If, as expected, George W. Bush next week announces his intention to "surge" some 20,000 additional US troops to Iraq to pacify Baghdad and Sunni-dominated Anbar province, he may find himself in a tougher fight than he expected even a week ago. Not only are...
Execution Memories Refuse To Go Away
with Ali al-FadhilyBAGHDAD - The footage of the execution of Saddam Hussein has generated controversy in Iraq that is refusing to die down. Footage of Saddam's last moments, taken by an onlooker with a mobile phone, shows the former dictator appearing calm and...
Somalia: A State Restored? Not So Fast
For more than a decade, Somalia has been Exhibit A in the Hall of Statelessness, a place where the state had not merely weakened into irrelevance but disappeared. Somalia's statelessness had defeated even the world's only hyperpower, the United States, when it had...
Israel’s Bad Influence
Scott Ritter, a former U.N. arms inspector in Iraq, has written a book, Target Iran, in which he accuses the Israeli government and its American lobby of pushing the U.S. into attacking Iran. Ritter writes, "Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with...
Saddam Is Dead – So Are 3,000 Americans
Watch Ron Paul's speech on video. Saddam Hussein is dead. So are three thousand Americans. The regime in Iraq has been changed. Yet victory will not be declared: not only does the war go on, it's about to escalate. Obviously the turmoil in Iraq is...
Bonkers Bolton’s Legacy
Once George W. Bush became President, the neo-crazies – in and out of government – attempted to implement their long gestating plan to remake the Middle East to their peculiar liking, effecting "regime change" in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere, by force if...
Somalia’s ‘Government’ Still on the Brink
While U.S. officials were euphoric over last month's unexpectedly easy rout by Ethiopia and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of the Islamic Courts Union, skepticism that stability can be restored to the long-suffering African nation remains high. Much...
Kashmir Resolution in Sight?
NEW DELHI - A month after President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan proposed a four-point formula to resolve the troubled question of Kashmir jointly with India, exploratory contacts between the two governments have gathered momentum. Their efforts at reconciling mutual...
Backtalk, January 6, 2006
The Democrats' Agenda Thomas Moore said: "...the Constitution makes the president the Commander-in-Chief, giving him control over the military, Congress has little direct say over where and how the troops are deployed." Why has he not recommended that this...
Friday: 82 Iraqis Killed, 27 Wounded
Updated at 11:55 a.m. EST, Jan. 6, 2007 In Baghdad, Muslim clerics issued warnings that residents should be on the alert for increased attacks during what is called "Baghdad Liberation Day." Clashes did erupt in one neighborhood despite precautions. Overall today, 82...