Month: July 2007

President George W. Bush is convinced, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that he is on the right course in the war in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism. He says he will not change his mind. Thus, we are at an historic moment; and we would be well advised to see … Continue reading “Bush’s Wooden-Headedness Kills”

Though July is supposed to be a month of vacations in the northern hemisphere, dictated by the often murderous heat, it appears political temperatures have been spiking along with actual ones. Relations between Russia and the Empire continued to deteriorate rapidly, as the U.S., UK and France attempted to pass another resolution in the UN … Continue reading “Summer of Discontent”

This past week, both the House and the Senate debated and voted on legislation affecting the deployment of U.S. troops in Iraq. In the Senate, the issue was the length of time soldiers and Marines would have at home between deployments to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. In the House, Ike Skelton (D-MO) … Continue reading “Counting Troops in Iraq”

Updated at 11:35 p.m EDT, July 18, 2007At least 107 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 82 more were wounded in the latest violence. However, Turkish forces have bombarded locations in Northern Iraq. There is no word on the number of casualties there. One Polish and five American soldiers were killed, while four more … Continue reading “Wednesday: 5 GIs, 1 Polish Soldier, 107 Iraqis Killed; 82 Iraqis Wounded”

BAQUBA – The largest morgue in Diyala province is overflowing daily. Officials told IPS they have had to dig mass graves to dispose of bodies. More and more bodies of victims of the ongoing violence are being found every day in Baquba, capital city of the province, 30 mi. northeast of Baghdad. "The morgue receives … Continue reading “In Baquba, Mass Graves Dug to Deal With Death Toll”

The July 17 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) “On the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland” [.pdf] warns that al-Qaeda has reconstituted itself in the tribal areas of U.S. ally Pakistan, that it has resumed training of cadres intending to carry out “high impact plots” against the United States, and that the terrorist threat for the … Continue reading “Can’t Find Osama?
Attack Iran Instead”

Noted libertarian legal scholar Randy Barnett’s pro-war manifesto – which aims to reconcile classical liberalism and neoconservative foreign policy adventurism, and attacks Ron Paul for opposing the Iraq war – will doubtless go down in the history of the freedom movement as the founding document of Bizarro libertarianism, a misshapen byproduct of the 9/11 terrorist … Continue reading “Bizarro ‘Libertarianism’”

The week in Iraq began with a particularly brutal triple bombing in the oil-rich, disputed city of Kirkuk – a truck bomb took out part of the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and subsequent car bombs hit a nearby market and a police patrol, with over … Continue reading “The War Is Lost”

Update at 12:30 p.m. EDT, July 17, 2007At least 154 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 70 more were wounded in the latest attacks, which included killing over two dozen villagers in Duwailiya. Also, a Marine died in a non-combat incident in Anbar province, and the DOD reported that an American soldier was killed … Continue reading “Tuesday: 154 Iraqis, 2 GI Killed; 70 Iraqis Wounded”

BAGHDAD – Many Iraqis are now beginning to see the rising sectarian violence as part of a larger plan to partition the country. “Americans want to alter the shape of our cities, dividing Iraqis into ethnic and sectarian groups living separately from each other,” Khali Sadiq, a researcher in statistics at Baghdad University, told IPS. … Continue reading “In Iraq, Partition Fears
Begin to Rise”