Month: December 2007

Updated at 6:44 p.m. EST, Dec. 22, 2007At least 14 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 22 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. Also, a pair of IEDs killed one MND-North soldier and wounded 11 more in Kirkuk. Meanwhile, U.S. troops left a base in Fallujah and arrested an wanted man … Continue reading “Saturday: 1 US soldier, 14 Iraqis Killed; 22 Iraqis Wounded”

Although the image of the United States appears to have improved in Saudi Arabia over the past year, the Saudi public’s view of Washington remains largely negative, according to major new poll released here this week by Terror Free Tomorrow (TFT), a Washington, D.C.-based bipartisan group. Indeed, less than 40 percent of some 1,000 Saudi … Continue reading “Iran Polls Better Than US in Saudi Arabia”

I should clarify something during this season when everyone hopes for peace and good will: I am not a pacifist. If war is forced upon us, we have no choice but to fight it. Ernest Hemingway said it well when he observed that there are several things worse than war, and they all come with … Continue reading “It’s Common Sense, Not Pacifism”

The conventional wisdom de jour in Washington, DC, can be summed up in a catchphrase popularized by Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign: “It’s the economy, stupid!” The former Arkansas governor was challenging then-President George H.W. Bush, who had led the United States into a military victory against Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, criticizing … Continue reading “Bye, Bye Tora Bora; Hello Subprime Mortgages”

In case you thought that Bonkers Bolton was finally right about something – that the U.S. Intelligence Community had finally staged a "quasi-putsch," had finally stood up to the Likudniks and assorted neo-crazies hell-bent on launching a "pre-emptive" attack on Iran, had properly assessed the voluminous information the Iranians have made available (voluntarily or upon … Continue reading “Justifying the Iraq War: Why the NIE Is Wrong”

Updated at 5:25 p.m. EST, Dec. 21, 2007 At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded during a day of extremely light violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. A suicide car bomber in Yusufiya killed four policemen and a civilian. Eight people were also wounded in the attack. Three bodies were recovered … Continue reading “Friday: 14 Iraqis Killed, 10 Wounded”

Amity Shlaes, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (New York: Harper Collins, 2007), 464 pp. Franklin Delano Roosevelt has two principal legacies: the New Deal and World War II. The latter would have occurred even had he never been elected president, though America might not have intervened in the conflict, or … Continue reading “The Forgotten Man“

Congress’ approval Wednesday of $70 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean the twin conflicts are now more costly to American taxpayers than the war in Vietnam. According to a study by the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Congress has now approved nearly $700 billion for the wars in Iraq … Continue reading “Iraq, Afghanistan War Costs Top Vietnam”

Twelve-year-old Lama Al-Arian looked up into a camera with a broad smile two years ago and called her father a "political prisoner.” But her eyes betray her playfully shy exuberance – they are wracked by uncertainty about the future of a man who has been in a United States prison for five years this February. … Continue reading “Al-Arian Documentary Highlights Real Cost of Indefinite Detentions”

It’s the end of a year that sets a record for American casualties in Iraq –and yet, we are told, the "surge" is "working." We’re well into an election season in which the American voting public overwhelmingly opposes this war, and wants our troops out by the end of ’08 – and yet the "major" … Continue reading “Antiwar.com’s Man of the Year: Thomas Fingar”