Month: June 2008

Updated at 5:25 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2008At least 21 Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded on a relatively quiet prayer day. No Coalition troops were reported killed. Meanwhile, Iranian forces continue to shell suspected Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) rebel locations in northern Iraq. Casualties, if any, are unknown. In … Continue reading “Friday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 8 Wounded”

Claims by US President George W. Bush and other top administration officials before the 2003 invasion of Iraq regarding Baghdad’s ties to al-Qaeda and its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program were generally not supported by the evidence that the US intelligence community had at the time, according to a major new report by the … Continue reading “Senate Finds Pre-War Bush Claims Exaggerated, False”

Washington is filled with politicians, policy analysts, journalists, pundits, and other know-it-alls. Why did it take seven and a half years after the Bush administration took office for one insider to make the simple observation: wars “should only be waged when necessary.” That’s true, of course. Indeed, it should be self-evidently true. Yet the president, … Continue reading “Waging War Only When Necessary”

On June 9, 1999, the 78-day war that NATO waged on what was then Yugoslavia came to a close. Representatives of Yugoslav military and NATO signed an armistice in the Macedonian town of Kumanovo, paving the way for NATO’s takeover of the province. At the time, it was spun in the West as a victory … Continue reading “From Munich to Kosovo”

Be depressed. Be very depressed. You thought that cyberspace – a term conjured up long ago by that neuromancer, sci-fi author William Gibson – was the last frontier of freedom. Well, think again. If the U.S. Air Force has anything to say about it, cyber-freedom will, in the not so distant future, be just another … Continue reading “Uncle Sam’s Cyber Force Wants You!”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit to the U.S. is part of a concerted effort, by the Israeli government and its American lobbyists, to convince U.S. lawmakers – and, most of all, President George W. Bush – that the time to attack Iran is now. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot reports that Olmert will tell … Continue reading “Obama Capitulates”

Updated at 6:15 p.m. EDT, June 5, 2008At least 20 Iraqis were killed and six more were wounded during mostly light violence. A U.S. soldier was killed south of Baghdad during a small arms attack. Separately, gunmen killed a Coalition soldier from the former Soviet state of Georgia. Also, clashes near the Iraq-Iran border left … Continue reading “Thursday: 1 US Soldier, 1 Georgian Soldier, 20 Iraqis Killed; 6 Iraqis Wounded”

Speaking last year at the same forum, he received scattered boos. But as Senator Barack Obama strode towards the podium Wednesday morning at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), he was greeted with a standing ovation. The applause kept coming throughout his half-hour address. And when it was over, … Continue reading “Obama Walks Fine Line at Major Pro-Israel Meet”

While seven Palestinian Fulbright scholars now appear more likely to get their chance to study in the United States, hundreds of other university students who have received invitations to study abroad remain trapped at home by Israeli security restrictions, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and two national academic associations. In a letter to Secretary … Continue reading “US Urged to Push Israel Harder on Gaza Students”

Now here’s a weird one to ponder as the arraignments at Guantánamo commence for five prisoners – including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – who are charged with facilitating the 9/11 attacks. I’ve always thought that there was something particularly perverse about charging minor Afghan insurgents in specially conceived "terror courts" at Guantánamo, as though there was … Continue reading “Afghan Fantasist to Face Trial at Guantánamo”