Month: June 2007

Consistent with its performance since at least 2002, the global image of the United States sank further over the past year, particularly among predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia, according to the latest Pew Global Attitudes Project (GAP) survey [.pdf] released here Wednesday. The survey, which included more than 45,000 respondents interviewed … Continue reading “Survey: US Image Abroad
Still Sinking”

U.S. President George W. Bush threw his full support behind President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) last week, declaring the Fatah leader "the president of all the Palestinians." With Hamas, the Islamist political party backed by Iran and described by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, firmly in control of Gaza, the administration … Continue reading “US Elites Can’t Decide Who Should Rule Palestinians”

FALLUJAH – Strict curfew and tight security measures have brought difficult living conditions and heightened tempers to residents of this besieged city. The siege in this city located 40 mi. west of Baghdad has entered its second month. There is little sign of any international attention to the plight of the city. Fallujah, which is … Continue reading “Curfew-Bound Fallujah
On the Boil Again”

In light of Hamas’ seizure of the Gaza Strip, it is worthwhile to understand how this radical Islamist organization came to play such a major role in Palestinian political life and how Israel and the United States contributed to making that possible. Ironically, it was Israel that encouraged the rise of the Palestinian Islamist movement … Continue reading “How Hamas Got
Where It Is Today”

Sometimes, numbers can strip human beings of just about everything that makes us what we are. Numbers can silence pain, erase love, obliterate emotion, and blur individuality. But sometimes numbers can also tell a necessary story in ways nothing else can. This January, President Bush announced his “surge” plan for Iraq, which he called his … Continue reading “Surging Numbers in Iraq”

Updated at 12:20 a.m. EDT, June 28, 2007At least 145 Iraqis were killed and 123 more wounded during various attacks. Eight students were kidnapped near Muqdadiyah, and a surgeon was abducted in Mosul. Also, two American servicemembers were killed and four were wounded in separate incidents.. One MND-B soldier was killed and four others were … Continue reading “Wednesday: 2 GIs, 145 Iraqis Killed; 123 Iraqis Wounded; 8 Students Kidnapped”

While the American people pine for peace, our leaders are intent on war: that’s the anomaly of American "democracy," one that speaks ill of the effort to export our system at gunpoint. Adopt "democracy," and you, too, can be ruled by a warmongering oligarchy. Americans oppose an attack on Iran 2-to-1. By almost every measure, … Continue reading “Tom Lantos, Warmonger”

In a potentially significant setback to President George W. Bush’s efforts to sustain Republican support for his "surge" in Iraq, three key senators this week have called on the White House to revise U.S. strategy there before September. The defections, which were set off by a major policy address Monday on the floor of the … Continue reading “Bush Suffers More Defections on Iraq”

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan – While United States officials accuse Iran of arming a resurgent Taliban, officials here say the weapons are actually part of vast caches left behind by the Soviet army that fought a nine-year war in Afghanistan before withdrawing in 1988. Ustad Basir Arifi, secretary for the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) program … Continue reading “Officials: Soviet-Era Caches, Not Iran, Arming Taliban”

ARBIL – Polishing the picture of her husband hanging on a wall, Samira Jabbar, 44, was euphoric after an Iraqi judge handed the death sentence to several men for the massacre of tens of thousands of Kurds in the late 1980s. Samira lost her husband and four other close relatives in April 1988 when Iraqi … Continue reading “Kurds Want More Convictions Over Massacres”