Month: April 2007

Updated at 12:15 a.m. EDT, April 25, 2007A day after a major attack against U.S. forces in Diyala province, two more U.S. servicemembers are reported killed in an unconfirmed incident in Karbala. However, the U.S. military did confirm that a Marine was killed today in Anbar province conducting combar operations. At least 74 Iraqis were … Continue reading “Tuesday: 3 GIs, 74 Iraqis Killed; 110 Iraqis Wounded”

Michael Chertoff, President Bush’s secretary of Homeland Security, desperately tried to refute Zbigniew Brzezinski’s cogent charge that the administration has hyped the “war on terror” to promote a “culture of fear,” in a recent Washington Post opinion piece. In addition to shamefully smearing Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s former national security adviser, by associating him with the … Continue reading “Absurd Analogies Won’t
Stop Terrorism”

Is the Iraq war to become a permanent feature? The war persists despite the opposition of a majority of Americans and Iraqis. The war persists despite warnings from U.S. generals that the stress is breaking the U.S. Army. The war persists despite its enormous costs in red ink and dependence on foreign loans. The war … Continue reading “The War Goes Ever On”

All the reasons given to justify a preemptive strike against Iraq were wrong. Congress and the American people were misled. Support for the war came from various special interests that had agitated for an invasion of Iraq since 1998. The Iraq Liberation Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, stated that … Continue reading “We Just Marched In (So We Can Just March Out)”

BINT JBEIL, Lebanon – Eight months after Israeli attacks left devastation across many villages in southern Lebanon, reconstruction comes with mounting anger toward both Israel and the central Lebanese government. The war that raged between Israel and Hezbollah July 12 to Aug. 14 last year destroyed many villages in the south and left others badly … Continue reading “In Lebanon, Tempers Rise Over Reconstruction”

BAGHDAD – Iraqis blame the U.S. occupation for the failure of two parallel security plans drawn up by U.S. forces and Iraqi troops that failed dramatically with the bombings last week that killed more than 300 people in Baghdad. Under the security plans, additional troops were brought to Baghdad and most city streets were closed. … Continue reading “Iraqis Blame US Occupation for Bloody Week”

LOS ANGELES – The house lights go down and the stage lights come up on The Wolf, the first production of VetStage, a nonprofit theater company run by veterans of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It opens with a funeral: a Roman Catholic priest preparing to deliver a eulogy for a U.S. soldier … Continue reading “Iraq, Afghanistan War Vets Find Relief in the Footlights”

Updated at 11:51 p.m. EDT, April 23, 2007At least 107 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 161 Iraqis were wounded in violent attacks. Significant bombings took place in Baghdad, Mosul, Ramadi and Baquba. No foreign casualties were reported. At least 10 GIs and one British soldier were killed in separate attacks, including a … Continue reading “Monday: 10 GIs, 1 Briton, 107 Iraqis Killed; 20 GIs, 6 Britons, 161 Iraqis Wounded”

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new figures on the disintegrating health situation in Iraq, where, according to the group, 100 people a day die, on average, and countless more are wounded. Of the injured who manage to make it to an emergency room, 70 percent face a chance of dying there. Many … Continue reading “Into the Iraqi Diaspora”

In 1609, a terrible thing happened: not terrible in the manner that great wars are terrible but in the way that opening Pandora’s Box was terrible. King James I of England discovered that dividing people on the basis of religion worked like a charm, thus sentencing the Irish to almost four centuries of blood and … Continue reading “Fanning Sectarian Fires
in the Middle East”