Month: August 2008

Condi Rice – desperately seeking a diplomatic victory of some sort – has capitulated to Poland’s "key demand" that in return for allowing the siting in Poland of ten interceptors of our Ground-based Midcourse Ballistic Missile Defense system (GMD), we will give Poland at least one battery of our Patriot PAC–3 ballistic missile terminal defense … Continue reading “Another Famous Victory for Condi”

George Monbiot has a piece in the Guardian this week (“The US missile defense system is the magic pudding that will never run out“) explaining the financial motivations behind the US policy of promoting missile defense systems. His observations are fine, so far as they go, although they are limited by his own prejudices. But … Continue reading “Missile Defense: Understanding the Issues”

Updated by 6:20 p.m. EDT, Aug. 22, 2008At least six Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded in the latest attacks. An unknown number were wounded during a shooting incident in Samarra as well. Also, a final autopsy on a Marine who died last year has ruled that he died from wounds he received … Continue reading “Friday: 1 Marine, 6 Iraqis Killed; 8 Iraqis Wounded”

The US-Iraqi “status of forces” agreement has been months in the making, and today [Thursday] we are told that it’s “almost” ready – but not quite. So what’s the problem? Well, there are a few bones of contention between the “liberators” and the “liberated,” the first being how long US forces will stay, and the … Continue reading “Bizarro Imperialism”

Who is Randy Scheunemann? He is the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain and potential successor to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski as national security adviser to the president of the United States. But Randy Scheunemann has another identity, another role. He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get … Continue reading “And None Dare Call It Treason”

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism Andrew J. Bacevich Metropolitan Books, 2008 206 pp. If there is one principle that seems to mark neoconservative thought, it is that there are no limits to American power. So long as the American people are united, so long as they exhibit the necessary will, world … Continue reading “The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism“

Updated at 5:45 p.m. EDT, August 21, 2008U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dropped in on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during a secret visit to Baghdad today. As Sadrists demonstrated against her visit, she said that a security pact is close to being finalized. At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 14 more were … Continue reading “Thursday: 13 Iraqis Killed, 14 Wounded”

As a journalist who has reported extensively on the death and destruction that is U.S.- occupied Iraq, perhaps I should be happy about the prosecution of former Marine Corps Sergeant Jose Luis Nazario Jr. Standing accused of killing unarmed four detainees in Fallujah in 2004, Nazario is the first Iraq War veteran to be tried … Continue reading “Fallujah Fall Guy”

Most of the fawning corporate media (FCM) coverage of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s resignation Monday was even more bereft of context than usual. It was as if Musharraf looked out the window and said, "It’s a beautiful day. I think I’ll resign and go fishing." Thus, the lead in Tuesday’s editorial in the New York … Continue reading “Musharraf Out, Like Nixon; Bush Still In, Like Flynn”

The international condemnation of Russian aggression against Georgia – and the concomitant assaults by Abkhazians and South Ossetians against ethnic Georgians within their territories – is in large part appropriate. But the self-righteous posturing coming out of Washington should be tempered by a sober recognition of the ways in which the United States has contributed … Continue reading “US Role in Georgia Crisis Cannot Be Ignored”