Month: January 2008

The other day, as we reached the first anniversary of the President’s announcement of his “surge” strategy, his “new way forward” in Iraq, I found myself thinking about the earliest paid book-editing work I ever did. An editor at a San Francisco textbook publisher hired me to “doctor” god-awful texts designed for audiences of captive … Continue reading “The Corpse on the Gurney: The ‘Success’ Mantra in Iraq”

The Republican Party once claimed to oppose wasteful government spending. Republicans criticized Democrats for pushing ever more money for foreign aid and welfare, irrespective of results. When GOP candidates advocated increased military outlays during the Cold War, they pointed to genuine threats as justification. Republicans are now the party of spend, spend, spend. Under a … Continue reading “The Great Defense Budget Black Hole”

Updated at 10:40 p.m. EST, Jan. 17, 2008With just a couple of days to go before the culmination of the Ashuraa observances on Saturday, the holy city of Karbala is already packed with Shi’ite pilgrims, and even more are expected to arrive. Increased Iraqi troops were ordered to the area for security purposes, while curfews … Continue reading “Thursday: 41 Iraqis Killed, 40 Wounded”

Neoconservative hawks lamented the latest casualty in the war on terror last Friday, as the ax fell on Stephen Coughlin’s job. The Pentagon decided not to renew the contract of its "foremost" specialist on Islamic law and Islamic extremism when it ends in March, citing budget cuts. But Coughlin’s supporters say the jihad maven was … Continue reading “Pentagon’s Islam ‘Expert’ Hoisted by His Own Jihad”

Three days from now, citizens of Serbia will head to the polls and cast their ballots for their preferred candidate among the seven. Between the media and the pollsters, there is an expectation that no candidate will get the necessary majority in the first round, and that the second round will be decided between the … Continue reading “A Different Endgame”

After pandering to Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s right-wing government last week, US president George W. Bush carried the Israeli/neoconservative campaign against Iran to Arab countries. Sounding as authentic as the "Filipino Monkey," Bush told the Arab countries that "Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror," and that "Iran’s actions threaten the security … Continue reading “Bringing Death and Destruction to Muslims”

Updated at 12:50 a.m EST, Jan. 17, 2008Security in Iraq is heightened for the Ashuraa observances now underway, but numerous bombings have nevertheless left at least 32 Iraqis dead and another 72 wounded. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and another two were wounded during a small arms attck today in Salah ad Din province as … Continue reading “Wednesday: 3 US Soldiers, 32 Iraqis Killed; 72 Iraqis Wounded”

The Pentagon’s announcement Tuesday that it is dispatching some 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan underlines both Washington’s mounting concern about the strength of the Taliban insurgency and the growing sense here that the central front in its nearly six-and-a-half-year-old "war on terror" has moved back to its South Asian roots. The deployment, which will take place … Continue reading “War on Terror Moves East”

Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the Jan. 6 U.S.-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran’s military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows. The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can … Continue reading “How the Pentagon Planted a False Story”

TEHRAN – When the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad uncharacteristically denounced the country’s police force for strictly enforcing the Islamic dress code (hijab), it was attributed to fears of losing popularity ahead of parliamentary elections in March. In an article published in the Iran newspaper, the official mouthpiece, government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham criticized the … Continue reading “Enforcing Iran’s Dress Code May Cost Votes”