with Isam Rashid BAGHDAD The execution of 13 suspected insurgents in March marked a revival of the death penalty in Iraq and sparked a debate among Iraqis about whether capital punishment should be written into the laws of a modern society. The death...
New Military Offensive Against Rumsfeld
Three years after the fall of Baghdad and the city's disastrous plunge into chaos, U.S. military brass appear engaged in a new campaign: getting rid of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld. While the offensive has so far been limited to generals who have recently retired...
Iran: The Nuclear Option
According to New Yorker columnist Seymour Hersh, the Bush administration is contemplating "the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against [Iran's] underground nuclear sites." Presumably, the B61-11 nuclear bomb can be...
From the China Lobby to the Israel Lobby
For about two decades after World War II, a powerful coalition of U.S. congressmen, publishers, businessmen, and military generals operating close to the highest levels of government in Washington tried to ensure that the United States would not recognize "Red China"...
The Poor Man’s Air Force
In a column on March 23 ("A Vision, Bruised and Dented"), David Brooks of the New York Times wrote about "the rise of what Richard Lowry of the National Review calls the 'To Hell With Them' Hawks." In part, Brooks characterized these hawks as being conservatives who...
Violence Driving Iraqis From Homes, Country
With Isam Rashid BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands have fled their homes or the country since the bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra Feb. 23. At least 30,000 Iraqis have been displaced from their homes since then, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says....
Backtalk, April 12, 2006
Networks, Terrorism, and Global InsurgencyMr. Deliso,It is way past time to stop the bullsh*t. Do not call them "private military contractors," nor "private security contractors." Call them what they are: mercenaries! Guns for hire. Why should I give a sh*t if some...
The Unbearable Smugness of Being
Balkans "Endgame" on Schedule or Is it? For a region with more history than it can handle, the Balkans is wrought with anniversaries and commemorations no matter the season. The end of March brought the seventh anniversary of NATO's attack that ended...
Iran Showdown Tests Power of Israel Lobby
One month after the publication by two of the most influential international relations scholars in the United States of a highly controversial essay on the so-called "Israel Lobby," their thesis that the lobby exercises "unmatched power" in...
GOP Congressmen: Time to Debate
Iraq Endgame
Last week, Republican Congressmen Ron Paul (Texas), Walter Jones (N.C.), and Wayne Gilchrest (Md.) declared their support for a bipartisan resolution demanding the full House debate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. The resolution's sponsor, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii),...


