Katherine Stapp

On Jun. 28, IPS reporter Alaa Hassan was ambushed and shot six times as he drove to work in Baghdad, bringing to 75 the number of reporters who have been killed while working in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The figure quoted by the International Federation of Journalists is even higher: … Continue reading “Independence Carries a Heavy Price”

Pressure mounted on the George W. Bush administration Thursday to provide details of secret prisons abroad reportedly run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where terror suspects are held incommunicado in dark, sometimes underground, cells. According to an investigative article by the Washington Post‘s Dana Priest, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the CIA … Continue reading “Report on Covert Prisons Abroad Spurs UN, EU Probes”

The death toll from a stampede of Iraqi Shi’ite pilgrims continued to climb Wednesday, with security officials saying nearly 800 people perished and 323 were injured when rumors of a suicide bombing sparked chaos on a Baghdad bridge. Most were trampled or fell into the Tigris River, as panic spread through the crowd of thousands … Continue reading “Iraq’s Deadliest Day Needed No Bombs”

When journalist Aaron Glantz drove into Iraq from Jordan in a battered orange and white checkered taxi on April 29, 2003, he was surprised to find most of the civilian neighborhoods in Baghdad relatively unscathed by the U.S.-led bombing campaign. “It occurred to me for the first time that the Pentagon might be telling the … Continue reading “New Book Examines Occupation Through Iraqis’ Eyes”

Israeli soldiers have killed an average of more than one Palestinian civilian per day since the current Intifada uprising began in 2000, but only a handful of cases have even been investigated, according to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. Between Sept. 29, 2000, and Nov. 30, 2004, more than 1,600 Palestinians not involved … Continue reading “Report: Israeli Soldiers ‘Getting Away With Murder’”

NEW YORK – Violence in Iraq claimed the lives of 23 journalists and 16 media support workers in 2004, making it the most deadly year for press freedom in a decade, according to the annual report of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). At least 22 journalists were also abducted by insurgents, and … Continue reading “Iraq Toll Makes 2004 Worst Year for Press in a Decade”

At Fort Bragg, the largest U.S. army installation in the world and home to the famed 82nd Airborne Division, the mood is not exactly buoyant. "There are people here who are being deployed for the third time," said Lou Plummer, a veteran with a son on active duty. "At least 50 people from the base … Continue reading “Antiwar Movement Gears Up for Global Protests on War Anniversary”

Even as the United States leans on North Korea and Iran to renounce any nuclear objectives, peace activists say it has stepped up spending on its own arsenal, including investments in a new generation of longer lasting and sturdier “bunker buster” weapons. The “quiet effort," first reported by the New York Times last week, involves … Continue reading “The Nuclear Domino Effect”

The tsunamis that pounded Indian Ocean coastlines the day after Christmas killed an estimated 30,000 Sri Lankans – nearly half in areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group that has been placed on a special list of "terrorist" groups by the U.S. government. The situation is complicating relief efforts in the country, where … Continue reading “US Charities Feel Heat From ‘Terror War’”

NEW YORK – For the first time, many more civilians are being killed and maimed in Afghanistan by dud munitions than by landmines, which were more or less outlawed in 1999 but linger around the world as the wreckage of earlier wars. A study published in Friday’s British Medical Journal [.pdf] says that the biggest … Continue reading “Waste of War Still Killing in Afghanistan”