AMMAN - These days, Ramadi is nearly impossible to enter. Against the backdrop of the Haditha massacre, IPS has received reports of civilians killed by snipers, and homes occupied with American snipers on the roof while families were detained downstairs. One man, who...
Iranian Nukes: US Denies Reality
The Bush administration is congratulating itself on finally agreeing to direct talks with Iran about Iran's nuclear program. This smugness shows just how out of touch with reality the administration has become. The United States and the Europeans joining together to...
The Urbanity of Evil
I've been thinking about Tariq Aziz a lot since the New York Times printed a front-page story on the former Iraqi deputy prime minister in late May. A color photograph showed him decked out in what the article described as "an open-necked hospital gown, with a...
Our Terrorism, and Theirs
We expected Bill Kristol and the usual neocon suspects to dismiss the atrocities committed by U.S. troops at Haditha as nothing to get too excited about. After all, these guys don't believe in any morality but that which comes out of the barrel of a gun. So what else...
Dying for Peace and Freedom?
I'm getting tired of hearing politicians and generals talk about Americans dying for peace and freedom. The main breaker of the peace in recent years has been the United States. Since 1945, no nation on Earth has either declared war against us or attacked us. We...
Backtalk, June 5, 2006
The Meaning of Haditha This needs to be published on the front page of every newspaper in the U.S., read from the pulpit of every church and synagogue and in every school classroom in the land for the duration until it is as well known as the Gettysburg Address. This...
Reflections on Memorial Day, 2006
Various commentators on the network political shows on Sunday, May 28 reminded us to take some time to remember, on Memorial Day, those who had died in our current and past wars. Some even suggested that we do so at a particular time: editor Dan Henninger of the Wall...
The Dujail Principle
"Two things are infinite the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - attributed to Albert Einstein Time moves at a less frenetic pace on C-SPAN than elsewhere on television. Last week, they showed four law professors testifying...
What Is the Mission?
President Bush teared up on Memorial Day and said we must complete the mission in Iraq to honor the 18,000 wounded and 2,400-plus dead. Well, I have a question. What is the mission? Is it to overthrow Saddam Hussein? He's been overthrown and is awaiting execution by a...
The Perils of Threat Inflation
In the 1980s, when I was on the staff of Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, I traveled regularly to Maxwell Air Force Base (whose claim to fame is not one, but two golf courses) to give the slide-show briefing of the Congressional Military Reform Caucus to Squadron...


