According to New Yorker columnist Seymour Hersh, the Bush administration is contemplating "the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against [Iran’s] underground nuclear sites." Presumably, the B61-11 nuclear bomb can be configured with yields low enough to be categorized as a mini-nuke, i.e., sub- or only a few kilotons. Currently …
Continue reading “Iran: The Nuclear Option”
One month after the publication by two of the most influential international relations scholars in the United States of a highly controversial essay on the so-called "Israel Lobby," their thesis that the lobby exercises "unmatched power" in Washington is being tested by rapidly rising tensions with Iran. Far more visibly than any other domestic constituency, …
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Balkans "Endgame" on Schedule – or Is it? For a region with more history than it can handle, the Balkans is wrought with anniversaries and commemorations no matter the season. The end of March brought the seventh anniversary of NATO’s attack that ended in the occupation of Kosovo (March 24, 1999); it was followed by …
Continue reading “The Unbearable Smugness of Being”
Networks, Terrorism, and Global InsurgencyMr. Deliso,It is way past time to stop the bullsh*t. Do not call them “private military contractors,” nor “private security contractors.” Call them what they are: mercenaries! Guns for hire. Why should I give a sh*t if some “hired gun” is killed? American troops being killed, that gets my attention. I …
Continue reading “Backtalk, April 12, 2006”
Three years after the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces, Washington is abuzz about new reports that the administration of President George W. Bush is preparing to attack Iran, possibly with nuclear weapons. In just the past few days, lengthy articles detailing planning for aerial attacks on as many as 400 nuclear and military targets …
Continue reading “Psy-War or Serious? Washington Mulls Iran Attack”
Foreign policy circles in Washington, including some figures considered close to the George W. Bush administration, have begun talking privately and in off-the-record meetings about the need to give both Iran and Iraq’s Arab neighbors key roles in peace negotiations, according to Middle East experts. This new support for Iranian-Arab participation in negotiations on Iraq …
Continue reading “US Wonks Warming to Iran, Arab Roles in Peace Talks”
When you invest so much effort into tangling the web – in this case, corrupting intelligence analysis in the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq – it becomes hard to know when to stop. Vice President Dick Cheney went to inordinate lengths, including 10 visits to CIA headquarters, to ensure that that crucial NIE on …
Continue reading “Blowing Cheney’s Cover”
http://www.independent.org/tii/antiwar/e060411.html
“The U.S.-India civil nuclear deal is a strategic win,” according to Secretary of State Condi Rice, and “seen in the larger context of the elevation of India-United States relationship” to “a strategic partnership,” she urged Congress this week to approve it. How can a “civil” nuclear deal do that? It can’t. It’s really a deal …
Continue reading “America’s Newest Strategic Partner”
Last week, Republican Congressmen Ron Paul (Texas), Walter Jones (N.C.), and Wayne Gilchrest (Md.) declared their support for a bipartisan resolution demanding the full House debate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. The resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), joined his colleagues to explain the purpose and status of House Joint Resolution 55. To watch a video …
Continue reading “GOP Congressmen: Time to Debate
Iraq Endgame” 
