Aaron Glantz

With Salam Talib The Iraqi Oil Ministry’s inspector general reported this week that $1 billion of Iraq’s oil is being illegally smuggled out of the country every month. Smuggling on a large scale, coupled with increasing violence and the lack of basic services like water and electricity, has caused increasing tensions in the southern oil … Continue reading “Basra Explodes”

There’s a lot of hype about Iraq’s new “government.” In a speech to the National Restaurant Association in Chicago, George Bush called the new government a “turning point in the struggle between freedom and terror.” He called the government “something new” – a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East. One thing it … Continue reading “Don’t Believe the
Handover Hype”

with Salam TalibThe US government has lost track of over 200,000 machine guns that were supposed to be used by the Iraqi police. The 99-ton cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished. This, along with the escape of … Continue reading “America Loses Guns, Prisoners”

Sixty South Korean activists will face criminal after they attacked police as part of a thousand-strong protest against a government plan to expand a U.S. military base in Pyongtaek, about an hour’s drive south of Seoul. According to press reports, clashes came after Army engineers on Thursday cordoned off two townships about 70 km south … Continue reading “Korean Farmers Clash With the Empire”

There’s a lot of talk these days about splitting Iraq into three parts. It’s coming from almost every direction. Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, with an eye on his run on the White House, wrote in the New York Times that the U.S. government should create a new Iraq along the lines of Bosnia: the idea … Continue reading “The Iraqi Government Is the Iraqis’ Business”

Life for Kurds in northern Iraq is about to get a lot more complicated. The Turkish army has begun massing troops on Iraq’s northern border in an effort to combat the Kurdish armed group the PKK. In the last week, the Turkish government has sent about 40,000 troops to southeastern Anatolia, bringing the total troops … Continue reading “Turkey Masses Troops
on Iraqi Border”

*with Ngoc Nguyen HANOI – Nguyen Thi Thuy was 22 when she left her village to help build roads for the North Vietnamese army during the war. She remembers crawling into tunnels during the day and covering her mouth with a wet rag when the United States military sprayed the landscape with defoliant. "I didn’t … Continue reading “Agent Orange Leaves Stigma Trail”

Just what Iraq needs: more prisons. Never mind that the country suffers from dirty water and shortages of medicine and electricity. Never mind that raw sewage regularly spills into the streets of Baghdad. Never mind that unemployment stands at over 60 percent. Never mind that of all these essential services are less available than before … Continue reading “Just What Iraq Needs”

Here’s a number to remember: 14,000. That’s the number of Iraqis currently behind bars in U.S. military prisons. These so-called “security detainees” are usually hooded and beaten when they’re brought into custody. Once incarcerated, they never receive anything approximating a fair and open trial. Prisoners are simply forced to submit to a closed military tribunal … Continue reading “Abu Ghraib Is Not Old News”

HANOI – Peace is good, but it takes time. Of all the similarities between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, perhaps the most painful is the wreckage America will eventually leave behind when it’s imperial adventure is finally over. Whether the last U.S. soldiers leave Mesopotamia this year or 10 years from now, they will … Continue reading “Peace Takes Time”