Measures of Ineffectiveness
Like most sound tenets of military art, the concepts of "objective" and "measures of effectiveness" have been corrupted by America's present military leadership. At his Senate confirmation hearing in June 2009, then-Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal...
Israel’s Large and Small Apartheids
Author's note: Below is the text of a talk delivered to the fifth Bilin international conference for Palestinian popular resistance, held in the West Bank village of Bilin on April 21. Israel's apologists are very exercised about the idea that Israel has been singled...
Monday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 17 Wounded
The formation of the new government was thrown into disarray as an Iraqi court began to disqualify candidates who ran in last month’s parliamentary elections. At least seven Iraqis were killed and 17 were wounded in new violence.
read moreOn ‘Collateral Murder’ and Stephen Colbert
Much has been written in recent weeks about "Collateral Murder," the Wikileaks audio/video of a 2007 attack by U.S. soldiers on an unarmed reporter and other men (I'm not sure whether they were armed) in Iraq. However, I'm not writing this simply to repeat...
In the Name of Zionism
Israel is a Zionist state. Everybody knows that. There is no (Jewish) politician in Israel who misses an opportunity to repeat this. Last week, when we celebrated the 62nd Independence Day, we were flooded by a deluge of patriotic speeches. Each of the Ciceros,...
Yes, We Could… Get Out!
Yes, we could. No kidding. We really could withdraw our massive armies, now close to 200,000 troops combined, from Afghanistan and Iraq (and that's not even counting our similarly large stealth army of private contractors, which helps keep the true size of our double...
The Alien Menace!
A new documentary series created by Stephen Hawking posits the mathematical certainty of extraterrestrial life – but the brilliant theoretical scientist recommends against trying to establish contact. "To my mathematical brain, the numbers [of planets] alone make...
Sunday: 4 Iraqis, 2 Indians Killed; 34 People Wounded
At least four Iraqis were killed and 34 people were wounded in today’s incidents. Two Indian nationals were killed in a blast in Arbil as well. Also, the Islamic State of Iraq confirmed two militants killed last week were Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but reports that Saddam’s vice president, Izzat al-Douri, was killed or captured were premature.
read moreSaturday: 8 Iraqis Killed, 21 Wounded
Attacks tapered off today, but at least eight Iraqis were killed and 21 more wounded in new violence. Also, a U.S. Dept. of Defense employee of unknown nationality died of unreported causes. Meanwhile, an offer to restart the Mahdi Army was turned down by Iraqi officials, but rogue elements could be operating within the official security forces.
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