Month: May 2008

Eleven days ago I wrote an item for The American Conservative blog that asserted that the U.S. National Security Council had decided to proceed with plans to attack Iran in light of Tehran’s reported interference in Iraq and in Lebanon. Those who have been following the issue know well that planning to attack Iran is … Continue reading “The Fourth Estate Fails Again”

Updated at 6:45 p.m. EDT, May 19, 2008Light violence was reported throughout Iraq today. At least 29 Iraqis were killed and 39 more were wounded. Authorities in Mosul continue security operations there and may have netted an important al-Qaeda leader. No Coalition deaths were reported. Iraqi authorities say they have captured an al-Qaeda leader in … Continue reading “Monday: 29 Iraqis Killed, 39 Wounded”

U.C. Berkeley tenured law professor John Yoo epitomizes the failure of the conservative movement in America. Known as "the torture professor," Yoo penned the Department of Justice (sic) memos that gave a blank check to sadistic Americans to torture detainees at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. The human rights violations that John Yoo sanctioned destroyed America’s … Continue reading “The Conservative Movement: From Failure to Threat”

Anyone who has kept half an eye on the proceedings at the military commissions in Guantánamo – the unique system of trials for "terror suspects" that was conceived in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by Vice President Dick Cheney and his close advisers – will be aware that their progress has been faltering at … Continue reading “Betrayals, Backsliding, and Boycotts”

Pardon me if I have, at least for the moment, a certain amount of hope that the abiding institutions and attitudes in the United States just might be able to weather the sustained and systematic assault on our liberties and our better traditions that has characterized the Bush administration since 9/11. Undoubtedly some of the … Continue reading “Optimistic About the Military”

The unseemly spectacle of an American chief executive denouncing a Democratic presidential candidate in a foreign venue, in front of the parliament of a nation whose interests are inextricably intertwined with the issue at hand, has no precedent in our history. It’s as if, say, Lyndon Baines Johnson had journeyed to South Vietnam and attacked … Continue reading “Bush’s True Calling”

Updated at 7:50 p.m EDT, May 18, 2008Clashes reignited in Sadr City, but otherwise Iraq was relatively calm today. At least 28 Iraqis were killed and 56 more were wounded in violence limited mostly to the capital. One American soldier was killed and another wounded in Salah ad Din province when their patrol struck a … Continue reading “Sunday: 1 US Soldier, 28 Iraqis Killed; 56 Iraqis Wounded”

Senator Rambo Dear Mr. Reese: Being taken as a POW does not make one a hero. Please note that is not a shameful thing and is frequently unavoidable. But your having been a POW usually means that you had some bad luck with a SAM or a torpedo or something. Period. A soldier’s duty is … Continue reading “Backtalk, May 19, 2008”

Updated at 10:43 p.m. EDT, May 17, 1008At least 33 Iraqis were killed and 54 more were wounded during light violence. A female suicide bomber attacked a Sunni checkpoint in Baquba, while eight bodies were unearthed near Basra. No Coalition deaths were reported, but an Australian soldier was wounded in Nasiriyah. A female suicide bomber … Continue reading “Saturday: 33 Iraqis Killed, 54 Wounded”

Antiwar veterans of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan took their case to Capitol Hill Thursday, baring their souls with stories of killings of innocent civilians, torture and wrongful detentions. "On several occasions our convoys came upon bodies that had been lying on the road, sometimes for weeks," said Marine Corps veteran Vincent Emanuele, … Continue reading “Iraq Veterans Describe Atrocities to Lawmakers”