Month: November 2009

US Seeks to Limit Warlords in Karzai Cabinet

The Barack Obama administration is talking tough to Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the need for decisive action on corruption and governance reform, but its main objective is to prevent particularly corrupt and incompetent warlords from getting plum ministries as rewards for helping clinch his fraudulent reelection, IPS has learned. Obama told reporters Monday that … Continue reading “US Seeks to Limit Warlords in Karzai Cabinet”

‘War Comes Home’ with Ft. Hood Shootings

PHOENIX, Arizona — While investigators probe for a motive behind the mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas Thursday, in which an army psychiatrist is suspected of killing 13 people, military personnel at the base are in shock as the incident "brings the war home." "Fort Hood is pretty much a ghost … Continue reading “‘War Comes Home’ with Ft. Hood Shootings”

Friday: 4 Iraqis Killed, 9 Wounded

Updated at 8:22 p.m. EST, Nov. 6, 2009 At least four Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded in the latest attacks. Back in the United States, an army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood and fearful of an impending deployment was scheduled to go to Afghanistan, not Iraq.

UN Affirms Israeli-Hamas War Crimes Report

A 575-page blistering report by Justice Richard Goldstone detailing war crimes in Gaza last December is refusing to die despite an aggressive Israeli smear campaign to kill it. The report, which was favorably voted by the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva last month, received overwhelming support Thursday in the 192-member General Assembly. The vote … Continue reading “UN Affirms Israeli-Hamas War Crimes Report”

Mideast Peace Plan May Yet Survive New Twists

JERUSALEM — U.S. President Obama’s Middle East engagement policy reverses the unsuccessful policy of his predecessor, but the U.S. is again committing faux pas aplenty. Yet, for all the uncomplimentary ways in which the President’s strategy is now viewed by many in the region, perhaps all is not lost yet. The sorry state of the … Continue reading “Mideast Peace Plan May Yet Survive New Twists”