Month: May 2008

Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race…Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never. – Rev. William Sloane Coffin On May 19th, the one-week anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, the entire Chinese nation stood at attention for three minutes to remember the victims … Continue reading “Give China Some Face”

Updated at 5:20 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2008 At least 29 Iraqis were killed and 76 more were wounded in the latest attacks. The worst occurred in Sinjar. Several foreign fighters were also killed near Tikrit. No Coalition deaths were reported, but the army released figures on U.S. military suicides, which are at their highest … Continue reading “Thursday: 29 Iraqis Killed, 76 Wounded”

LONDON – The annual report of Amnesty International (AI) released Wednesday holds the United States responsible for setting world standards on human rights — and then failing in that task. "As the world’s most powerful state, the USA sets the standard for government behavior globally," but the US has "distinguished itself in recent years through … Continue reading “Amnesty: US Sets Standards, Fails to Meet Them”

When the world was young and hope dared live in Washington, a small group of people put together something called the Military Reform Movement. Its purpose was to measure defense policies and programs by the standard of what works in combat rather than who benefits financially. Launched in the 1970s, it peaked in the early … Continue reading “The Ancient History of Military Reform”

With daily television coverage of suicide car-bomb attacks, ambushes, drive-by shootings, stabbings, and other Intifada-type attacks around the world, the question arises as to why al-Qaeda does not stage such small-scale but deadly operations in the United States. From Washington and the presidential campaign trail comes a cocky, multi-part answer: our massive homeland security spending … Continue reading “Why Doesn’t al-Qaeda Attack the US?”

Updated at 7:00 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2008Clashes reignited in Sadr City on an otherwise quiet day. At least 31 Iraqis were killed and 24 more were wounded in the latest violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, the main Sunni political bloc has suspended talks to rejoin the Shi’ite government led by Prime Minister … Continue reading “Wednesday: 31 Iraqis Killed, 24 Wounded”

Here are words to pin to the Bush years like a wilting corsage: “We don’t know what we paid for.” That’s a quote from Mary Ugone, the Defense Department’s deputy inspector general for auditing, concerning massive Pentagon payments made during the occupation and war in Iraq for which there is no existing (or grossly inadequate) … Continue reading “The Pentagon Takes Charge”

After the Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong won the civil war in China in 1949 and forced Chiang Kai-shek and his pro-American Chinese Nationalists to flee to Taiwan, U.S. Congress and the press started to debate the question: "Who Lost China?" Conservatives blamed the "China Hands" in the U.S. State Department, who were accused … Continue reading “Who Lost the Middle East?”

Editor’s note: As a 16th prisoner at Guantánamo, Noor Uthman Muhammed, is put forward for trial by military commission (the much-criticized system of trials for "terror suspects" invented in the wake of the 9/11 attacks), Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison, provides a guide … Continue reading “The 16 Prisoners Charged in Gitmo’s Military Commissions”

Arlington National Cemetery could almost be my backyard. I live right down the road from the new Air Force Memorial and not far from the Iwo Jima Memorial. The other memorials to those who served and fought in our nation’s wars – the Navy Memorial (interestingly, the U.S. Army is the only military service without … Continue reading “Things to Remember on Memorial Day”