Month: April 2008

Enmeshed in two military occupations that have turned into well-publicized quagmires, the Army and Marines are understandably having trouble enlisting new recruits. Their answer: vastly increase the number of convicted felons and other societal miscreants accepted into their ranks. According to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, from 2006 to 2007 the Army … Continue reading “Quagmires, Wacky Personnel Policies Strain All-Volunteer Military”

Updated at 12:25 a.m. EDT, April 28, 2008At least 101 bodies were found in two separate mass graves. Another 78 people were killed or found dead, and 131 more were wounded in other violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. In political news, several dozen lawmakers from different blocs staged a sit-in, asking that the blockade … Continue reading “Sunday: 179 Iraqis Killed, 131 Wounded; Mass Graves Found”

Updated at 12:30 a.m. EDT, April, 27, 2008At least 53 Iraqis were killed and 148 more were wounded in the latest security incidents. Several suicide bombings took place in the Mosul area. Meanwhile, Turkish air forces bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) locations in northern Iraq, but no casualties were reported. No Coalition deaths were announced … Continue reading “Saturday: 53 Iraqis Killed, 148 Wounded”

Are the latest accusations and tough language leveled against Iran, Syria, and North Korea evidence of a resurgence by the remaining hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush hoping for a final confrontation against one or more members of the revised "axis of evil" before his term next January? That’s the big question … Continue reading “Hawks Resurgent?”

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has refused to release more than 7,000 documents related to its programs of secret detentions, renditions, and torture, and is asking a federal judge to dismiss a Freedom of Information lawsuit demanding disclosure. The refusal came last week in the CIA’s response to a lawsuit brought by three human rights … Continue reading “Groups Wrangle with CIA over ‘Ghost Prisoners’”

The US Congress moved a step closer Thursday to reining in the legal practice that the government has used to block lawsuits by whistleblowers and victims of "extraordinary rendition," as well as actions that would embarrass the George W. Bush administration. By an 11-8 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the State Secrets Protection Act, … Continue reading “Courts May Get More Latitude on ‘State Secrets’”

Well, according to the Associated Press, a "top U.S. official" – speaking, as always, "on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter" – told reporters that "evidence" would be presented to Senate and House Intelligence Committees that the Syrian facility our Major Non-NATO Ally, Israel, attacked without provocation and destroyed last September, … Continue reading “Complicity in Acts of Aggression”

When our government acts, it acts in our name. If its acts are lawful and honorable, all’s well and good. When they are dishonorable, we have a choice: Either we dissent or assent, even if by our silence. In the case of Dr. Sami al-Arian, the Bush Justice Department has acted in a most disgraceful … Continue reading “The Un-American Treatment of Sami al-Arian”

Abu Zubaydah, an alleged senior al-Qaeda operative, has been held without charge or trial as a "high-value detainee" for over six years, first in secret CIA custody, and then in Guantánamo, while battles have raged within the administration over his supposed significance. Drawing, in particular, on the story of former Guantánamo prisoner Khalid al-Hubayshi, Andy … Continue reading “The Insignificance and Insanity of Abu Zubaydah”

While the U.S. and many European countries believe that Iran’s nuclear ambitions can be restrained by increasing sanctions aimed at the regime’s decision-makers, Tehran continues to outwit them without changing its policies. The sanctions are not only failing to achieve their stated aims, they are also strengthening a government that has become more despotic since … Continue reading “Helping the Mullahs,
Hurting the Poor”