The vagaries of U.S. involvement in the Middle East were surely brought home to First Lady Laura Bush on her recent trip to Israel, on a tour of Jerusalem's holiest sites. At the Wailing Wall, where she placed a note in the Western Wall – as is the custom...
The Franklin Affair:
Backtalk May 25, 2005
Parents: The Anti-Recruiter Teresa Whitehurst does some nice deconstructing of military sales propaganda, but I believe her advice at the end ("Parents and teachers who care about kids should study each of these appeals and inoculate naïve, trusting teens against...
Bringing the Arab Street to Power
With no weapons of mass destruction found and nothing to tie Saddam to Sept. 11, the White House has justified the war as America's way to democratize Iraq and, through it, the Arab world. Exhibit A in the White House case is the January elections. Kurds and Shi'ites...
Battling the Windmills While Iraq Burns
Cast aside the nonsensical rhetoric about U.S. President George W. Bush's ostensibly successful efforts to bolster democratic tendencies "sweeping" the Middle East, and you'll discover that the facts are not so rosy, with Iraq remaining the most horrific reminder....
Iraq Started the Iran/Iraq War?
If you continue to wonder why the "insurgents" in Iraq continue to blow themselves up to prevent the interim government from gaining credibility among the populace, please note the report that the new "interim government" has confessed that Saddam...
On Left and Right
Some while ago, a fellow leftie put me on to Antiwar.com. I took a look at the site, bookmarked it, and have ever since been a regular visitor, sometimes clicking on it two or three times in a day. I have even on occasion donated money to keep it afloat. I find there...
The Return of the Body Count
On March 19, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld discussed the "metrics" of measuring success in Iraq with Steve Inskeep of National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Here is part of that interview: "NPR: I want to start, Mr. Secretary, with something you said...
Is Bush a Sith Lord?
The current episode of Star Wars is dynamite for the duplicitous Bush administration. Palpatine, a Sith lord masquerading as a galactic republican, becomes chancellor of the Galactic Republic through deception. Palpatine uses wars that he instigates to elevate...
A Pretext for War
For more than two decades, James Bamford has been a noted investigative journalist focusing on intelligence-gathering in the United States. He exposed the ultra-secret National Security Agency two decades ago in The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, both...
Pleasantries but No Change as Bush Greets Karzai
While lavishing praise on his guest Monday, President George W. Bush indicated that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will receive neither greater control over U.S. troops in his country nor substantially more aid to persuade poppy farmers to drop out of the...


