Month: April 2008

Updated at 12:48 a.m. EDT, April 19, 2008As at least 31 Iraqis were killed and another 25 were wounded in new attacks, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered renewed harassment against followers of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. One American soldier was killed during an IED attack north of Baghdad. Iraqi troops, on orders from Prime Minister … Continue reading “Friday: 1 US Soldier, 31 Iraqis Killed; 25 Iraqis Wounded”

There are an estimated 2.7 million Iraqis who have been displaced within their own country. No house; no food; no security. Who do they turn to for help? The international community’s humanitarian organizations? The occupying United States government? The central Iraqi government based in Baghdad? According to a report released Tuesday by Refugees International (RI), … Continue reading “Chaos Hardening Sectarian Fiefdoms”

In testimony before Congressional committees last week, Gen. David Petraeus portrayed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s late March offensive in Basra as a poorly planned effort that departed from what US officials had expected. What Petraeus did not reveal is that al-Maliki was deliberately upsetting a Petraeus plan to put US and British forces into … Continue reading “Petraeus Hid Maliki Resistance to US Troops in Basra”

Dedicated sardonically “to Dwight and Nikita” – President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, for those too young to remember – Mordecai Roshwald’s futuristic novel Level 7 was published in 1959. It was the “diary” of a “button pusher” responsible for launching a nuclear war while living 4,000 feet underground in the deepest … Continue reading “Leaving Cheyenne Mountain: How I Learned to Start Worrying and Loathe the Bomb”

Editorial note: Three times a week, I address specific foreign policy issues in this space, from the war in Iraq to the next war just over the horizon. Today, however, I want to step back and give you, the reader, some idea of who we are and why we do what we do. Antiwar.com is … Continue reading “What We’re About”

When Iraqi Prime Minister al-Kerensky sent his "army" to fight the Mahdi Army in Basra, President Bush called it "a defining moment." It turned out instead to be a confirming moment. It confirmed that there is no state in Mesopotamia. One of the most common signs that America’s leadership is clueless about 4GW is the … Continue reading “A Confirming Moment”

Updated at 11:40 p.m. EDT, April 17, 2008At least 144 Iraqis were killed and another 122 were wounded during the latest attacks, which included a significant suicide bombing in a small village. A large mass grave was found in Baghdad as well. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, a border clash left several Turkish soldiers … Continue reading “Thursday: 144 Iraqis Killed, 122 Wounded”

Throughout a long career in politics, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain has had his foreign policy shaped by his and the United States’ experience in the Vietnam War. But that shaping has been very dynamic – not beholden to any one particular lesson of the conflict, but rather taking each political situation presented … Continue reading “McCain’s Vietnam Lessons Unlearned”

One battle rarely wins or loses a war, at least in the moment. Gettysburg crippled Lee’s army in 1863, but the Confederates fought on until 1865. Stalingrad broke the back of the German 6th Army, but it would be two-and-a-half years before the Russians took Berlin. War – particularly the modern variety – is a … Continue reading “Basra: Echoes of Vietnam”

The following is adapted from Glenn Greenwald’s new book, Great American Hypocrites, released this week. Central to the right-wing mythmaking machine is the depiction of their male leaders as swaggering tough guys in the iconic mold of an American cowboy and brave, steadfast warrior. Above all else, Republican leaders are invariably held up as exuding … Continue reading “Tough Guise”