Month: December 2007

When in May 2005 the Bush apparatchiks officially adopted the Clinton policy towards the Balkans (until then, they merely allowed it to continue out of inertia), predictions were rife that independence for the occupied Serbian province of Kosovo would be just around the corner. After two and a half years of diplomatic, propaganda and political … Continue reading “The Final Assault”

Updated at 11:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 13, 2007A large triple bombing killed or wounded scores of people in the southern city of Amarah. Meanwhile a smaller blast in Baghdad left over a dozen casualties there. Overall, 59 Iraqis were killed and 177 more were wounded in the latest violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. At … Continue reading “Wednesday: 59 Iraqis Killed, 177 Wounded”

According to the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) "Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities," [.pdf] a key judgment of the 16 members of the U.S. intelligence community is that they "judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program." Given that President Bush first demonized Iran in his January 2002 State … Continue reading “Bush’s Surreal Iran Policy”

How many times have we read some variation on the following lede? "Israeli armored forces backed by aircraft thrust into the southern Gaza Strip today, killing four Palestinians a day before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to begin laying the groundwork for peace talks." The Israelis don’t want to negotiate, but they’re willing to go … Continue reading “The Israel Lobby
and the War Party”

Tom Lantos, a Democrat who has represented San Mateo in the U.S. House of Representatives for 13 terms, plans to run for reelection in 2008. Budapest-born Lantos, who came to the United States as a young man, may face a primary challenge from popular former state Sen. Jackie Speier. Reports indicate that Speier, who has … Continue reading “Is Tom Lantos’ Seat in Jeopardy?”

In Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, reporter Siobhan Gorman offered a striking little portrait of José A. Rodriguez, who, in 2005, as chief of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, ordered the destruction of those “hundreds of hours” of CIA videotapes of the… Now, what do we want to call it? Gorman refers to “extreme techniques” of … Continue reading “On the Torturable and the Untorturable”

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the issue whether the executive branch can detain people indefinitely merely by declaring them to be suspected terrorists or illegal enemy combatants. The case is a habeas corpus issue and, therefore, of the utmost importance. Without the protection of habeas corpus, government can lock away anyone on the … Continue reading “No Liberty Without
Habeas Corpus”

Updated at 11:59 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2007For a second day in a row, Baghdad was the scene of numerous attacks mostly targeting security forces. Overall, 21 Iraqis were killed and 52 more were wounded throughout the country. Also, the DOD reported that one U.S. soldier died from a non-combat incident. In Baghdad, four dumped … Continue reading “Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 21 Iraqis Killed; 52 Iraqis Wounded”

While the Chinese and U.S. publics and elites hold generally favorable views of each other, distrust between them also persists, according to a new "mirror" survey of both countries released Monday. The survey [.pdf], entitled "Hope & Fear: American and Chinese Attitudes Toward Each Other," found that a majority of U.S. citizens consider China’s growing … Continue reading “Chinese, US Attitudes Reflect ‘Hope and Fear’”

The reported White House resistance to the National Intelligence Estimate’s conclusion that Iran had abandoned a nuclear weapons program in 2003 was an effort to save a political tactic the George W. Bush administration had been using since early 2004, despite the absence of an intelligence analysis to support it. The charge that Iran had … Continue reading “White House Fought NIE Over an Old Charge”