Month: September 2006

BAGHDAD – The national unity government led by Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has failed to deliver its promises to improve life for Iraqis. Five months after the government took over, the country still faces a rising tide of sectarian violence and inadequate public services. There is little sign of government in Baghdad other than … Continue reading “Maliki Govt Fails to Provide Security – or Anything Else”

In June, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China offered to provide goodies if Iran ended its nuclear program and threatened economic sanctions if it did not. Negotiations would not start until Iran suspended its enrichment of uranium. Although this was a bold take-it-or-leave-it deal by the six powers, Iran left it. The … Continue reading “What to Do About Iranian Nukes”

With Ali al-Fadhily RAMADI – U.S. forces are resorting to collective punishment of civilians in several cities across the al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, residents and officials say. "Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar province, is still living with the daily terror of its people getting killed by snipers and its infrastructure being destroyed," Ahmad, a … Continue reading “US Resorting to ‘Collective Punishment,’ Iraqis Say”

With Salam Talib The U.S. released three Iraqi journalists from prison over the weekend. The three were arrested together in a single sweep by U.S. troops last Wednesday. Among them, was Fadel al-Badrani, a reporter for the BBC and Reuters news agency who has reported from Iraq’s most dangerous places. “Fadel al-Badrani was the only … Continue reading “Iraqi Journalists Caught in Crossfire”

Last year our intelligence community produced – at the request of Congress – a National Intelligence Estimate, which, inter alia, addressed Iran’s nuclear programs. Although that 2005 NIE was highly classified, Dafna Linzer reported, "A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a … Continue reading “Outrageous and Dishonest”

President George Bush, betrayed by the neoconservatives whom he elevated to power and by his attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, who gave him wrong legal advice, is locked in a desperate struggle with the Republican Congress to save himself from war crimes charges at the expense of America’s reputation and our soldiers’ fate. Beguiled by neoconservatives, … Continue reading “The Torturer Tries to
Save His Own Hide”

What is an erudite and perhaps overly scholarly pope to do in the face of a news media that insists on cherry-picking his pronouncements – buried amidst references to obscure Byzantine emperors and abstruse theological constructs – and making of them blazing headlines? There isn’t much he can do, and perhaps this is for the … Continue reading “In Defense of Pope Benedict”

Fresh allegations of brutality are being reported from inside the walls of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, which was transferred from U.S. military to Iraqi government control on September 1st. Sa’dik al-Hasnawi, who heads up Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s offices in the southern city of Diwaniya, told OneWorld, "it seems torture is not just a random … Continue reading “New Leaders, Similar Story at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib”

Dozens of South Koreans took to the streets of Washington, DC Thursday in support of small farmers forced to relocate to make way for a massive new U.S. military base in their country. President George W. Bush was meeting with his South Korean counterpart just steps away in the White House at the time. On … Continue reading “‘NO USA’: Korean Farmers Continue to Protest US Base Expansion”

Last week, the Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency formally protested “outrageous and dishonest” accusations made by members of the Cheney Cabal about Iran’s Safeguarded nuclear programs. Interestingly, the “radioactive fallout” from a previous IAEA refutation – of the “Niger-Iraq yellowcake” documents – is still causing trouble for the Cabal and its sycophants. Last … Continue reading “Going Far, Far Beyond the NPT”