With charges expected to be filed Thursday against five to eight Marines accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005, it now appears that at least one senior officer will also be charged in the case. The attorney for Capt. Lucas McConnell,...
The Long Defeat
There is no doubt that future analysts will regard 2006 as the year of setbacks for the American Empire. The most visible defeats have taken place in the Middle East: Iraq first and foremost, then the abortive Israeli war against the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the...
The Urge to Surge
As official Washington breaks for the two-week Christmas-New Year's hiatus, it knows that the number one issue it will face on its return in early January is the White House's apparent "urge to surge" as many as 50,000 new troops into Iraq for up to two...
Thursday: 59 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 42 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 3:25 p.m. EST, Dec. 21, 2006 Bombings rattled Baghdad again today where at least two suicide bombers killed over a dozen people. Overall, at least 59 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 42 wounded in violent incidents. Also, the U.S. military...
India Split Over US Nuke Deal
NEW DELHI - While President George W. Bush has signed into law new legislation passed by Congress to enable the controversial U.S.-India nuclear cooperation deal, the agreement has come under flak in India's parliament, and a massive confrontation has broken out...
Slim Chance for Iraq Reconciliation Recedes
ARBIL - Iraq's national reconciliation conference held over the weekend highlights the gap between the country's various political groups and their lack of consensus on a common basis for reconciliation. Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's call for the return of...
Wednesday: 132 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 64 Iraqis, 6 GIs Wounded
Updated at 11:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 20, 2006 New U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made an unannounced trip to Iraq where he discussed with local military commanders the possibility of increasing the number of troops there. Meanwhile, President Bush talked about the...
Another Year,
Another Iraq Plan
At this time last year, the Pentagon was hinting that troop levels in Iraq would be reduced. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that two combat brigades scheduled for combat tours would not be deployed to Iraq. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...
End of the Strongmen
The era of the Middle East strongman, propped up by and enforcing Western policy, appears well and truly over. His power is being replaced with rule by civil war, apparently now the American administration's favored model across the region. Fratricidal fighting is...
Good Evening, Vietnam
Although Vietnam flooded instantly back into American consciousness as the invasion of Iraq was launched in March 2003 along with its ancient vocabulary from "hearts and minds" to "quagmire" (or the deeply referential "Q-word") for the Bush...


