There is a scene in the 1946 classic The Best Years of Our Lives when Homer Parrish, played by real World War II veteran Harold Russell, shows his girl what it is like to dress himself for bed with the rudimentary metal hooks that have replaced his left and right hands in the war. “I …
Continue reading “Hollywood at War”
Although Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s plan for wresting the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar from the Taliban is still in its early stages of implementation, there are already signs that setbacks and obstacles it has encountered have raised serious doubts among top military officials in Washington about whether the plan is going to work. …
Continue reading “Pentagon Doubts Grow on McChrystal War Plan”
Updated at 12:30 p.m. EDT, May 11, 2010
At least 154 Iraqis were killed and 620 more were wounded in a staggering series of attacks across the country. Some of the attacks likely were coordinated, such as those on checkpoints in Baghdad. Others seemed completely random. Security officials were quick to blame al-Qaeda or foreign nations, but the attacks crossed the sectarian lines, striking Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurd targets. In an unusual switch, the worst attacks occurred south of the capital in Hilla, Suwayra and Basra, where such attacks after tapered off. Conflicting casualty figures often follow such large and wide-ranging attacks.
The 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is underway at UN Headquarters in New York. A working paper calls for a nuclear-free Middle East. It would require member states of the NPT to “disclose in their national reports on the implementation of the resolution on the Middle East all …
Continue reading “Declassified GAO Report Exposes Fatally Flawed Israel Investigations”
The Obama administration is determined to link the Times Square Fizzler, Faisal Shahzad, to the Pakistani Taliban, and isn’t about to let logic, reality, or anything remotely related to the facts get in its way. With the complicity of the Obama-stricken media, they just might get away with it, opening the way for expanded military …
Continue reading “Has Faisal Shahzad Started a War?”
Last week in Tel Aviv, a judge imposed a $25,000 fine on three tenants who extended their balcony illegally by annexing 23 sq. meters (250 sq. ft.). Well, that’s not really a scoop. Illegal construction is a punishable offense everywhere, even if there are no immediate victims like in this case. Israel is a law-and-order …
Continue reading “From Two States to One”
Even as the Independent Election Commission of Iraq is conducting a ballot recount in Baghdad, they are also preparing to deliver final vote tallies to the Supreme Court for ratification. Meanwhile, at least three Iraqis were killed and six more were wounded in unusually light violence. Also, the U.S. embassy has hired attorneys for indigent Iraqis held in prison; however, Iraqi detainees held by U.S. forces should have long ago been handed over to the Iraqis.
In the latest violence, at least 14 Iraqis were killed and 24 more were wounded. Turkish warplanes chasing Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels across the border bombed suspected hideouts in northern Iraq, after an attack that left two soldiers dead in Turkey; rebels denied any loses on their side. Mea
And it’s worth it, says Leonard Pitts
The U.S. Congress is moving forward with a bill to sanction companies that do business in Iran despite the White House’s efforts to build international support for U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic. U.S. business organizations and a number of experts here in Washington have expressed concern about the speed with which the Senate Banking …
Continue reading “US Business Groups Fault Rush to Sanctions on Iran “ 
