As George W. Bush does a rash of media interviews to promote his new book, Decision Points, some people – even his nemesis, hip-hop star Kanye West – have begun to mute their criticisms of his presidency. This is nothing new; as time passes and old wounds heal, the nation’s impression of former presidents – …
Continue reading “Can W. Reinvent His Presidency?”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t been alone in playing for time when it comes to American policy, that’s for sure. (Think, for instance, of our Afghan War commander Gen. David Petraeus.) But Netanyahu played out the pre-election months with some skill and much shuffling of feet, as he officially pondered Obama administration proposals to …
Continue reading “Is Palestine America’s Next Vietnam?”
Lawyers for the Barack Obama administration told a federal judge Monday that the U.S. government has authority to kill U.S. citizens whom the executive branch has unilaterally determined pose a threat to national security. That claim came in federal court in Washington, D.C., in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union …
Continue reading “Obama Lawyers Defend ‘Kill Lists’”
UNITED NATIONS – When the shah of Iran, a strongly pro-U.S. ally, was ousted from power after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the stridently anti-U.S. regime of Ayatollah Khomeini that captured power also inherited a military bonanza: billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art weapons provided by the United States. The U.S. equipment in the Iranian …
Continue reading “Multi-Billion-Dollar Arms Deals Could Haunt US”
It’s a cold morning in January 2011. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wake up early to put on their Revolutionary War costumes. They’re joined by a miscellaneous group of anti-government protesters, libertarian activists, and all-around hotheads. With their supporters in tow, the tea party movement’s Adam and Eve drive to the Pentagon and …
Continue reading “Tea Party at the Pentagon?”
Former President George W. Bush continues to be beyond shame. Those favored with an advance copy of his memoir, Decision Points, say it paints a picture of a totally unapologetic Bush bragging, for example, about authorizing the CIA to waterboard 9/11 “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. According to newspaper accounts of the memoir, Bush says he …
Continue reading “Bush Boasts About Waterboarding”
At least six Iraqis were killed and 18 more were wounded in light violence. Security was tightened around some locations following a particularly bloody day in southern Iraq yesterday. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States could keep troops in Iraq beyond a 2011 deadline if Iraqis make the request. Also, Three British soldiers were referred to a prosecutor and could face a war crimes trial over allegations they abused Iraqi detainees.
Oh, good. I see that Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to attack Iran. The U.S., he says, should “sink their navy, destroy their air force, and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard.” Sen. Graham has the brains of a tapeworm, making him eminently qualified for the Senate. Tapeworms, I note, do not have brains. …
Continue reading “Children With Matches”
Andrew J. Bacevich emerged in the first decade of the century as this country’s most widely read and widely respected critic of U.S. militarism and empire. He has addressed this issue with an intensity that is unprecedented for an academic. With the appearance of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, he has produced six …
Continue reading “Dissecting the Perpetual War Machine”
Vlahos on hate merchants, the Tea Party and the GOP
