The supreme irony of President George W. Bush's campaign to blame Iran for the sectarian civil war in Iraq, as well as attacks on U.S. forces, is that the Shi'ite militias who started to drive the Sunnis out of the Baghdad area in 2004 and thus precipitated the...
Proposed ’08 Pentagon Earns Superlatives All Around
How big is President George W. Bush's proposed 2008 Pentagon budget? At nearly $623 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, its size earned nothing but editorial superlatives and a scramble for historical precedents that could put the sum in perspective....
Double Standard
It isn't very often that we come across news of a radioactive poisoning, let alone a state-sponsored one, but in the past few months we've had no less than two – and, more significantly, two completely different reactions from the "mainstream" media and...
Making an Example of
Ehren Watada
The people running the Iraq war are eager to make an example of Ehren Watada. They've convened a kangaroo court-martial. But the man on trial is setting a profound example of conscience – helping to undermine the war that the Pentagon's top officials are so eager...
12 Consequences of
Attacking Iran
The murdered Israeli leader Gen. Yitzhak Rabin opposed the First Gulf War in 1990, warning that one never knows when starting a war where it will lead. As Bush and the neocons are reportedly planning to attack Iran, we should all think of the likely consequences. Most...
Tuesday: 64 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 55 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 1:35 p.m. EST, Feb. 7, 2007 Violence has tapered off somewhat from the high of the weekend, but at least 64 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 55 were wounded. Also, officials reported that a GI was killed southwest of Baghdad and two...
One CEO’s Dissent From the War on Terror
Meet Richard Wade Vague. Tall, friendly, dressed in a dark, finely tailored suit, with a firm, confident handshake and a ready, if surprisingly modest, smile, he looks like the quintessential successful 51-year-old self-described "conservative" corporate...
Officer Who Refused Iraq Tour Goes on Trial
TACOMA, Wash. - Supporters of the first commissioned U.S. officer to refuse to serve in Iraq plan to pack the courtroom at Fort Lewis, Wash., where 1st Lt. Ehren Watada will face a court-martial Monday. "If more officers like Lt. Watada come forward and said they...
Hundreds of Billions – for What?
Each year, one of the most important events in the nation's capital is the release of the federal budget. Yet the media provides insufficient coverage because the budget is technical, unglamorous, and requires hard work sifting through mounds of data to uncover the...
Afghanistan: Just Another
Bush Success Story
Afghanistan remains the forgotten war, yet, in an eerie lockstep with Iraq, it seems to be following a distinctly Bush administration-style path toward "the gates of hell." While almost all attention in Washington and the U.S. media has been focused on the president's...