Jim Lobe

Amid global outrage over the abuse by U.S. soldiers of Iraqi detainees, the Bush administration has asked the United Nations Security Council to exempt its troops serving in UN-approved peace-keeping operations from prosecution for war crimes before the new International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague in the Netherlands for another year. The request, expected … Continue reading “Rights Groups: No War Crimes Exemption for US”

It was just last January that Ahmed Chalabi occupied the coveted balcony seat next to First Lady Laura Bush and gazed out at Washington’s glittering elite who had gathered to hear President George W. Bush deliver his State of the Union Address from the Capitol’s imposing rostrum. The darling of the neo-conservative hawks around Vice … Continue reading “Chalabi – From White House to Dog House in Just Five Months”

In a rebuke to the U.S. Justice Department, a federal judge in Miami has thrown out a criminal case against environmental group Greenpeace, a prosecution that was watched closely by other progressive organizations that say they are under threat from the Bush administration. U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan acquitted the group at the end of … Continue reading “Ashcroft Loses Controversial Prosecution Against NGO”

Although it will take weeks, if not months, to sort out precisely who was responsible for what increasingly appears to have been the systemic abuse by U.S. soldiers of Iraqi detainees, it should be no surprise if Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith is found to have played an important role. Feith, who, according … Continue reading “Soon to Be Losing Feith?”

The coalition of Bush administration hawks that was empowered by the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon agreed on three main strategic objectives. The neo-conservatives and Christian Right wanted to decisively shift the balance of power in the Middle East in favor of Israel, so that it could effectively impose … Continue reading “Imperial Dreams Sink in Iraqi Quagmire”

The mistreatment and abuse by U.S. military and intelligence personnel of detainees in Afghanistan are systemic and routine, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) which demanded Thursday that Washington immediately open its prisons to independent monitors and release the results of any investigations into misconduct that it may have completed. “Afghans have been telling us … Continue reading “Rights Groups Demand Investigation of Prisoner Abuse in Afghanistan”

The Bush administration’s contention that the sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison as depicted in photographs first disclosed two weeks ago were the work of just a “few bad apples” from a poorly trained military police unit is fast becoming untenable. Human rights groups and U.S. lawmakers have made … Continue reading “Evidence Grows of More Widespread Abuse”

The photographs of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers have had a major impact on public opinion in the United States, according to back-to-back national polls that also show continued erosion in support for President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. A major poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center … Continue reading “Polls: Abuse Photos Spell Trouble for War Party”

In a 1972 book, Victims of Groupthink: A Psychology Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, Irving Janis identified the Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as particularly compelling examples of how very smart people can collectively make very stupid decisions. In studying the Bay of Pigs, for example, Janis noted that … Continue reading “Chickenhawk Groupthink”

Amid growing evidence of systematic abuse of prisoners held by the U.S. military in Iraq and elsewhere, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) are calling on the Pentagon to open all U.S.-run detention facilities used in the Bush administration’s “war on terror” to monitoring by independent rights organizations. “Torture flourishes in the dark,” said … Continue reading “Rights Groups Demand That US Open All Detention Facilities”