The Smoking Gun Memo

In its June 9 issue (on sale this week), the New York Review of Books will be the first American print publication to publish the full British "smoking gun" document, the secret memorandum of the minutes of a meeting of Tony Blair's top advisors in July 2002, eight...

read more

Report: US Locked in ‘Vicious Circle’ in Iraq

The American effort in Iraq may be locked in a "vicious circle," according to a new report that surveys Iraqi public opinion data and interviews with Iraqis. The report, released on Wednesday by the Project on Defense Alternatives, concludes that U.S....

read more

Return of the Mahdi

It seems that the movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is getting ready for a major push against the occupation. In his first public address in months, the scion of one of Iraq's most important religious families called for an immediate end to U.S. occupation....

read more

Speed Bumps on Democracy Boulevard

"When the people of the Palestinian territories went to the polls," said President Bush in Riga, Latvia, "they chose a leader committed to negotiation instead of violence. … The direction of events is clear in the Middle East. Freedom is on the march." Well,...

read more

The Bush-Bolton Plan to Bomb Bushehr

Memo to: Republican senators Buried down in Saturday's New York Times report on President Bush reaffirming his unqualified support for John Bolton as UN ambassador is the reason why almost all of you are ready to vote for his confirmation. "Republicans are hoping...

read more

A Welcome Parade of Seething Anger

As if to add insult to injury, with over 400 Iraqis killed in violence during the first two weeks of the newly sworn in Iraqi "government," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a surprise one-day visit to the newest U.S. colony. After visiting northern Iraq,...

read more

Uzbekistan’s Nightmare:
Made in Washington

Why is Washington standing by Uzbekistan's dictator Islam Karimov, even as he massacres his own people – 500 of them so far? "They shot at us like rabbits," says one Uzbek who escaped the carnage in Andijan, where Uzbek troops fired directly into a crowd of...

read more

Newsweek Got Gitmo Right

Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of religious desecration at Guantanamo published by Newsweek on May 9, 2005, are common among ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo and Bagram...

read more