Month: March 2007

Updated at 1:51 a.m. EST, Mar. 30, 2007At least 199 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 293 were wounded in various attacks. The biggest incidents were a series of simultaneous bombs in Khalis that killed at least 53 people, and a bombing at a Baghdad marketplace that killed 76 others. No foreign … Continue reading “Thursday: 199 Iraqis Killed; 293 Wounded”

With U.S. President George W. Bush reiterating his threat to veto legislation that makes funding for the Iraq war conditional on a deadline for withdrawing at least some U.S. troops, Washington appeared Wednesday to be moving rapidly toward a major confrontation between the White House and Democrats in Congress. The latter won a major victory … Continue reading “Showdown Looms Over Iraq Withdrawal”

BUDAPEST – The U.S. missile defense system to be deployed in Eastern Europe is becoming a matter for concern in all of Europe. Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France are now worried and demand talks. The missile defense system, allegedly aimed at protecting the West from missile attacks by "rogue states," would have two components by … Continue reading “US Base Revives Cold War Feelings”

As Australian David Hicks awaits sentencing after being the first Guantánamo detainee convicted under the Military Commissions Act, human rights groups, legal scholars and some lawmakers are condemning the entire MCA process and again challenging its constitutionality both in the courts and in the U.S. Congress. Earlier this week, Hicks, 31, pleaded guilty to providing … Continue reading “Guilty Plea Won’t Dampen Gitmo Controversy”

It is no stretch to say there is a great deal of backward thinking in Washington, D.C., but maybe there should be just a little more. Instead of making a plan that will maybe, possibly, hopefully, by some chance bring about victory, it is useful to start at the end and work our way back … Continue reading “Backward Thinking”

Despite fierce opposition from Belgrade and Moscow, the UN-designated "mediator" for Kosovo, former Finnish president and ICG board member Martti Ahtisaari submitted his proposal this week to the UN Security Council. Ahtisaari told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that "supervised independence" was the "only viable option" for the Serbian province, occupied since June 1999 by NATO and … Continue reading “Forfeiting Nothing”

Updated at 1:13 a.m. EST, Mar. 29, 2007Heavy violence continued overnight in Tal Afar where retaliatory attacks for yesterday’s massive twin bombing left scores dead. Overall, at least 166 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead and another 146 were wounded throughout the country. Also, a Marine was killed in Anbar province yesterday, another GI … Continue reading “Wednesday: 166 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 146 Iraqis Wounded”

In the late Sixties, the Iraqi-born Kanan Makiya was a Trotskyist, a card-carrying member of the Socialist Workers Party in the U.S., and later, in Britain, an activist in the International Marxist Group, the British section of the Trots’ Fourth International. Then, as Edward Said put it, “He switched sides and during the early 1980s … Continue reading “Makiya’s Malady”

The carnage in Iraq continues, but what did anyone expect? Roadside bombs (IEDs) take their deadly almost daily toll on U.S. troops in and around Baghdad (and adjoining provinces). Seventy-five Americans have already died in March, at least 50 of them from roadside bombs. Of course, that’s a drop in the bucket, when it comes … Continue reading “The Missing WMD –
in Trucks in Iraq”

As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wound down her latest and most intense round of Middle Eastern "shuttle diplomacy" Monday, a star-studded international cast of former top-ranking diplomats and government leaders said they were "convinced there exists now a major opportunity to reach a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement." But the 24-member board of trustees of … Continue reading “Possible Breakthrough Seen in Israeli-Arab Peace”