One of the Arab world's most widely respected non-governmental organizations is charging that at least 14 Middle East and North African governments are systematically violating the civil liberties of their citizens and most of them are close U.S. allies in the...
Frontline: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late
Frontline's "Bush's War" on PBS Monday and Tuesday evening was a nicely put-together rehash of the top players' trickery that led to the attack on Iraq, together with the power-grabbing, back-stabbing, and limitless incompetence of the occupation. Except for...
Two Anniversaries
On March 20, 2003, American forces began their invasion of Iraq. According to the Emperor himself, the purpose of the war was to "disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." Five...
Sadr Offensive Shows Failure of Petraeus Strategy
The escalation of fighting between Mahdi Army militiamen and their Shi'ite rivals, which could mark the end of Moqtada al-Sadr's self-imposed cease-fire, also exposes Gen. David Petraeus' strategy for controlling Sadr's forces as a failure. Petraeus reacted...
Thursday: 225 Iraqis, 1 US Soldier, 3 US Contractors Killed; 538 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 12:21 a.m. EDT, Mar. 28, 2008Although the fighting continues in Basra, followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad instead took to the streets in mostly peaceful protests. The cleric himself has asked for peace talks, but the prime minister is...
Hard to See the Benefits Through the Bills and the Blood
Last week marked five years since President Bush's decision to engage in preemptive war against Iraq (or more accurately, preventive war, since there was no imminent threat to thwart; rather its purpose was to prevent a potential threat that had not yet emerged from...
Operation Cassandra
Adm. Fallon's (forced?) resignation was the last warning we are likely to get of an attack on Iran. It does not mean an attack is certain, but the U.S. could not attack Iran so long as he was the Centcom commander. That obstacle is now gone. Vice President Cheney's...
Generals bin Laden and Bush
Today, in his usual remarkable way, Mark Danner takes stock of the president's failed War on Terror abroad. One day, we will also need to take full stock of George W. Bush's War on Terror at home. After all, conceptually speaking, the War on Terror lay at the heart of...
Why They Hate China
China's continuing crackdown on Tibetan pro-independence protesters is a big, big issue here in San Francisco. Why, just the other day, I was coming out my front door, and there was one of my neighbors a very nice woman in her fifties, albeit an archetypal...
Wednesday: 2 GIs, 1 British Soldier, 76 Iraqis Killed; 367 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 9:00 p.m. EDT, Mar. 26, 2008As clashes continue today in southern Iraq and Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given the Mahdi Army three days to surrender and turn over their weapons. Overall, 76 Iraqis were killed and 367 more were wounded...


