Month: November 2007

Whether to impress the Supreme Court with its sense of justice prior to next month’s showdown over detainees’ rights, or, more likely, to placate the Saudi government following the death of a third Saudi detainee in Guantánamo in May, the Bush administration released another 14 Saudi detainees on Saturday. Whichever way you look at it, … Continue reading “Innocents and Foot Soldiers: The Stories of the 14 Saudis Just Released From Gitmo”

Updated at 12:15 a.m. EST, Nov. 14, 2007At least 62 Iraqis were killed and 43 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. Four U.S. soldiers were killed and four more were wounded in separate events as well. Also, the chief of police in Basra warned of the worsening security situation in the city; … Continue reading “Tuesday: 4 U.S. soldiers, 62 Iraqis Killed; 43 Iraqis Wounded”

BAGHDAD – The separation of religious groups in the face of sectarian violence has brought some semblance of relative calm to Baghdad. But many Iraqis see this as the uncertain consequence of a divide and rule policy. Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military "surge" … Continue reading “Baghdad: A Tale of One City, Now Two”

Is a Bush preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz, or on the al-Quds force of the Revolutionary Guard, a more remote possibility today than it was several weeks ago? So it would seem. The latest indication is a candid interview in the Financial Times with Adm. William “Fox” Fallon, head of Central … Continue reading “Is World War III on Hold?”

In his 2005 inaugural address, President George W. Bush declared that the United States would support democratic movements around the world and work to end tyranny. Furthermore, he pledged to those struggling for freedom that the United States would “not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors.” Despite these promises, the Bush administration – with … Continue reading “Musharraf Isn’t the First,
but He Should Be the Last”

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is now teetering on the edge of the abyss, just as I predicted in the spring of 2007. He was pushed there by U.S. policy, and worse yet, his country is armed with nukes. To prevent the Pakistani Supreme Court from declaring him ineligible to serve another term as president, … Continue reading “Bush’s Role in Bringing
Pakistan to the Abyss”

Updated at 6:20 p.m. EST, Nov. 12, 2007Once again a private security company is under investigation after a fatal shooting in Baghdad. Overall, 36 Iraqis were killed and 17 more were wounded in various incidents. No Coalition casualties were reported but a Humvee was destroyed in Baghdad. In Baghdad, a private security contractor from U.S.-based … Continue reading “Monday: 36 Iraqis Killed, 17 Wounded”

Think for a moment of what has happened in Iraq since the Bush administration’s shock-and-awe invasion in March 2003. There are, by now, perhaps a million dead Iraqis, give or take a few hundred thousand. If a typical wounded-to-dead ratio of 3:1 holds, then you’re talking about up to 4 million war, occupation, and civil-war … Continue reading “Fighting Whom in Iraq?”

A huge shift is taking place in the American landscape, as we cross the boundary that separates a republic from an empire, and that is the emergence of dynastic politics. No American seems to have yet noticed that American presidential elections seem to be morphing into combat between rival royal families, but Chrystia Freeland, the … Continue reading “Dynasties and Democracy”

We live in difficult times. Afghanistan is sucking up NATO money (and lives) at an alarming rate, with no end in sight and no measurable progress. Member countries are apparently unable to agree on policy or implementation. The laughable Afghanistan Compact, which has no basis in law, set mid-2007 as the goal for an end … Continue reading “Canada Needs a New Plan for Afghanistan”