Month: January 2008

For years the U.S. has attempted to mold Pakistan. The result is not pretty: an unstable, undemocratic state which possesses nuclear weapons, border provinces which offer safe haven to Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, and people who loath the American government. The murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is merely the latest blow to Washington’s plans. … Continue reading “Misguided Meddling in Pakistan”

Updated at 1:10 a.m. EST, Jan. 4, 2008Although the surge in bombings continues in Baghdad, the latest attacks have not resulted in any significant amount of casualties. Overall, at least 41 Iraqis were killed and 34 more were wounded across Iraq. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and one was injured in separate incidents. Meanwhile, the … Continue reading “Thursday: 3 Soldiers, 41 Iraqis Killed; 34 Iraqis Wounded”

The end of 2007 produced a telltale indication of what the New Year seems likely to bring to Iraq. "We the Iraqi members of parliament signing below demand a timetable for withdrawal of the occupation forces (MNF) from our beloved Iraq," 144 members of the 275-member parliament, a clear majority, wrote in a declaration April … Continue reading “New Year Begins Unhappily In Iraq”

A State Department official’s assertion in late December that Iran had exerted a restraining influence on Iraqi Shi’ite militia violence signaled a major divergence of views between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates over how to portray Iran’s role in Iraq. In an interview with the Washington Post published Dec. … Continue reading “Rice and Gates Divided over Iran’s Role in Iraq”

The US government’s spotty record in obtaining convictions of people charged with providing "material support" to terrorist organizations is adding new impetus to the efforts of prominent constitutional lawyers to seek substantial changes in the law. The latest failure in a terrorism-financing prosecution came late in 2007, when a Texas jury failed to render any … Continue reading “Terror Prosecutions Shed More Heat Than Light”

The new year has hardly had time to properly start, but the Washington Post has already set the tone for things to come. In the January 2, 2008 issue, on page A13 (opinion), the Post carries an abridged article by Moisés Naím, titled “A Hunger for America.” Never mind the current disaffection with the United … Continue reading “Shilling for the Empress”

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – Emma Lazarus, 1883 If you don’t mind thinking about the Bush legacy a year early, there are worse places … Continue reading “Journey to the Dark Side: The Bush Legacy”

The following is an excerpt from Kolko’s 2002 Book Another Century of War, published by New Press. Communism’s virtual disappearance caused the geopolitical and strategic factors that produced alliances and coalitions after 1947 to decline and lose their justifications everywhere, but new ones have been more difficult to make. The situation in the entire Islamic … Continue reading “Destabilizing the Islamic World”

Updated at 11:58 p.m. EST, Jan. 2, 2008A female suicide bomber struck Baquba for the second time this week and only a day after a major bombing in Baghdad. The recent surge in bombings coincides with a message from Osama bin Laden threatening an increase in such attacks against Awakening Councils. Overall, at least 67 … Continue reading “Wednesday: 67 Iraqis Killed, 55 Iraqis Wounded”

Have you heard the news? Iran is not Iraq. On the surface, the two neighboring countries seem similar enough. Iran and Iraq hold the world’s 2nd and 3rd largest oil reserves respectively, have Shi’ite majorities, share a long border, and fought a pointless, bloody eight-year war that cost over a million lives. Prior to the … Continue reading “Experts Agree: Iran Is Not Iraq”