Jim Lobe

Readers of the Pentagon’s "Early Bird" news file, a daily compilation of around 50 stories circulated throughout the U.S. national security bureaucracy, could be forgiven Monday for reaching for the Rolaids, a popular over-the-counter medication for queasy stomachs. As with the June 10 edition, the file’s lead stories all dealt with Iraq. Indeed, news about … Continue reading “Iraq News Is Bleak, Even for Pentagon Clip Service”

Last month’s violence in Andijan, Uzbekistan, amounted to a “massacre” by government forces against mostly unarmed civilians, according to a new report released here Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report, which declined to estimate the total number of dead, rejected charges by the authoritarian government of President Islam Karimov that radical Islamists bent … Continue reading “Rights Group Calls Uzbek Deaths a ‘Massacre’”

Hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush may think that they are tough, but their dreams of "regime change" in Iran and North Korea are increasingly deluded, not to say dangerous, according to their hard-edged realist rivals who have become increasingly outspoken in recent weeks. Their latest broadside comes in the form of … Continue reading “‘Realists’ Press for Bush to Engage Iran, North Korea”

WASHINGTON – Stung by Amnesty International’s condemnation of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and elsewhere overseas, the administration of President George W. Bush is reacting with indignation and even suggestions that terrorists are using the world’s largest human rights organization. The latest denunciation came from Bush himself during a White House press conference Tuesday. “I’m … Continue reading “Bush, Cheney Attack Amnesty International”

On the day that U.S. citizens honored the nation’s war dead, the U.S. armed forces found themselves in a twilight zone somewhere between glory and hell. On the one hand, the U.S. soldier has rarely ridden as high in terms of public image; no politician of stature – neither Democrat nor Republican, neither conservative nor … Continue reading “Military Finds Itself in Twilight Zone”

Tiptoeing around growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela, the new secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) called Thursday for the creation of “objective and practical mechanisms” to assess member states’ adherence to their commitments under the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC). But Jose Miguel Insulza, who was elected to the post … Continue reading “Chilean Takes Helm of OAS Amid US-Venezuela Tensions”

Increasingly frustrated over its failure to get North Korea back to the negotiating table, the administration of President George W. Bush is taking new steps virtually certain to escalate tensions with the third spoke in his original “axis of evil,” analysts said. Last Friday, the administration announced that it was reviewing plans for future U.S. … Continue reading “Bush Raises Stakes With
North Korea”

If the administration of President George W. Bush fails to conduct a truly independent investigation of U.S. abuses against detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, foreign governments should investigate and prosecute those senior officials who bear responsibility for them, the head of the U.S. chapter of Amnesty International said Wednesday. Speaking at the release of Amnesty’s … Continue reading “Give Rumsfeld the Pinochet Treatment, Says US Amnesty Chief”

While lavishing praise on his guest Monday, President George W. Bush indicated that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will receive neither greater control over U.S. troops in his country nor substantially more aid to persuade poppy farmers to drop out of the narcotics business. "I’ve got great faith in this man as a leader," Bush told … Continue reading “Pleasantries but No Change as Bush Greets Karzai”

An Iranian rebel group that is aggressively campaigning for Washington’s support as part of a "regime change" strategy in its homeland has committed serious abuses, including torture and prolonged isolation, against dissident members, according to a leading human rights watchdog. The group, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), insists that it should lead a U.S.-backed effort to bring … Continue reading “Neocons’ Pet Iranian Revolutionaries Accused of Torture”