Month: March 2008

Frontline‘s "Bush’s War" on PBS Monday and Tuesday evening was a nicely put-together rehash of the top players’ trickery that led to the attack on Iraq, together with the power-grabbing, back-stabbing, and limitless incompetence of the occupation. Except for an inside-the-Beltway tidbit here and there – for example, about how the pitiable former Secretary of … Continue reading “Frontline: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late”

Updated at 9:00 p.m. EDT, Mar. 26, 2008As clashes continue today in southern Iraq and Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given the Mahdi Army three days to surrender and turn over their weapons. Overall, 76 Iraqis were killed and 367 more were wounded throughout Iraq. One British and two American soldiers were also killed … Continue reading “Wednesday: 2 GIs, 1 British Soldier, 76 Iraqis Killed; 367 Iraqis Wounded”

China’s continuing crackdown on Tibetan pro-independence protesters is a big, big issue here in San Francisco. Why, just the other day, I was coming out my front door, and there was one of my neighbors – a very nice woman in her fifties, albeit an archetypal limousine liberal, typical of the breed. So typical that … Continue reading “Why They Hate China”

Today, in his usual remarkable way, Mark Danner takes stock of the president’s failed War on Terror abroad. One day, we will also need to take full stock of George W. Bush’s War on Terror at home. After all, conceptually speaking, the War on Terror lay at the heart of everything he and his top … Continue reading “Generals bin Laden and Bush”

Adm. Fallon’s (forced?) resignation was the last warning we are likely to get of an attack on Iran. It does not mean an attack is certain, but the U.S. could not attack Iran so long as he was the Centcom commander. That obstacle is now gone. Vice President Cheney’s Middle East tour is another indicator. … Continue reading “Operation Cassandra”

Last week marked five years since President Bush’s decision to engage in preemptive war against Iraq (or more accurately, preventive war, since there was no imminent threat to thwart; rather its purpose was to prevent a potential threat that had not yet emerged from materializing – even though there was no concrete evidence that such … Continue reading “Hard to See the Benefits Through the Bills and the Blood”

Updated at 11:45 p.m. EDT, Mar. 25, 2008The fragile ceasefire unilaterally imposed by Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on his followers may be unraveling. Clashes between Iraqi security and al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army are taking place in Basra and other cities, even as al-Sadr asks for a peaceful but nationwide sit-in to protest the unfair targeting of … Continue reading “Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 54 Iraqis Killed; 129 Iraqis Wounded”

DAMASCUS – More than a million Iraqis in Syria cannot find work. For their idleness, they have come to be called the "pillow drivers." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says there are at least 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria. If they seek work, they will lose their status as refugees. And … Continue reading “Syria Now Home to a Million Iraqi ‘Pillow Drivers’”

JERUSALEM – If Israeli leaders had hoped that their blockade of Gaza and the military’s early March incursion into the coastal strip might undermine support for the leadership of the Islamic Hamas movement in power there, then they will be disappointed with the findings of a recent opinion poll. The survey results will also bolster … Continue reading “Survey: Israel Strengthens Hamas Yet Again”

Matt asked me this question (Matt being Matthew Barganier, merciless editor at this Web site) in response to a draft rant from me about NATO’s role in Afghanistan. It’s a good question: what should NATO do in Afghanistan? Here’s my answer: (1) read the Globe and Mail, (2) take it to the streets. I don’t … Continue reading “‘What Should NATO Do?’”