Charley Reese

Seymour Hersh, with his usual thoroughness, has documented Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s latest scheme for Iraq. It is, in short, to set up death squads, trained by Israelis and using Israelis as consultants in Iraq. The Israeli role is supposed to be hush-hush, but not only Hersh, in his New Yorker article, but also … Continue reading “Murder Inc.”

Too many Americans seem to think that everything in politics is about being either for President Bush or against him. They are encouraged to do so by partisan propagandists. That’s wrong. That’s no different from people living in a dictatorship who have only one choice, to be either for the dictator or against him. We … Continue reading “Not About Bush”

The Republican National Committee has shown what President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign will be about: fearmongering. Well, he’s pretty good at warmongering, so why not play the fear card? The essence of the RNC’s first commercial was that if you don’t re-elect Bush, the big, bad boogeyman will get you. You should remember that … Continue reading “Playing the Fear Card”

Mosul, recently held up as an example of our successful occupation of Iraq, was where two American soldiers were shot, dragged out of their car and had their bodies pummeled with concrete blocks by a mob that had quickly gathered. All of this happened recently in broad daylight in the heart of the city. Would … Continue reading “Occupation Is a Lose-Lose Proposition”

Some people, including our president, seem to think that once free elections are held in Iraq, democracy will exist and everything will be just fine and dandy from there on out. This rather widespread belief stems from a misunderstanding or ignorance of our own country and its history. It isn’t the elections that have given … Continue reading “Imposed Government Will Create Its Own Opposition”

Four former heads of Israeli security, speaking in Israel, have warned the government that failure to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians will lead to catastrophe. These men are not some starry-eyed peaceniks. They are all former heads of Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, which makes the FBI look like the Boy Scouts. You … Continue reading “Four Former Heads Of Israeli Security Speak Out”

Former Secretary of State George Shultz talked with Charlie Rose a few weeks ago and said this, or words to this effect, in defense of pre-emptive war. "Well, if you knew someone intended to kill you and had the means to do so, you wouldn’t wait until they attacked. That would be silly," said the … Continue reading “Pre-Emptive Killing”

I would feel better about President George Bush’s tough schoolboy rhetoric if he were in Baghdad, Fallujah or Tikrit instead of lolling about on his ranch or at Camp David in between fund-raising trips and photo ops. He ought to go to Iraq to see what his policy has wrought. Dwight Eisenhower went to Korea … Continue reading “Phooey on Tough Talk”

I guess it was inevitable. Someone has compared President George Bush to "Baghdad Bob," the inadvertently comical Iraqi information minister who kept insisting Iraq was winning the war even as American tanks gathered outside his office. This came after the president’s latest press conference, when he said attacks were increasing in Iraq because the occupation … Continue reading “Baghdad George”