Month: November 2006

The American media establishment has launched a major offensive against the option of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. In the latest media assault, right-wing outfits like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal editorial page are secondary. The heaviest firepower is now coming from the most valuable square inches of media real estate in the … Continue reading “The New Media Offensive Against Withdrawal”

Don’t be fooled by what you read in the British press. Tony Blair is still popular – in a small section of Washington, D.C., that is. This week, Blair spoke via video conference to the panel of the Iraq Study Group (ISG). His contribution follows an invitation to share his views with the high-profile commission … Continue reading “Blair Avoids a Grilling”

Updated at 11:15 p.m. EST, Nov. 15, 2006 Kidnappings by death squads are commonplace in Baghdad; however, mass kidnappings still grab the headlines. In developing news today, as many as 60 more Iraqis were kidnapped from several minibuses and another 15 from a cafe, both in the capital. Another fourteen were kidnapped near Nasariyah; four … Continue reading “Thursday: 5 GIs, 83 Iraqis Killed; 2 GIs, 33 Iraqis Wounded; 3 Mass Kidnappings”

There is an element of Schadenfreude in the reaction of critics of Washington’s neoconservatives to the policy setbacks and ideological turbulence that their erstwhile bureaucratic rivals and ideological antagonists have been experiencing in recent weeks. With the humiliating "resignation" of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a day after the Democrats, carried by populist antiwar sentiment, won … Continue reading “Rumors of Neoconservatism’s Death Exaggerated”

Updated at 11:00 p.m. EST, Nov. 15, 2006 A day after a brazen mass kidnapping in Baghdad, a second mass kidnapping occurred south of the capital. In other events, 133 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 50 were wounded in various incidents around the country. Also, six more American servicemembers were killed. Although … Continue reading “Wednesday: 6 GIs, 133 Iraqis Killed; 50 Iraqis Injured”

In September 2002, Arab League head Amr Moussa warned that an invasion of Iraq would “open the gates of Hell” in the Middle East. Four years later, with those gates – at least in Iraq – open wide enough to drive a tank through, the look of the Bush administration is suddenly in rapid flux. … Continue reading “The Empire Goes on Defense”

The antiwar public, having voted the Democrats into power, are hoping – although they’re not convinced – that U.S. troops will now begin to be withdrawn from Iraq. They are dreaming. And here’s why: "Cautious newly elected Democratic members of Congress are saying they want to wait before taking action to try to force President … Continue reading “The Coming Sellout”

Updated at 10:55 p.m. EST, Nov. 14, 2006 The violence continues unabated in Iraq. At least 143 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 109 were wounded; however, the main story from the war-torn country today is the mass kidnapping of staff members at the Higher Education ministry. At least 50 were held temporarily … Continue reading “Tuesday: 1 Pole, 143 Iraqis Killed; 1 Pole, 109 Iraqis Wounded; At Least 50 Iraqis Kidnapped”

ARBIL – As Saddam Hussein faces his second trial, this one over the killing of an estimated 180,000 Kurds in the late 1980s, people in Kurdistan are taking a particular interest whether the death sentence in the first case will be carried out before there can be a verdict in the second. Former dictator of … Continue reading “Kurds Want Early Death for Saddam”

The report by Argentine prosecutors in support of the arrest warrants just issued for seven former Iranian officials for the 1994 terror bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires reveals that Argentina was continuing to provide Iran with low-grade enriched uranium and the two countries were in serious negotiations on broader nuclear cooperation … Continue reading “Argentine Report Casts Doubt on Iran Role in ’94 Bomb”