Month: November 2006

with Ali Al-Fadhily BAGHDAD – After three and a half years of occupation, Iraq’s medical system has sunk to levels lower than seen during the economic sanctions imposed after the first Gulf war in 1990. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said Iraqis are now extremely vulnerable in their health needs. "Several wars and 13 … Continue reading “Iraq’s Medical System Becomes Sickening”

Iraq is a wreck and Afghanistan is deteriorating, but that doesn’t foreclose war with Iran. To the contrary, there is no evidence that the president realizes how much destruction he has wrought. Give him enough time, he seems to believe, and pro-American democracies will bloom across the Mideast. So why not make it a trifecta? … Continue reading “Who Decides on War With Iran?”

Updated at 11:40 a.m. EST, Nov. 24, 2006 In the deadliest attack since the U.S. invaded Iraq, suspected Sunni militiamen killed at least 215 people and wounded 257 others in Shi’ite Sadr City today; the death toll is expected to go much higher. In other events, another 117 Iraqis were killed or found dead and … Continue reading “Bloody Thursday: 332 Iraqis Killed, 315 Wounded”

Updated at 7:55 p.m. EST, Nov. 22, 2006 There was less reported violence on Wednesday than in previous days, but at least 106 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 11 were wounded. Also, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq released a report describing how violence had increased substantially during September and October. … Continue reading “Wednesday: 5 GIs, 106 Iraqis Killed; 3 GIs, 11 Iraqis Wounded”

George Orwell warned us, but what American would have expected that in the opening years of the 21st century the United States would become a country in which lies and deception by the president and vice president were the basis for a foreign policy of war and aggression, and in which indefinite detention without charges, … Continue reading “Bush’s Only Real Victory”

Justin Raimondo is taking the holiday weekend off. His column will return Monday. The continuing propaganda campaign directed at Vladimir Putin‘s Russia has taken a bizarre turn with the alleged “poisoning,” in a London restaurant, of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent now associated with exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. According to the story being … Continue reading “Poisonous Propaganda”

The Democrats regaining control of both the House and Senate was seen by many as rejection of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy and a referendum for withdrawal. The announcement the next day of Donald Rumsfeld’s departure from the Pentagon and the nomination of former CIA director Robert Gates to be the new secretary of defense … Continue reading “Worse Than Staying the Course”

Updated 9:50 p.m. EST, Nov. 22, 2006 As Iraq formally renewed diplomatic ties with neighboring Syria today, at least 144 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 55 more were injured. No foreign deaths were reported, but Coalition forces killed six in separate incidents around Baghdad. There was also one failed political assassination attempt. U.S. … Continue reading “Tuesday: 108 Iraqis Killed, 38 Injured”

With Ali al-Fadhily BAGHDAD – The arrest warrant issued last week by the Iraqi government for Sunni leader Dr. Harith al-Dhari has sent shock waves through the government and galvanized much of the Sunni population. Iraq’s Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bolani told reporters that Dhari was wanted for inciting terrorism and violence. At the … Continue reading “Support Builds for
Sunni Leader”

In the wake of the recent crushing Democratic election victory, most pundits in Washington have been expecting the Bush administration to change course in Iraq. For those people, last week’s testimony by Gen. John Abizaid, the U.S. commander ultimately in charge of the Iraq war, was disappointing. Abizaid rejected all alternative policies for Iraq that … Continue reading “‘Cutting and Running’ Preferable to ‘Staying and Praying’”