Month: December 2006

Khaled Meshaal is the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, which earlier this year came to power with a large majority in the free and democratic election in Palestine. In summer 2006, Israeli Minister of Justice Haim Ramon publicly confirmed his government’s order to kill Khaled Meshaal. In 1997 in Amman, Jordan, Meshaal survived … Continue reading “Hamas Leader: We’ll Accept Israel Within 1967 Borders”

The standard right-wing myth when it comes to Vietnam is that “the politicians” sold out the military and lost a war that could have been won. Civilian interference with the strategy and tactics employed by military professionals led to U.S withdrawal from Vietnam, which was not a defeat so much as a victory aborted by … Continue reading “Napoleon in the White House”

The insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have thus far cost fewer U.S. lives than the Filipino insurgency of 1899-1902. Yet Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker warned Congress last week the U.S. Army “will break” without more troops. We started this war “flat-footed,” with 500,000 fewer soldiers than we had before the Gulf War, … Continue reading “Broken Army, Broken Empire”

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. Christian right has evolved into one of the most powerful grassroots organizing forces within the Republican Party, and a host of Christian Zionists have taken a well-earned seat at the foreign policy table. At the same time, their support for Israel is not only growing – it is … Continue reading “Holy Warriors Set Sights
on Iran”

Although Vietnam flooded instantly back into American consciousness as the invasion of Iraq was launched in March 2003 – along with its ancient vocabulary from “hearts and minds” to “quagmire” (or the deeply referential “Q-word”) – for the Bush administration the rhetorical reference point was World War II and its aftermath. From Churchillian phraseology to … Continue reading “Good Evening, Vietnam”

The era of the Middle East strongman, propped up by and enforcing Western policy, appears well and truly over. His power is being replaced with rule by civil war, apparently now the American administration’s favored model across the region. Fratricidal fighting is threatening to engulf, or already engulfing, the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Iraq. … Continue reading “End of the Strongmen”

At this time last year, the Pentagon was hinting that troop levels in Iraq would be reduced. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that two combat brigades scheduled for combat tours would not be deployed to Iraq. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, proclaimed, "If things go … Continue reading “Another Year,
Another Iraq Plan”

Updated at 11:55 p.m. EST, Dec. 19, 2006 At least 110 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 35 were wounded in violent attacks around the country. Also, the U.S. military reported on the deaths of a Marine yesterday in Anbar province and a soldier in Balad on Monday. Both were from small … Continue reading “Tuesday: 110 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 35 Iraqis Wounded”

Ever since the Iraq Study Group (ISG) issued its recommendations, the debate in Washington has swirled around what to do about the mess in Iraq. Unfortunately, both the recommendations of the study group and the contradictory inclinations of the Bush administration are "bridges to nowhere." Both groups are in denial about the chaos in Iraq … Continue reading “Top 10 Things Not to Do in Iraq”

Since 1927, the year Lindbergh flew the Atlantic in his single-engine Spirit of St. Louis, Time has devoted its final cover of the year to the Man of the Year. The Lone Eagle was first. In the 1930s and 1940s, FDR was the Man of the Year three times. Stalin, Truman, and Churchill made it … Continue reading “Person of the Year: Ahmadinejad”