Month: March 2009

The meaning of President Obama’s Iraq withdrawal speech, and its influence on real U.S. policy in Iraq, will not be determined solely by his actual words. The import of the speech – and whether its promises become real – will be determined by a fluid combination of what Obama says, his own definitions of what … Continue reading “Holding Obama to His Promises”

A second major bombing in as many days blasted the Baghdad area, leaving dozens of casualties. Overall, at least 37 Iraqis were killed and another 84 were wounded across the country. A U.S. Marine was killed in a non-combat incident, and a Pakistani man was killed during a rocket attack at the Basra International Airport. … Continue reading “Tuesday: 1 Marine, 1 Pakistani, 37 Iraqis; 84 Iraqis Wounded”

AT TUWANI, West Bank – “I couldn’t run. My pregnancy was too far advanced, and there was nowhere to hide,” said Amna Salman Rabaye, 31, as she recalled the terrifying incident several months ago. Rabaye from the Palestinian Bedouin village of At Tuwani in the southern West Bank was grazing her sheep when she was … Continue reading “Israeli Settlers Terrorize Palestinian Villagers”

After Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called in October 2005 for an end to the state of Israel, Israeli leaders began stepping up talk of an "existential threat" to the country. Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu, who is now forming a new government, has even used it support his argument that the Iranian president is threatening … Continue reading “Iran’s Anti-Israel Rhetoric Aimed at Arab Opinion”

The past eight years have been so catastrophic for the United States that it is sometimes difficult to put things in perspective, but certain patterns do emerge. Starting in the summer of 2007, when Iraq was still in total chaos, Gen. Ray "Greater Than Napoleon" Odierno gave a series of press conferences in which he … Continue reading “A Convenient Scapegoat”

Listen to Ron Paul. Click the play button below.   Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of … Continue reading “Imagine an Occupied America”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to align Canadian foreign policy with that of the U.S. If the newly minted President Obama continues with unlawful policies like extraordinary rendition, preventive imprisonment, and torture at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the rendition archipelago, then Harper will follow him down the seemingly inexorable slide … Continue reading “Canada Follows America’s Slide”

President Obama has committed 17,000 additional troops to Operation Enduring Freedom, our misadventure in Afghanistan. His generals don’t know what to do with those troops when they get there; they’re not even sure what troops to send. Someone on Obama’s sprawling national security team should have told him it’s a bad, bad idea to send … Continue reading “Enduring Blunder”

Updated at 7:35 p.m. EDT, March 9, 2009 At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in the latest attacks. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, an Iraqi state minister for women’s affairs says she will withdraw her resignation thanks to the offer of aid to Iraq’s women. Also, Iraq’s foreign minister … Continue reading “Monday: 12 Iraqis Killed, 20 Wounded”

I suppose progressives and others hopeful for a more rational foreign policy are going to have to be content, for the moment, with crumbs from the presidential table, such as Barack Obama’s recent statement to the New York Times that we might consider negotiating with elements of the Taliban. This is, however, not entirely good … Continue reading “Signs of Progress”