A Shi’ite militia known to have staged numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. targets since 2004 claims it is laying down its arms and seeking political office instead. Meanwhile, at least 10 Iraqis were killed and 31 more were wounded in new attacks. Again, pilgrims were targeted, but so was a parade honoring the anniversary of the founding of Iraq’s modern army in 1921.
In the latest war of words between Iran and the United States, Tehran has drawn a line in the sand (actually, the Persian Gulf). According to Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the commander in chief of the Iranian army, “We recommend to the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to the …
Continue reading “Keystone Cops Logic”
The results of the Iowa caucus have the news media spinning a "victory" for Mitt Romney, the Goldman-Sachs candidate, and the supposedly all-but-inevitable nominee of his party. Just why he was deemed the "frontrunner" before even a single vote had been cast is a mystery known only to the professional pundits, who seem to have …
Continue reading “The Ron Paul Precedent”
Updated at 8:00 p.m. EST, January 5, 2012
Despite serious attempts to prevent attacks against Shi’ite pilgrims traveling in Iraq, bombers were still able to reach them. The worst violence took place south of Baghdad, but the capital also saw great loss of life. Overall, at least 84 people were killed and 157 more were wounded in the attacks. Although most, if not all, were Iraqis, some of the casualties could have been foreign visitors.
A “happy holidays” email from The Atlantic’s ubiquitous self-promoter Steve Clemons last week suggests that any unified right-left movement to end America’s wars of choice might be unattainable. Normally I do not read Clemons, but on this occasion I persevered and was rewarded with a bit of political folderol that was too deliciously bizarre not …
Continue reading “We Are All Humanitarian Interventionists”
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 23 others were wounded in new violence. Four of the victims were children and, as often is the case, most of the attacks targeted security personnel.
With all eyes focused on Iowa, what is happening in the Persian Gulf escapes most everyone’s notice. The babble of competing voices – the nattering nabobs of the mainstream media, the “spin”-doctors, the lobbyists and special interests currently inundating the airwaves with propaganda – drowns out everything else. Nothing short of a major terrorist attack …
Continue reading “Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf…”
It was to be the war that would establish empire as an American fact. It would result in a thousand-year Pax Americana. It was to be “mission accomplished” all the way. And then, of course, it wasn’t. And then, almost nine dismal years later, it was over (sorta). It was the Iraq War, and we …
Continue reading “How Two Wars in the Greater Middle East Revealed the Weakness of the Global Superpower”
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson did not agree on much, but when it came to “standing armies” — militaries that did not disband during peacetime — they were united: “War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many …
Continue reading “Bring Back the Standing Army”
This is the third profile in an occasional series about individuals taking on the Goliaths of war from inside the belly of the beast — Washington, D.C. Tom Drake has the dubious distinction of being part of a long, and growing line of individuals who risked all to tell the truth, and by all measures, …
Continue reading “Dark Days for Govt. Whistleblowers” 
