Month: September 2008

The National Intelligence Council, the U.S. intelligence community’s focal point for estimating future developments, warned the George W. Bush administration last month that a decision to launch commando raids by U.S. troops against al-Qaeda-related targets in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier region would carry a high risk of further destabilizing the Pakistani military and government, according to … Continue reading “Intel Council Warned Against Raids in Pakistan”

John McCain seems to be running for president on the basis of his status as a former North Vietnamese prisoner of war. Rudy Giuliani said in his speech at the Republican National Convention that McCain’s refusal to accept early release showed he’s a man “who believes in serving a cause greater than self-interest.” In his … Continue reading “McCain Should Know Better”

I recently returned from Estonia and the Baltic Defense College, where the Russian counterattack on Georgia had left a residual case of nerves. They have little to fear in the short run, unless they duplicate Georgia’s folly and attack Russia. But the question of how the Baltics might be defended is worth considering, both in … Continue reading “Defending the Baltics”

Ten days ago, as the nation focused attention on the hurricane nearing the Mississippi Delta, another storm was brewing far upstream in St. Paul, Minn. – a storm far more dangerous, it turned out, but one by and large overlooked by the fawning corporate media (FCM). When I flew into St. Paul on Saturday evening, … Continue reading “Trickle-Down Preemption”

The al-Qaeda attacks on New York City and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, truly changed the United States, and not for the better. National pathologies and suppressed xenophobia have been unleashed as never before, fanned by the belligerent rhetoric coming out of Washington and from the U.S. media. As James Madison put it, "If … Continue reading “Feeding on Fear”

September Surprise “For months, I’ve been warning in this space that an American attack on Iran is imminent, and now I see that the Dutch have reason to agree with my assessment. Their intelligence service reportedly has pulled out of a covert operation inside Iran on the grounds that a U.S. strike is right around … Continue reading “Backtalk, September 9, 2008”

Updated at 8:30 p.m. EDT, Sept. 7, 2008A significant number of attacks occurred across Iraq today. Almost all of them caused very few casualties though, keeping the figures deceptively low. At least 26 Iraqis were killed and 52 more were wounded. No Coalition casualties were reported. Also, Kurdish parliamentarian suggested that foreign governments contractually require … Continue reading “Monday: 26 Iraqis Killed, 52 Wounded”

Recently, Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has shown striking signs of wanting to be his own man in Baghdad, not Washington’s (as has Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul). What happens when parrots suddenly speak and puppets squawk on their own? The answer, it seems, is simple enough: You listen in; so, at least, the … Continue reading “Is American Success
a Failure in Iraq?”

“What a world! What a world!” That’s what the Wicked Witch of the West exclaimed as she melted in one of the final scenes of The Wizard of Oz, and today her plaintive cry seems the only possible reaction to the headlines reporting trouble every which way: Pakistan about to explode, the Taliban retaking Afghanistan, … Continue reading “Pakistan: The War Party’s New Frontier”

You would think, perhaps, with over 500 prisoners released from Guantánamo, that the remaining 263 might conform, in some way or another, to the administration’s long-standing description of them as the “worst of the worst” terrorists. Sadly, for the administration’s credibility, this is clearly not the case, as the stories of three recently released prisoners … Continue reading “Gitmo Remainders:
The ‘Worst of the Worst’?”