Month: June 2008

Two key pledges made by the George W. Bush administration on military bases in its negotiations with the government of Iraq have now been revealed as carefully-worded ruses aimed at concealing US negotiating aims from both US citizens and Iraqis who would object to them if they were made clear. Recent statements by Iraqis familiar … Continue reading “Bush Pledges on Iraq Bases Pact Were a Ruse”

FALLUJAH – Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say. The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004. After denying it at first, the Pentagon … Continue reading “‘Special Weapons’ Have a Fallout on Babies in Fallujah”

With 223 days left in his presidency, George W. Bush laid more flagstones along a path to war on Iran. There was the usual declaration that "all options are on the table" – and, just as ominously, much talk of diplomacy. Three times on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports, Bush "called a diplomatic solution ‘my … Continue reading “Deadly ‘Diplomacy’”

If you thought things were bad, with a barrel of crude oil at $136 and the oil heartlands of our planet verging on chaos, don’t be surprised, but you may still have something to look forward to. Alexei Miller, chairman of Russia’s vast state-owned energy monopoly, Gazprom, just suggested that, within 18 months, that same … Continue reading “Garrisoning the Global Gas Station”

The recent exchange between the McCain and Obama campaigns over the GOP candidate’s remarks to Matt Lauer have underscored the central issue of this presidential election year and framed the campaign in terms of a single, overriding issue: the future of the American empire. In an interview with McCain on the Today Show, Lauer lobbed … Continue reading “The Revolt of the Liberated”

The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power Gene Healy Cato Institute, 2008 367 pp. By Doug Bandow American liberty is dying. For years the process has been slow strangulation, as successive Congresses and presidents, irrespective of party, expanded government power. True, Republicans usually tightened the garrote a bit less quickly. But … Continue reading “The Cult of the Presidency“

Updated at 11:25 p.m. EDT, June 12, 2008Baghdad was again rocked by a series of bombings today, while two U.S. servicemembers were killed. Across Iraq, at least 18Iraqis were killed and 60 more were wounded. Two Egyptian gunmen were also killed. An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad this afternoon. A … Continue reading “Thursday: 2 GIs, 18 Iraqis Killed; 60 Iraqis Wounded”

The killings Tuesday night by US warplanes of 11 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers at or near a checkpoint along the Afghan border is virtually certain to add to growing tensions between Washington and Islamabad at a critical moment in relations between both countries. While the precise circumstances of the incident remain unclear, reports from Pakistan that … Continue reading “Pakistani Soldiers’ Killings Likely to Raise Tensions”

The following is based on a talk delivered on Saturday, June 7, 2008, at the Future of Freedom Foundation’s conference, Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties, in Reston, Virgina. We are used to hearing discussion of political issues boiled down to a conflict between the individual and the greater good. Nearly anyone’s pet … Continue reading “War and the Common Good”

President George W. Bush used to complain that being president was “hard work,” but he has gotten over that. Now he says it “has been a fabulous experience.” Why fabulous? Well, a good part of it has to do with his past. When Bush screwed up royally – whether in his personal or business affairs … Continue reading “Jail Time for Tenet?”