Month: January 2008

It is quite remarkable that a coterie of neocon intellectuals and influence peddlers can exhibit bizarre personal behavior, prove utterly incompetent in high appointive office, manufacture entirely false evidence to propel us into a disastrous war, and yet still have people willing to listen to them. An outraged American public ought to be shouting "Enough! … Continue reading “James Woolsey: Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind”

When the Tonkin Gulf incident took place in early August 1964, I was a journeyman CIA analyst in what Condoleezza Rice refers to as “the bowels of the agency.” As a current intelligence analyst responsible for Russian policy toward Southeast Asia and China, I worked very closely with those responsible for analysis of Vietnam and … Continue reading “Gulf of Tonkin Will Be
Tough to Repeat”

Both the book and movie Charlie Wilson’s War glorify the "colorful" liberal Democratic congressman’s successful crusade to bludgeon the reluctant, neoconservative Reagan administration into dramatically escalating funding, arming, and training of radical Islamists fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Although the zestful life and escapades of Wilson make for an entertaining and true-to-(Wilson’s)-life movie, … Continue reading “Charlie Wilson’s Warlords”

If John McCain wins the Republican presidential nomination, it seems to me that the Democrats have only to show the American people this clip: That alone would be enough to blow the USS McCain out of the water. What with polls showing [.pdf] that most voters want us out by the end of 2008, McCain … Continue reading “The Hundred-Year War”

Updated at 5:25 p.m EST, Jan. 13, 2008At least 13 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 26 were injured in various incidents. In Diyala, deliberately contaminated water sickened over a dozen people. In Baghdad, security forces will impose a motorcycle ban to prevent attacks during Ashuraa. Also, one American soldier was killed and … Continue reading “Sunday: 1 US Soldier, 13 Iraqis Killed; 26 Iraqis Wounded”

Human rights activists will lead rallies across the United States today to build pressure on the Bush administration and Congress to end the detention of foreign prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay military camp. From Washington, DC to Boise, Idaho, civil libertarians plan to hold more than 20 demonstrations and sit-ins across the country and have … Continue reading “Protests Mark 6 Years of Guantánamo”

Updated at 5:10 p.m. EST, Jan. 12, 2008U.S. forces announced the removal of troops in Anbar province with the hope that the province will be completely in Iraqi hands by March. The news coincided with a light day of violence in which at least 30 Iraqis were killed and another nine were wounded. Also, a … Continue reading “Saturday: 1 Marine, 30 Iraqis Killed; 9 Iraqis Wounded”

FALLUJAH – US and Iraqi officials claim that security is improving across al-Anbar province and much of Iraq. Security during the last half of 2007 was indeed better than in the period between February 2006 and mid-2007. But this has brought little solace to many Iraqis, because violence is still worse than in 2005 and … Continue reading “Iraq Less Violent and Hellish Only in Numbers”

How many Iraqi civilians have lost their lives as a result of gunshots and bombings since the US military invaded that oil-rich Arab nation nearly five years ago? Credible estimates for the period March 2003 until June 2006 have ranged from a high of 600,000 to about 47,000. The first figure was reported by researchers … Continue reading “Iraqi Civilian Deaths Massive by Any Measure”

I started this from an airport, on my way to New Hampshire to join the horde of media covering the primaries there. Having spent almost a week of being unremittingly busy as an anonymous (except perhaps to Register readers and others who checked out my blogging) member of the horde of media (that herd of … Continue reading “Some Substance, Please”