Month: June 2006

Despite claims that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has regained the diplomatic initiative from Iran with a conditional offer to join multilateral talks with Tehran, the real story behind the policy shift is that the administration has suffered a decisive defeat of its effort to get international sanctions for possible military action against Iran. … Continue reading “Bush Iran Strategy Suffers Major Diplomatic Defeat”

John Bolton, a notorious neocon warmonger who could not be confirmed as America’s ambassador to the UN by even the compliant and corrupt U.S. Senate, got the job as a recess appointment. He is using the platform to push America into war with Iran. Bolton told the Financial Times (June 9) that the Bush Regime … Continue reading “Will the White House Moron Bring On Armageddon?”

Hope is here. The cold light of truth is piercing the cloud of lies conjured by Donald Rumsfeld and others about the war in Iraq – even in the defense secretary’s own bailiwick. A Matter of Conscience… Several months ago, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada decided that U.S. involvement in Iraq is illegal and … Continue reading “The Courage to Face the Consequences”

The news that Bush has given Iran "weeks, not months" to ditch its nuclear power program and essentially surrender its sovereignty comes as no surprise to veteran War Party-watchers, such as this guy at DailyKos.com, who recalls that the same template was used back in 2003. Déjà vu, anyone? Oh, but don’t you worry, folks … Continue reading “Your Netroots Are Showing”

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi triggered al-Qaeda’s latest propaganda war. Key figures rushed to celebrate his martyrdom. Even Mullah Omar, the former leader of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, emerged from his “prolonged isolation” to praise him on the Web. He called for thousand young Muslims to emulate his heroic life. Exploiting Zarqawi’s proletarian … Continue reading “The New Zarqawi Myth”

An incredible quantity of ink and electronic data points have been lavished on the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, supposedly the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq – though that was almost certainly an alliance of convenience rather than a close working relationship. While his death will undoubtedly have some tactical implications for whatever is left … Continue reading “Another Dubious Turning Point”

U.S. military might in South Korea is being called into question this week as villagers launched a hunger strike to protest a U.S. military base expansion that would force them from their lands. Korean authorities have arrested the head of a small village for protesting against the government’s plan to expand a giant U.S. military … Continue reading “Korean Farmers Protest U.S. Base Expansion”

It was announced last week that Wen Ho Lee will receive $895,000 from the government for his legal fees in return for dropping a suit in which he accused unnamed officials in the Department of Energy and Department of Justice of violating his privacy rights back in 1999 by leaking certain information to the Associated … Continue reading “Protecting Leakers”

with Jeff Pflueger In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. – Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during World War II Propaganda is when the Western corporate media tries to influence public opinion in favor of the Iraq War by consistently tampering with truth and distorting … Continue reading “Propaganda and Haditha”

So Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man, is dead. Maybe now we can finally kill off the myth too. The myth is that Zarqawi, a Jordanian jihadist who had moved his operations to Iraq in recent years, was one of the greatest threats to Western civilization, who had single-handedly been hampering progress in Iraq and spreading … Continue reading “Zarqawi: A Bogeyman Made by the US”