Month: August 2007

Soon after coming to power, Ariel Sharon started to commission public opinion polls. He kept the results to himself. This week, a reporter of Israel’s TV Channel 10 succeeded in obtaining some of them. Among other things, Sharon wanted to know what the public thought about peace. He did not dream of starting on this … Continue reading “The Language of Force”

Even as the International Atomic Energy Agency is meeting with Iranian officials to discuss increasing the openness of Iran’s nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains defiant about Tehran’s right to pursue such a program – including uranium enrichment, which would give Iran a de facto nuclear weapon capability. This raises the specter of one … Continue reading “Defusing Nuclear Hysteria”

Updated at 11:55 p.m. EDT, Aug. 29, 2007A day after a deadly battle in Kerbala, authorities say that order has been restored. In related news, Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army to cease all attacks until rogue elements are eliminated. Overall, 60 Iraqis were killed and 28 were wounded in the latest … Continue reading “Wednesday: 1 GI, 60 Iraqis Killed; 28 Iraqis Wounded”

FALLUJAH – Fallujah is quiet these days. After all the fighting and destruction of 2004, U.S. and Iraqi forces call this success. Many residents are not so sure. Fallujah, 35 mi. west of Baghdad, produced some of the strongest resistance yet to U.S. forces and their Iraqi collaborators. These forces led two severe assaults on … Continue reading “Fallujah Finds a False Peace”

For months we at Antiwar.com have been monitoring the situation between Iran and the United States, parsing the words of administration spokesmen for any hints of when and how hostilities between the two countries might begin. We’ve been running reports from insiders saying that the Cheney faction is pushing for an attack, that Bush is … Continue reading “War With Iran”

Israeli officials warned the George W. Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilizing to the region and urged the United States to instead target Iran as the primary enemy, according to former administration official Lawrence Wilkerson. Wilkerson, then a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff and later chief of staff … Continue reading “Source: Israel Told US to Target Iran, Not Iraq”

Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is rising a notch in my estimation. He’s begun to snap back at his American critics. Bully for him. Arrogant American politicians, in calling for his ouster, shed all pretense of any interest in democracy. Clearly they see themselves as imperial overlords dissatisfied with someone they consider an American stooge. … Continue reading “Black Comedy”

Breaking news: The Army officer in charge of the interrogation/torture operation at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 is being court-martialed. My first thought: Finally, an officer is being held accountable. In view of the repeated rebuff to my own attempts to stop the torture and identify those responsible, however, you will perhaps excuse my skepticism … Continue reading “Army Adds Farce to
Abu Ghraib Shame”

American Jeremy Brown was shocked and dismayed when he found out yesterday that the fee for renewing his travel visa in China had suddenly jumped from RMB160 to RMB760. A once routine trip to the Public Security Bureau in downtown Chengdu to pay a small fee is now a financial matter of some concern for … Continue reading “Politicize It”

Updated at 11:31 p.m. EDT, Aug. 28, 2007As feared, violence broke out in Kerbala during a pilgrimage to a Shi’ite shrine. Local police have ordered the hundreds of thousands already gathered to leave the city and officially ended observances. Overall, at least 148 Iraqis were killed and 330 were wounded in incidents throughout the country. … Continue reading “Tuesday: 148 Iraqis Killed, 330 Wounded”