Month: April 2008

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended some years ago. In Iraq, the war ended with the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government; in Afghanistan, with the fall of the Taliban government. What’s been happening since is occupation and resistance to occupation. It’s always helpful to call things by the right name. One of the ways … Continue reading “It’s Occupation, Not War”

Updated at 9:00 p.m. EDT, April 11, 2008In Najaf, unknown gunmen assassinated a senior aide to Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. This may further unravel a now-tenuous ceasefire imposed by al-Sadr on his followers. At least 60 people were killed and another 62 were wounded in violence across the country. No Coalition troops were reported killed. … Continue reading “Friday: 60 Iraqis Killed, 62 Wounded; Sadr Aide Assassinated”

With the head of the occupying forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker delivering a progress report to Congress this week, Iraq has been thrust back into the US public consciousness, along with all the political divisions the issue engenders. What the George W. Bush administration hails as a … Continue reading “Iraqi Shi’ites: Calm on the Surface, Simmering Beneath”

Washington is providing military aid to six of the countries cited in the US State Department’s latest series of human rights reports for recruiting and using child soldiers. They are Afghanistan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda. A new study by the Washington-based Center for Defense Information (CDI) charges that, … Continue reading “Serious Abuses No Bar to US Military Aid”

QUITO – President Rafael Correa’s allegations that intelligence services in Ecuador had been infiltrated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have led to a shakeup in the armed forces of unforeseeable consequences. Resignations and dismissals are the order of the day. Wellington Sandoval resigned as defense minister Wednesday and was replaced by Correa’s personal … Continue reading “‘CIA Infiltration’ Charges Prompt Shakeup in Ecuador’s Armed Forces”

Two years ago, when I was in Kuala Lumpur as a guest of the Perdana Peace Forum, I had the singularly unpleasant experience of meeting Robert Mugabe. Well, “meeting” him is hardly the word: rather, I espied him, sitting directly across from me, at the opening banquet of the conference. Turning to the person next … Continue reading “Israel Loves Mugabe”

We are winning in Iraq, so the administration tells us. Gen. David Petraeus has appeared on Capitol Hill to explain the winning strategy. But his equivocal endorsement of current policy never answered the question he posed to a reporter at the war’s start: "Tell me how this ends." It’s time the American people demanded of … Continue reading “Iraq: Tell Us How This Ends”

The neocons may yet get their war on Iran. Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East. Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has “fueled … Continue reading “Petraeus Points to War With Iran”

Is it because John Yoo, the former Justice Department’s hired hand, is such an easy target? Is it because of the cheeky, in-your-face way in which Yoo argues that the president has the authority to have your eyes poked out and your sons’ testicles crushed, because we are "at war" and he is commander-in-chief? Or … Continue reading “Yoo’s on First?”

Let’s start with a few simple propositions. First, the farther away you are from the ground, the clearer things are likely to look, the more god-like you are likely to feel, the less human those you attack are likely to be to you. How much more so, of course, if you, the “pilot,” are actually … Continue reading “Nine Propositions on the U.S. Air War for Terror”