Month: July 2008

To offer a bit of context for Chalmers Johnson’s latest post on the privatization of U.S. intelligence, it’s important to know just how lucrative that intelligence “business” has become. According to the latest estimate, the cumulative 2009 intelligence budget for the 16 agencies in the U.S. Intelligence Community will be more than $55 billion. However, … Continue reading “The Military-Industrial Complex”

The increased likelihood of war with Iran has raised a chorus of speculation and genuine shock: how can it be that our leaders don’t recognize the potentially crippling consequences of such a course? The economic blowback alone would be enough to send the world economy – already knocked off-kilter – into a tailspin. There has … Continue reading “The War Party’s Credo: Power Before Profits”

In his new book on the covert history of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, award-winning journalist Roozbeh Mirebrahimi says that Western powers, including the United States, accelerated events by recognizing and supporting religious revolutionary forces, forcing the shah to leave the country and averting a coup by Iran’s army. In 1953, the United States had deposed … Continue reading “Iran’s Islamic Revolution Had Western Blessing”

The controversial Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee and thousands of supporters filled a convention center in downtown Washington this week for his Christians United for Israel (CUFI) organization’s Washington-Israel Summit, where the “Iranian threat” was a recurrent theme. CUFI is a proponent of Christian Zionism – the belief that the modern state of Israel is … Continue reading “Iran in the Spotlight at Christian Zionist Confab”

At 6:45 a.m. this morning, our friend, Joel Gulledge, called from At-Tuwani, a village in the West Bank where he and another Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) member were escorting Palestinian children to a local summer daycamp, protecting them from hostile Israeli settlers. A masked settler, carrying a slingshot, was threatening the children. While Jan Benvie, … Continue reading “Pictures From Summer Camp”

In one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible, the poet vows: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, / Let my right hand forget her cunning. / If I do not remember thee, / Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; / If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy!" … Continue reading “What’s Driving the Jerusalem Attacks”

It must be the smallest Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories: just half a house. But Palestinian officials and Israeli human rights groups are concerned that it represents the first stage of a plan to eradicate the historical neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, cutting off one of the main routes by which … Continue reading “The Smallest Settlement”

Updated at 12:20 a.m. EDT, July 28, 2008At least 18 Iraqis were killed and 21 more were wounded in the latest round of attacks. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, an expected million pilgrims are descending on the capital for a religious observance that ends on Tuesday. A group of them approaching from the south … Continue reading “Sunday: 18 Iraqis Killed, 21 Wounded”

A YouTube video, uploaded on the Internet this week and showing a blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian being fired on at close range by an Israeli soldier in the presence of a Lieutenant-Colonel, has made international and regional headlines. On Jul. 7, Ashraf Abu-Rahma, 27, from Bi’ilin village near Ramallah in the central West Bank was … Continue reading “Palestinian ‘Che’ Blindfolded and Shot”

Updated at 11:36 p.m. EDT, July 26, 2008As pilgrims descend on Baghdad for a religious observance that ends on Tuesday, at least seven Iraqis were killed and 19 more were wounded across the country. No Coalition deaths were reported. Security forces are on high alert in Baghdad where thousands are expected to visit the al-Kadhim … Continue reading “Saturday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 19 Wounded”