Month: September 2007

Other than an increasingly beleaguered band of administration factotums and neoconservative propagandists, few Americans defend the decision to invade Iraq. The mistakes have been too catastrophic and too many for the rest of us to take seriously more of the same promises about the coming new millennium in Iraq. But the crisis of U.S. foreign … Continue reading “Desperately Searching for a New Foreign Policy”

It may have been politically incorrect to publish the thoughts on the sixth anniversary of 9-11, but what Colin Powell had to say to GQ magazine needs to be heard. Terrorism, said Powell, is not a mortal threat to America. ”What is the greatest threat facing us now?” Powell asked. “People will say it’s terrorism. … Continue reading “Is Terrorism a Mortal Threat?”

A US Army captain in Africa waxes philosophical. It’s like the old saying, he opines; "give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he’ll eat forever." Is he talking about skills-building, or community empowerment? No: Captain Joseph Cruz goes from channeling the musician Speech from the American … Continue reading “The New Military Frontier: Africa”

Has anyone noticed that our commander-in-chief no longer plays dress up? He hasn’t done so for a while and that’s no small thing. It’s a phenomenon that came and went almost without comment in the media. I don’t remember the first time I noticed that George W. Bush liked to dress up. It could have … Continue reading “Glued to Our Seats in the Theater of War”

Petraeus Helps Destroy Bush’s ‘Proxy War’ Claim Why does the author accept the Bush Administration’s implicit premise that Iraqi users of EFPs are incapable of constructing their own weapons, and therefore must be getting them from Iran or Hezbollah? As a Google search of EFPs will instantly reveal, the technology is not new and has … Continue reading “Backtalk, September 21, 2007”

Updated at 7:20 p.m. EDT, Sept. 20, 2007At least 66 Iraqis were killed and 54 wounded in the latest round of violence. Among the attacks was another controversial incident involving U.S. troops in Sadr City. Also, several bombs were detonated in Baghdad and Kirkuk. And, a GI was killed in a non-combat accident yesterday in … Continue reading “Thursday: 1 GI, 66 Iraqis Killed; 54 Iraqis Wounded”

A small number of politicians and analysts, including me, have been advocating for some time what has generally been loosely labeled the "partition" option for Iraq. Although at least one anonymous administration official has said that the Bush administration probably would end up there, and although administration policy is tending toward actions on the ground … Continue reading “Why ‘Partition’ (of Iraq) Is a Dirty Word”

Despite the support of a solid majority of the US Senate, a measure designed to restore the right of foreign terrorist suspects to challenge their detention in federal court was blocked here Wednesday on a procedural maneuver. The measure, an amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill, would have restored habeas corpus rights for non-citizens … Continue reading “Republicans Block Habeas for Gitmo Detainees”

Reporting on Iraqi benchmarks in mid-September, Bush and his team of Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker sought to pin some of the blame on Iran. Eschewing diplomatic language during his testimony, Crocker boldly said, "Iran plays a harmful role in Iraq." Gen. David Petraeus added that Iran is fighting a "proxy war" in Iraq by … Continue reading “The Royal Treatment: Saudi Involvement in Iraq Overlooked”

If the invasion of Afghanistan had been a success, we would not still be fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. If the invasion of Iraq had been a success, we would not be fighting there. Two invasions of practically defenseless countries with obsolete weapons and decaying infrastructures have to be termed failures. Both the … Continue reading “Ditch the Empire, Stick to Commerce”