Are we really surprised? The Saddam Hussein verdict, scheduled for Oct. 16 and then suddenly delayed last month (supposedly because the Iraqi special tribunal needed more time) to Nov. 5, the last news cycle before the U.S. midterm election, has now come in, and the...
Monday: 5 GIs Reported Killed; 63 Iraqis Killed, 20 Wounded
Updated at 6:05 p.m. EST, Nov. 6, 2006 Curfews set in place to curb violence following the death sentence imposed on former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein are being lifted in a staggered manner. By Tuesday, all curfews should be gone. Despite the crackdown, 59 bodies...
Backtalk November 6, 2006
Evil Is as Evil Does Dear Mr. Roberts, Let us add to hubris, the average American's unique abilities at deafness, amnesia, disdaining intellectual initiative, gullibility on a full stomach, and righteous stupidity. The people of our nation still possess a fine wit and...
Sunday: 89 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 71 Iraqis wounded; Saddam Sentenced To Death
Updated at 12:40 p.m. EST, Nov. 5, 2006 Today, the U.S-backed Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Saddam Hussein to death. Pending appeals, his half-brother and another senior official will be executed as well. Several other officials received prison sentences or were...
Who’s Targeting Iran and Why?
One of the more interesting revelations elicited by Seymour Hersh from Scott Ritter during their public discussion last month, sponsored by the New York Society for Ethical Culture, about the Bush-Cheney administrations not-so-secret plans to effect regime...
North Korea Wins Nuclear Poker Round
NEW DELHI - By announcing that it would return to the negotiation table and address the major powers' concerns about its nuclear program, North Korea may have scored an unlikely but impressive diplomatic victory. Pyongyang's move has put on the mat top officials of...
Missing the Fundamentals
Spencer Ackerman, associate editor of the magazine, has written a remarkable piece for the New Republic, most of whose editors and writers, it is worth remembering, were generally favorable to the war in Iraq during the run-up and through most of the first two years....
Saturday: 102 Iraqis Killed, 65 Injured
Updated at 10:40 p.m. EST, Nov. 4, 2006 Security forces in Iraq are on high alert awaiting the Sunday outcome of Saddam Hussein’s trial. Hoping to curb any violence the expected guilty verdict might incite, authorities have also ordered a special curfew in...
The Painful Death of Humanitarian Intervention
Iraq was about many things, supporters of the war intone. The fact that no WMD were discovered is irrelevant. President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, and a host of Republican (and many Democratic) legislators solemnly proclaim that knowing what they...
Evil Is as Evil Does
Compared to the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami is regarded in Western foreign affairs circles as a moderate. When Khatami visited the U.S. in September, he called on the U.S. and Iran to stop verbally...


