Light violence left eight dead and 14 wounded across the country. Meanwhile, the two main political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan are seeking resumed peace talks with opposition parties. The talks broke off when security forces entered Suleimaniya last week to put an end to demonstrations.
Starting in late 2005, U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan began turning detainees over to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), despite its well-known reputation for torture. Interviews with former U.S. and NATO diplomats and other evidence now available show that United States and other NATO governments become complicit in NDS torture of detainees …
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UNITED NATIONS – Despite massive support from the international community, the Palestinian quest for recognition as an independent and sovereign nation is unlikely to materialize soon, say political observers and diplomats here. “That is not going to happen,” an African diplomat who has spent more than a decade at the U.N. as an ambassador told …
Continue reading “UN Recognition of Palestinians Still Far Off”
WASHINGTON – The popular uprisings that have brought turmoil to Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa have also underscored Washington’s dearth of knowledge about forces on the ground in authoritarian states in the Middle East. One of the largest questions bedeviling policy makers has been the composition of various emerging opposition movements. …
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The WikiLeaks documents released on Guantanamo prisoners indicate appalling military incompetence in haphazardly patching together sketchy and contradictory information that has allowed many high-risk terror suspects to go free, while low-risk or innocent detainees continue to be incarcerated. Yet some members of Congress would like to strengthen the military’s role in holding and trying such …
Continue reading “Don’t Expand the Military’s Antiterrorism Role”
It always seems like the presidential horse race starts earlier than in the previous election season: no sooner is our quadrennial agony over then the pundits start placing their bets on a fresh crop of colts, calculating the odds. This sped-up process is due to the degeneration of our old Republic into an Empire in …
Continue reading “The Partisan Temptation”
At least five Iraqis were killed and 68 were wounded in new attacks and protest violence. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused fellow politicians of ordering a few recent assassinations. Also, the push to keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond their year-end withdrawal date may have found some support. Although the Iraqi government has maintained, …
Continue reading “Tuesday: 5 Iraqis Killed, 68 Wounded”
President Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination in 2008 partly by reminding the party’s base of his early, prescient criticisms of the ill-fated decision to invade Iraq. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war … a rash war,” then-Senator Obama explained in 2002. Obama was right to call the Iraq War “dumb” and …
Continue reading “Rolling the Dice in Libya”
The credibility of the military justice system is being undermined by the prosecution of Bradley Manning. His abusive punishment without trial violates his due process rights, his harsh treatment in solitary confinement violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and now the commander in chief has pronounced his guilt, making a fair trial impossible. …
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Vlahos on the push to stay in Iraq beyond 2011
