Month: October 2006

With the entry of Avigdor Lieberman into the government as deputy minister for “strategic threats” – essentially in charge of preparing for war with Iran – Israel makes a qualitative step toward a regime that increasingly resembles, in all its essentials, a rogue state, and, I might add, potentially a very dangerous one. Lieberman’s views … Continue reading “A Jewish Hitler?”

[One of the sections below is devoted to Riverbend, the pseudonymous “girl blogger” of Baghdad. For it, I read the collection of her blog entries that the Feminist Press at CUNY published in 2005, Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog from Iraq, and then the newest volume, Baghdad Burning II, More Girl Blog from Iraq, just now … Continue reading “Fiasco Then, Fiasco Now”

State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III Bob Woodward Simon & Schuster, 2006 558 pp. “On some of these issues I don’t trust anybody that’s that sure,” Secretary of State Condi Rice allegedly said of the “extremists” on the Iraq war. One wonders why she continues to work for President George W. Bush. This … Continue reading “Readings in the Age of Empire”

Updated at 11:20 p.m. EDT, Oct. 28, 2006 Reports place the number of Iraqi dead at over 77, at least another 55 were injured. Also, the U.S. military reported that five American servicemembers were killed on Wednesday. Violence was tempered by the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday; however, hotspots remain, especially in the Diyala and Anbar … Continue reading “Thursday: 77 Iraqis, 5 American Servicemembers Killed; 55 Iraqis Injured”

Several months before a U.S. construction foreman named John Owen quit in disgust over what he said was blatant abuse of foreign laborers hired to build the sprawling new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Rory Mayberry witnessed similar events when he flew to Kuwait from his home in Myrtle Creek, Ore. The gravelly-voiced, easygoing U.S. Army … Continue reading “Slave Labor at US Embassy
in Baghdad?”

Constitution, Kosovo, and Media Misdirection On Saturday and Sunday, the citizens of Serbia are expected to vote in a plebiscite on the new constitution. In a rare display of political unity, the draft constitution was supported in the parliament by both the government and the opposition parties. However, remnants of the former DOS regime and … Continue reading “Inventing Irrelevance”

During my professional lifetime, liberals and the left wing have focused on failures and misdeeds of the private sector, while libertarians and conservatives have focused on the failures and misdeeds of the public sector or government. It turns out that both sides are right. The Enron case and the other accounting scandals of this new … Continue reading “The Fault Lies in Ourselves”

The Muslim Brotherhood is probably one of the most important organizations in the Islamic world, so I was delighted when I was asked recently to take part in a public meeting at New York University’s Center for Law and Security to debate whether or not the U.S. government should be talking to them. Despite its … Continue reading “Which Will It Be,
Stability or Democracy?”

Updated 6:25 p.m. EDT, Oct. 26, 2006 The end of the Muslim holy period of Ramadan was thought to mark the beginning of a more peaceful time in Iraq; however, the killings and attacks continue at only a slightly decelerated pace. Today at least 49 Iraqis were killed and another 39 were injured in ongoing … Continue reading “Wednesday: 49 Iraqis Killed, 39 Injured”

ARBIL – Through a steadily worsening security situation and deepening political divisions, a dispute is now erupting between Kurdish leaders and the Baghdad regime over access to oil resources. Kurdish authorities and the federal government in Baghdad have exchanged sharply worded statements recently in their rival claims for control over northern oil fields. The row … Continue reading “Kurdistan Oil Troubles
Begin to Surface”