WASHINGTON, June 8 (IPS) - National elections in Afghanistan planned for September will be increasingly in doubt unless western nations commit more troops to the war-weary country, international human rights groups told leaders of the Group of Eight (G8)...
Weak States Are ‘Sleeping Giants’ for US Security
Almost three years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the United States is still falling short in its ability to deal with weak, failing or failed states, which increasingly threaten U.S. national security, says a major report...
How High Does the Abu Ghraib Scandal Go?
A classified Pentagon report, providing a series of legal arguments apparently intended to justify abuses and torture against detainees, appears to undermine public assurances by senior U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, that the military would never...
Global Pessimism About US Power
With the notable exceptions of China and India, a majority of people in 19 key countries are pessimistic about the world's current direction, says a just-released survey, which found a high correlation between that feeling and the belief that U.S. influence is...
Groups Sue Pentagon Over Iraq Abuses
A coalition of civil-rights and veterans groups charged in a New York court Wednesday that the U.S. Defense Department is withholding records about the abuse of detainees in military custody as part of the Bush administration's "war against terrorism." The federal...
More Imperial Intrigue as CIA Director Resigns
The abrupt resignation of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet adds new grist to Washington's rumor mills, already churning at warp speed due to the ongoing prisoner-abuse scandal in Iraq and reports that the Bush administration's favorite in...
Neocon Collapse in Washington and Baghdad
Fourteen months after reaching the zenith of their influence on U.S. foreign policy with the invasion of Iraq, neoconservatives appear to have fallen entirely out of favor, both within the administration of President George W. Bush and in Baghdad itself. The signs of...
Millions ‘Warehoused’ Without Rights for 10 Years or More
More than seven million of the world's nearly 12 million refugees have been "warehoused" in dangerous border areas or urban slums without regard to their basic human rights for 10 or more years, according to the 2004 "World Refugee Survey" released Monday by the U.S....
Neocons Go Macho on Iraq
Despite a tidal wave of bad news from the Iraq occupation they did so much to promote, neoconservatives are calling for U.S. President George W. Bush to pursue a military solution against resistance fighters there. "Crush the Insurgents in Iraq," screamed a column in...
Bush Offers Nothing New Except Prison
Launching a new effort to stem the plummeting loss in public confidence in his Iraq policy, U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his commitment to bringing "freedom" and self-government to Baghdad and warned that US failure will "only mark the...


