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NEW YORK – Many of the more draconian provisions affecting privacy, secrecy, and asylum-seekers originally included in Congress’ intelligence reform bill passed this week were omitted in the law’s final version. But the agreed compromise still contains language that troubles human and civil rights organizations. The House of Representatives’ version of the bill would have … Continue reading “Intel Bill No Win for Rights”

While billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been awarded in lucrative contracts to companies such as Bechtel and Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), there are few signs that any reconstruction has actually taken place in war-torn Iraq. The infrastructure is in a state of collapse, with 70 percent unemployment. One reason for this … Continue reading “Rebuilding Iraq: ‘Somebody Has to Do It’”

In the summer of 1994, I was part of a four-person Christian Peacemaker Team dedicated to filing reports on human rights conditions in Jeremie, located in the southern finger of Haiti. When I arrived, I spent one day in Port au Prince, waiting to travel by ferry to the tiny coastal town of St. Helene. … Continue reading “Burying Water, Hiding Truth”

Every time Iraqi soldiers and policemen boogie away from combat, the standard answer that comes out of the U.S. government is that they need to be "trained up" better. That’s nonsense. Training teaches technique; it does not teach the will to fight. Given the history of Iraq and its culture, nobody can say that the … Continue reading “We Are the Problem”

Blowback is a term invented by the Central Intelligence Agency to describe the unintended consequences of policies kept secret from the American people. Chalmers Johnson’s excellent book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, helped popularize the term. Originally intended for internal use only, blowback increasingly characterizes global reaction to Bush administration policies in … Continue reading “Iraq Blowback Is Global and Growing”

To appreciate the breathtaking magnanimity expressed by this short slogan, one needs to remember its context. Imagine: a foreign army occupies your village for decades, reduces you to subjects without any rights, arrests you arbitrarily, savagely tortures the arrested, and, on top of it all, sends mighty bulldozers to erect a gigantic wall on your … Continue reading “The Third Intifada”

David Sanger’s recent interview with Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has resulted in a New York Times article about "virtual nukes." What is a "virtual” nuke? Well, apparently, it’s a nuke that doesn’t yet exist, but conceivably could, soon. Sanger claims that if a state can convince the world … Continue reading “Virtual Nukes”

Feeding the Iraq Moloch … There is no excuse for government’s paying for innocent hostages. Killing innocents will isolate the terrorists to the support of immoral people. The exchange of hostages is only reasonable if all are combatants. As long as we release their innocents and they behead ours my support for this war will … Continue reading “Backtalk, December 11, 2004”

It was a Maalox moment for Donald Rumsfeld. At a forum held with U.S. troops in Kuwait who are headed to Iraq, the barrage of friendly fire soon scored a direct hit when a scout with the Tennessee National Guard, one Specialist Thomas Wilson, rose, and, his voice confident and clear but with an undertone … Continue reading “Rebellion in the Ranks”

"When truth becomes war’s first fatality, Trust quickly becomes the second." "Since my son’s death … I don’t trust them [the Pentagon] one bit." One need only read the article in the Los Angeles Times to sense the loss felt by Mrs. Mary Tillman whose son, former pro-football star Corporal Pat Tillman, was killed in … Continue reading “US Credibility Under Friendly Fire”