Month: September 2006

This month began with 140,000 American troops in Iraq – 13,000 more than in late July. Almost 30 months have passed since Time magazine’s mid-April 2004 cover story, "No Easy Options," reported that "foreign policy luminaries from both parties say a precipitous U.S. withdrawal would cripple American credibility, doom reform in the Arab world, and … Continue reading “Spinning the Troop Levels in Iraq”

With Ali al-Fadhily RAMADI – The U.S. military has lost control over the volatile al-Anbar province, Iraqi police and residents say. The area to the west of Baghdad includes Fallujah, Ramadi, and other towns that have seen the worst of military occupation, and the strongest resistance. Despite massive military operations that destroyed most of Fallujah … Continue reading “US Losing Control of al-Anbar Province”

The outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has challenged President Bush to debate U.S.-Iran relations. Bush has dismissed the offer and declined. Debate is not good-faith negotiation between the opposing parties, but it is better than nothing. And it might not be as one-sided as most Americans think. We could certainly fantasize about how such … Continue reading “Bush vs. Ahmadinejad:
A Mock Debate”

This year, Bonkers Bolton and his Gang of Three (Brits, French, Germans) have managed to get the other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors and the United Nations Security Council to commit assisted suicide, seriously undermining – as intended – the authority and effectiveness of the United Nations itself. First, the … Continue reading “Bolton: Mission Accomplished?”

The Pentagon’s latest quarterly "progress" report to Congress on Iraq is a grim tale of a lost war. The Pentagon told Congress what Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and propaganda organs such as Fox "News" never tell the American public, namely: The Sunni-based insurgency remains "potent and viable" despite spiraling Sunni-Shi’ite violence and beefed-up U.S. forces. Since … Continue reading “The War Is Lost”

Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo. The German Wehrmacht won World War II. The United States won in Vietnam, and the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Zealots won against the Romans, and Ehud Olmert won the Second Lebanon War. You didn’t know that? Well, during the last few days the Israeli media has paraded a long … Continue reading “When Napoleon Won at Waterloo”

The administration’s new theme, designed to sell the Iraq war and the larger "war on terrorism" as an historic struggle against "fascism" – or "Islamo-fascism," as the president and his blogger fan club would have it – is not merely a very bad joke. As an analysis of where we are and what we are … Continue reading “Our Fascism, and Theirs”

The beauty of Chinese society today is its ability to represent virtually every epoch of society, every possible strata, all at once. Unlike the U.S., where virtually every creed and color finds a home or at least a struggle for one, in China peasants rub shoulders with avant-garde artists and nouveau-riche fat cats with little … Continue reading “China’s Little Capitalists”

MEXICO CITY – Leaders of the social movement that has been at the center of unrest in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca since May, demanding that the local governor step down, have asked self-styled guerrilla groups that have come out in defense of the protests not to interfere. "All of the people should be … Continue reading “Social Movement in Oaxaca Rejects Violence”

KIRKUK – Rahman Aziz, 37, laughs out loud with his friend Rahman as they sit together across from the old citadel in this northern Iraqi city. The city needs their laughter. Rahman is a Kurd, and his friend, Sa’ad, 34, a Turkomen. "We have been good friends for years," said Rahman, who now owns a … Continue reading “Kirkuk Confronts an Uncertain Future”