Month: April 2007

Nearly 4 million Iraqis have been displaced in and outside their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, making it the largest exodus of people in the Middle East since the creation of Israel in 1948. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, on Tuesday will convene a two-day conference in Geneva to address Iraq’s deepening … Continue reading “UN Refugee Agency Turns Spotlight on Iraqis”

The hate campaign against Vladimir Putin‘s Russia is really quite extraordinary, not only on account of its relentless ferocity but also because of its brazen reliance on rumor, exaggeration, and – all too often – utter falsehood. Take this piece by Cathy Young, recently downsized out of her longtime perch at the Boston Globe and … Continue reading “To Russia, With Hate”

My aunt Hilda, whose very name came from some other century, once told me her earliest memory: She was a little girl standing under a large tree in the backyard of her house in Brooklyn, and she cried out for help. Her mother (my grandmother) Celia came out to ask what the matter was. An … Continue reading “Words to Die For”

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz was scheduled to spend this week welcoming economic officials from all around the world to the bank’s spring meetings in Washington. Instead, he has been engaged in an intense campaign aimed at fending off the growing pressure on him to resign after admitting that he was personally involved in securing … Continue reading “Another Victim of the Anti-Neocon Revolution?”

The "Global War on Terrorism," or GWOT for short, has become such a staple of political discourse that it has been embraced both by Republicans and Democrats as well as the media. Republicans cite Iraq as the "central front" in the GWOT to justify continuation of the war in that unhappy land while Democrats point … Continue reading “Cheney Does Africa”

Updated at 12:40 a.m. EDT, April, 18, 2007Although there were less attacks today, at least 104 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 51 wounded in violence. Security forces reported killing 25 suspects during operations in Suwayra. Also, three U.S. servicemembers were reported killed, and British base in Basra also came under attack; one … Continue reading “Tuesday: 104 Iraqis, 3 GIs; 51 Iraqis Wounded”

America’s problems in Afghanistan and Iraq may have one positive effect: They will cause the U.S. public to withhold support for future military interventions that are not absolutely necessary for U.S. security. That’s exactly what has happened in the past, and there’s no reason to believe the current failed adventures will be different. In the … Continue reading “Will Current Disasters Curtail Future Interventions?”

Barracks language edited out, Tommy Franks once referred to the Pentagon’s No. 3, Doug Feith, as “the dumbest guy on the planet.” It now appears Gen. Franks’ honorific better applies to Feith’s boss, the Pentagon No. 2, Paul Wolfowitz. For a man once hailed as the brightest of the neocons, Wolfie has behaved with a … Continue reading “Wolfie’s Piggy Bank”

The rhetoric over recent days and this morning makes it clear that Vice President Dick Cheney is still in charge of Iraq policy. He seems supremely confident that the Democrats can be intimidated into giving the White House the only thing it really wants – enough money to stave off defeat until President George W. … Continue reading “Is Cheney Right About the Democrats?”

At this moment, negotiations on a prisoner exchange are in full swing. The term “negotiations” is really inappropriate. “Haggling” seems more fitting. One could also use an uglier expression: “trafficking in human beings." The planned deal concerns living people. They are being treated like goods, for which the officials of the two sides are bargaining, … Continue reading “Blood on Our Hands”