Within the next month, the Pentagon will submit its 2009 budget to Congress and it's a fair bet that it will be even larger than the staggering 2008 one. Like the Army and the Marines, the Pentagon itself is overstretched and under strain and like the two...
Foreign Thought Police Target US Candidates
It's only natural that citizens of foreign nations should take an interest in who aspires to the White House: after all, we've announced our "right" to launch a preemptive attack anywhere, under any circumstances, in order to prevent a perceived threat to...
Wednesday: 104 Iraqis Killed, Over 320 Wounded
Updated at 12:45 p.m. EST, Jan. 29, 2008A pair of large explosions shook northern Iraq today, leaving dozens of casualties. Overall, at least 104 Iraqis were killed and over 320 were wounded across Iraq. No Coalition deaths were reported. Also, a study from the Iraqi...
Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 32 Iraqis Killed; 42 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 11:50 p.m. EST, Jan. 22, 2008At least 32 Iraqis were killed and another 42 were wounded in the latest attacks. Meanwhile, one American soldier was killed and another was wounded during a rollover accident in Kirkuk today. Also, two journalism associations...
Iraqi Police and Army Sidelined by Sunni Fighters
BAQUBA - New military operations in Diyala province north of Baghdad have exacerbated a growing conflict between U.S.-backed Sunni fighters on the one hand and Iraqi army and police forces on the other. The U.S. military commenced a large military operation Jan. 8 in...
Contractor Abuses Rarely Punished, Groups Say
Out of the dozens upon dozens of reports of abuses by private contractors as part of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only one prosecution of a contractor has taken place. This, says a new report from Human Rights First [.pdf], epitomizes the woefully...
Canada’s Gitmo Torture Warning Shows Double Standards
How humiliating. The story begins with the shameful case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian who was kidnapped by U.S. agents as he changed planes in New York in 2002 and rendered to Syria, where he was tortured for a year on behalf of the American authorities...
Hope in Iraq
A glimmer of hope exists in Iraq, but it has not been produced by the surge of extra U.S. forces. Although the surge, prior ethnic cleansing that has separated warring ethno-sectarian groups, and the U.S. military's paying off Sunni insurgents have reduced violence,...
McCain and the Militarist Mentality
Amid all the media-generated hype surrounding John McCain's narrow victory in the South Carolina primary which portrays him rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of what many considered a failed last hurrah one anomaly stands out: he did well among...
US Media Covering Up for Government?
For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation. But there is a worse journalistic sin than...


