Ramzy Baroud

The reported desecration of the Quran by US guards at the infamous Guantánamo prison, as originally reported by Newsweek on May 9, 2005, was not – as it should’ve been – an opportunity for a thorough examination of US army practices, and thus human rights abuses, toward Muslim inmates in the numerous detention camps erected … Continue reading “Muslim Lives are Desecrated, Not Just Their Book”

Cast aside the nonsensical rhetoric about U.S. President George W. Bush’s ostensibly successful efforts to bolster democratic tendencies “sweeping” the Middle East, and you’ll discover that the facts are not so rosy, with Iraq remaining the most horrific reminder. Bush seems to preside over an entirely different world reality when he adamantly presents himself as … Continue reading “Battling the Windmills While Iraq Burns”

There are no conspiracies to dissect, no hidden agendas to sort through and no oblique language to skillfully decode: the Bush administration’s position on illegal Jewish colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories is crystal clear. President George W. Bush did all of us a great favour when he once more articulated his stance on the … Continue reading “US Middle East Policy: Heedless But Unequivocal”

I‘ve known of Kassim Kafarneh for many years. His thick, wild beard is now neatly trimmed and his once unruly black hair is combed in an orderly fashion. His spirit, however, is as free as the day I saw him filming in our refugee camp one Friday afternoon, 17 years ago. I know for sure … Continue reading “Gaza: The Line of Memory and Despair”

I visited Baghdad as a reporter a few years before the US invasion. There were posters and statues of the ousted President Saddam Hussein everywhere. But not one checkpoint. Those lucky enough, or maybe unfortunate enough to report from the occupied Iraqi capital after March 2003, must have noticed how things have changed. It seems … Continue reading “A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Iraq Edition”

Al-Jazeera’s correspondent Taysir Alouni is in a Madrid jail for no other reason than challenging the Western and distinctively the American narrative of the Third World. Alouni is not a terrorist, and Spanish High Court judge Baltasar Garzon knows this very well. In fact, it appears that Alouni was arrested – first in September 2003 … Continue reading “Taysir Doesn’t Deserve This”

Indulging in speculation regarding the identity of Lebanese former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri’s real assassins is of little value now. What demands urgent scrutiny is how his murder will play a large part in the remolding of Lebanon’s role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the balance of power in the region. So while the Feb. … Continue reading “Hariri’s Murder Only the Beginning”

The recent and supposedly ‘successful’ Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt on February 8 was anything but a triumph, as far as Palestinians, the occupied party, and genuine peace-seeking Israelis are concerned. Leave out the spectacular view of the Red Sea resort, the impressively meticulous Egyptian hospitality, the heart-rending speeches and the touting of the media … Continue reading “How Israel Is Once Again Redefining the Terms of Peace”

One can only imagine the utter outrage that would engulf world leaders and the media if a series of Palestinian bombings rocked an Israeli town and in less than four days killed 60 people and wounded hundreds, mostly innocent civilians. Not even the most open-minded of media pundits would dare justify the crime; not even … Continue reading “Gaza Through the Looking Glass”

Finally, the conflict in Darfur in western Sudan is a focal point for diplomats and the media. This is the least one could expect after months of murder, rape and, dare I say, ethnic cleansing, starting as early as February 2003. Almost all parties who have recently discovered the existence of Darfur, an area comparable … Continue reading “Darfur’s War of Definitions”