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections Sunday are expected to go relatively smoothly, the freedom with which they are being carried out is being questioned by many observers. The presence on the ballot of a number of notorious warlords and their close associates, as well as the continuing threat posed by the Taliban insurgency, which has become … Continue reading “Afghan Elections May Be Less Than Free”

DAMASCUS – Syria is almost visibly wilting under a double American onslaught. The Bush administration made it clearer than ever this week that it regards Syria as an important source of unrest in Iraq. At the same time President George Bush made hardly any attempt to hide his conviction that Syria was involved in the … Continue reading “Syria: A New Iraq in the Making”

According to Article IV of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: "All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. "Parties to the Treaty in a position to … Continue reading “Neocrazies Foiled”

Now that Israel has evacuated from the Gaza Strip, we can forget about any serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has done all he is going to do. In the words of a close adviser published some months ago in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, there will be no serious negotiations … Continue reading “Gaza Withdrawal Is Not Enough”

Editor’s note: Today’s column is based on a speech delivered at Colorado College on Sept. 15, sponsored by the Robert and Janet Manning Endowed Fund for Political Science and the political science department. Why are we in Iraq? This question, I think, puzzles most Americans, who are – increasingly – opposed to the war, opposed … Continue reading “The Imperial Delusion”

With all the attention being paid to the sorry aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – most of the media, especially the 24/7 cable channels, don’t seem to be able to focus on more than one story at a time, but perhaps we should be grateful that Natalee Holloway has been pushed out of the picture – … Continue reading “Remember Iraq”

For the last several days, at least 6,000 US soldiers along with approximately 4,000 Iraqi soldiers (read: members of the Kurdish peshmerga and Shia Badr Army) were laying siege to the city of Tal Afar, near Mosul in northern Iraq. It is estimated that 90 percent of the residents have left their homes because of … Continue reading “The Bloodbath Becomes a Flood”

Ahead of a crucial International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting, next week, a group of some 50 prominent experts and former foreign-policy officials from the United States and Europe have mooted a deal with Iran on its controversial nuclear program. If Iran agrees to a permanent and verifiable end to its efforts to enrich uranium … Continue reading “Transatlantic Group Calls for Nuclear Deal With Iran”