Month: November 2006

Updated at 11:05 p.m EST, Nov. 11, 2006 As the Veteran’s Day holiday is observed in the United States, the War in Iraq continues without a pause. Two Coalition soldiers were killed and another two injured. A translator for U.S forces was kidnapped, and at least 61 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 51 … Continue reading “Saturday: 2 Coalition soldiers, 61 Iraqis Killed; 50 Kidnapped”

Well, the election results Tuesday were almost universally interpreted as a referendum on the Iraq war, and Bush and the neocons got their heads handed to them. And as dramatic as the Democrats winning control of both houses of Congress was, the magnitude of the rejection of the administration and the Republicans was greater than … Continue reading “More Work Ahead”

A glance at Donald Rumsfeld’s biography will tell you that he is: (1) ambitious; (2) bright; (3) competent; and (4) incredibly experienced in both the private sector and the public sector. So how did the 74-year-old secretary of defense become the bad guy of the Bush administration? The answer is probably that by his 70s, … Continue reading “Goodbye, Rummy”

Several weeks ago, a gaggle of prominent neo-crazies, including Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen, David Frum, Kenneth Adelman and Michael Rubin, railed on the record in Vanity Fair magazine against the incompetent implementation by President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld of their decades-long plans to effect regime change in Iraq. There were already more than … Continue reading “War of Aggression Thwarted?”

Democratic majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, will not necessarily mean major changes for the war in Iraq, analysts say. That’s primarily because it is the president, and not Congress, that supervises the armed forces and prosecutes war. "The main control Congress … Continue reading “Antiwar Voters May Get Less Than They Bargained For”

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, US President George W Bush has campaigned in one presidential contest (04) and two Congressional races (02 and 2004) as a victorious "War President." Mr. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress chalked up one electoral victory after another by comparing the White House occupant to Winston … Continue reading “Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword”

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, an armistice was signed that ended World War I, the first great bloodletting of the twentieth century, “the war to end all wars” that proved but the prelude to World War II. Now, here we are at the 11th day of … Continue reading “Reenacting War”

Updated at 9:40 p.m. EST, Nov. 10, 2006 So far today, 62 Iraqis have been killed or found dead and another 20 wounded throughout the country. Thanks in part to a regular curfew set in place to protect religious observers, violence in Iraq generally tapers off on Fridays, which is the Muslim day of prayer. … Continue reading “Friday: 5 GIs, 62 Iraqis Killed; 2 GIs, 20 Iraqis Wounded”

With Ali al-Fadhily BAGHDAD – The decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed. In its departure they see the end of remaining hopes for the reconstruction of Iraq. "It is much worse than in the time of Saddam Hussein," Communist Party member Nayif Jassim told … Continue reading “Bechtel Departure Shatters More Iraqi Illusions”

Leave it to the Americans to consider their foreign policy in terms of a family drama: the current narrative is that Rummy’s exit signals the arrival of Daddy’s Wise Men to bail out Junior from the mess he’s made in the Iraqi sandbox. Like a frat boy who has maxed out his credit card or … Continue reading “Does Father Know Best?”