Alan Bock

The return over the weekend to something like a set-piece battle in Iraq, though conducted in the context of a guerrilla conflict rather than the usual army-vs.-army context, could heighten what is still a looming threat to American liberties: a draft. White House press secretary Scott McClellan recently responded with a quick and emphatic "no" … Continue reading “Feeling a Draft”

As the demonstrations last week in Miami over an effort to establish something resembling free trade in the Western hemisphere show us, those who are opposed to military war – or at least this military war conducted by this administration – do not always agree on every issue. Our coalition includes people who find the … Continue reading “Any Trade That’s Peaceful”

Well, praises be! It’s not exactly utopia yet, and I wouldn’t put it past Dubya to veer once again toward the messianic vision presented so forcibly by various neoconservatives, including people in his administration. But the quick turnaround last week on the timetable for turning Iraq over to actual Iraqis suggests at least the possibility … Continue reading “Light at the End of the Tunnel?”

Other areas of the world seem to demand our attention, of course. But the question of whether the American people – or even significant sectors of those who pay attention to such things, beyond the small circle of likely losers running for the Democratic presidential nomination – are starting to reconsider the wisdom of the … Continue reading “New Skepticism on War?”

The deaths of 16 Americans in a Chinook helicopter might have an impact on how ordinary Americans think about the ongoing conflict in Iraq, although it seems to have had little or no impact on the imperial capital just yet. Or did it? In a "profile in courage" worthy of the next ghostwritten chronicle the … Continue reading “Iraq Reassessment: Due but Not Likely”

A Hollywood marketing man, Michael Levine, is pushing what is undoubtedly a good-hearted effort to bridge the gap between the United States and the Muslim world to improve both the intellectual content and the marketing savvy of America’s public relations effort to the world. With all due respect to what is undoubtedly a sincere undertaking, … Continue reading “Get the Product Right First”

The news that conservative radio megatalker Rush Limbaugh has announced that he is addicted to prescription painkillers and is seeking treatment – apparently not for the first time – could have a significant and beneficial impact on the worldwide struggle against terror. The fact that almost all conservative commentators have rushed to express support for … Continue reading “Rushing to See the Bright Side”

The war on the war, so to speak, is going rather well these days, with numerous standard journalistic organizations fascinated with the CIA-White House leak and showing signs of eventually getting it right. In addition, the interim report from former UN weapons inspector David Kay was reduced to noting plaintively that the absence of (miscategorized) … Continue reading “Meeting Al Jazeera, Hearing Hamid Karzai”

The Bush administration’s Iraq policy seems to be imploding rather affectively without much help from me this week. President Bush’s speech at the U.N. last week seems to have received the reception it deserved from the thugs standard-issue commentators are pleased to call the "international community" – about what you’d expect from somebody who says: … Continue reading “Remember Bosnia?”

The most plausible reason I could come up with for the curious dance of denial by top administration officials regarding a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terrorist attacks is that it was a short-term political effort to defuse Vice President Cheney’s rather extravagant and over-the-top assertions Sunday before last on “Meet the … Continue reading “Did Bush Destroy the Administration Case for War?”