Month: August 2007

Updated at 11:14 p.m EDT Aug. 25, 2007As Iraq readies for an important religious holiday, extra security measures have been set in place. Despite the measures, a car bombing in Baghdad has killed or wounded dozens of people. Also, U.S. forces have uncovered a site that may have been used for militant executions. Overall, 35 … Continue reading “Saturday: 1 GI, 35 Iraqis Killed; 46 Iraqis Wounded”

I suspect that what’s really going on with President Bush’s invocation of the Vietnam war, which most hawks have resisted until recently, is not necessarily a late endorsement of that quagmire of a war or even an argument that the United States should have stayed longer (although it could be read that way). I suspect … Continue reading “Ending with a Whimper”

In May, 2002, Jose Padilla, upon reentering the United States for the first time in several years, was arrested by the FBI. A month later, while in Moscow, Attorney General John Ashcroft, announced the arrest at an impromptu news conference, charging Padilla with being a "known terrorist," who was "exploring a plan" to build and … Continue reading “Padilla the Maladroit”

Updated at 6:40 p.m. EDT, Aug. 24, 2007A U.S. security operation in Baghdad is the focus of contradictory reports as to whether civilians and/or gunmen were killed in the incident. Overall, 45 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 36 others wounded in violence throughout Iraq. Also, a Task Force Lightning soldier succumbed to his … Continue reading “Friday: 1 GI, 45 Iraqis Killed; 36 Iraqis Wounded”

While there have been some improvements in Iraq’s security situation over the past seven months, the level of overall violence remains "high" with only modest improvements possible over the next six to 12 months, according to a new study by the US intelligence community released here Thursday. At the same time, prospects for a political … Continue reading “Iraq: Still No Light at Tunnel’s End”

In a disgusting display of mendacity not seen since the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, a pro-war advertising campaign spearheaded by former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer is buying $15 million worth of 30-second television spots that repeat the lies linking 9/11 to Iraq – and explicitly threatening another terrorist attack in the US … Continue reading “Home Front ‘Surge’”

No pullout from Iraq while I’m president, declares George W. Bush. On to Iran, declares Vice President Cheney. Israel is a "peace-seeking state" that needs $30 billion of US taxpayers’ money for war, declares State Department official Nicholas Burns. The Democratic Congress, if not fully behind the Iraqi war, at least no longer is in … Continue reading “More War on the Horizon”

The Republican Party is in desperate straits. How else to explain that Rudy Giuliani – a former mayor with no foreign policy experience – is the Republican front-runner, largely based on his supposed foreign policy expertise? That the former mayor is unsuited to be president is evident from his recent essay in Foreign Affairs. He … Continue reading “Rudy Giuliani: Confused, Ignorant, or Deceitful?”

It was the highest-tech military of its moment and its invasion of the Arab land was overwhelming. Enemy forces were smashed, the oppressive ruling regime overthrown, the enemy capital occupied, and the country declared liberated? then the first acts of insurgency began? George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003? No, Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of … Continue reading “Pitching the Imperial Republic”

Updated at 11:58 p.m. EDT, Aug. 23, 2007At least 73 Iraqis were killed and 59 were injured during the latest attacks, which include a major battle between Iraqi militants near Baquba. Also, a IED killed an American soldier in Baghdad on Tuesday. A second GI was also killed on Tuesday by an IED in a … Continue reading “Thursday: 2 GIs, 72 Iraqis Killed; 59 Iraqis Wounded”