Month: May 2007

[Note for TomDispatch readers: On this fourth anniversary of the president’s “Mission Accomplished” moment, I urge you to consider ordering yourself a copy of Mission Unaccomplished: TomDispatch Interviews with American Iconoclasts and Dissenters (Nation Books). James Carroll, Chalmers Johnson, Katrina van den Heuvel, Howard Zinn, Juan Cole, Mike Davis, Barbara Ehrenreich, Mark Danner, and other … Continue reading “Tick… Tick… Tick… in Washington and Baghdad”

The Pentagon and White House continue to argue that they are not planning a war against Iran in spite of the continuing buildup of naval forces in the Persian Gulf, which will peak with the arrival of a third carrier group at the end of May. The naval aviation and missile resources available, which are … Continue reading “A High Price to Pay for Ignorance”

Updated at 6:30 p.m. EDT, May 1, 2007At least 63 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 47 Iraqis were wounded in violent attacks. In unconfirmed reports, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayoub al-Masry, was reported killed as well. Also, one GI and one British soldier were killed in separate non-combat incidents. The … Continue reading “Tuesday: 1 GI, 1 Briton, 63 Iraqis Killed, 47 Wounded; al-Masri Reported Killed”

President Bush’s plan to deploy missile defenses in Central Europe will reduce U.S. security, not enhance it. Installing radar for tracking incoming missiles in the Czech Republic and anti-missile interceptors in Poland could do more harm than good. Ostensibly, the European radar and interceptors are aimed at the future threat of nuclear-armed Iranian missiles. But … Continue reading “Missile Defense May Do
More Harm Than Good”

Saturday marked the third anniversary of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. On April 28, 2004, CBS broadcast the first graphic photos of torture inside of the U.S.-run prison in Iraq on its 60 Minutes II program. "Americans did this to an Iraqi prisoner," news anchor Dan Rather said as a slide show of disturbing torture … Continue reading “Ex-Soldier Recalls Horrors of Abu Ghraib”

President George Bush’s claims about what will happen if we pull out of Iraq is almost word-for-word identical to Richard Nixon’s speech explaining why we must not pull out of Vietnam. A “precipitate withdrawal” would result in a bloodbath, destabilization of Southeast Asia, would embolden our enemies and result in more war not less, Nixon … Continue reading “George and Richard”