Category: Uncategorized

I had to laugh out loud when I read Adam L. Penenberg‘s recent piece in Wired News, bemoaning the low status of the New York Times in Google‘s hierarchy of knowledge: "When I googled the terms ‘Iraq torture prison Abu Ghraib’ – certainly one of the most intensively covered news stories of the year – … Continue reading “Antiwar.com – ‘A Low Budget Rabblerouser’?”

Ever since the attacks of 9/11, unsanctioned alternative explanations of what happened and why have been in ample supply. What are the American people to make of these explanations? That depends on the alternative offered. My purpose here is not to lend credence to any of them, but rather to examine the attitude that officialdom … Continue reading “Should We Have Faith in the Government?”

Americans are still learning the details of some of the abuses that were committed against those rounded up as suspected terrorists after 9/11. The Justice Department inspector general issued superb reports in June and December 2003 detailing violation of rights, denial of due process, and, in some cases, physical brutality. Perhaps the best way to … Continue reading “Trampling Aliens in the Name of Anti-Terrorism”

NAIROBI (IPS) – Sudan has "accepted" a UN resolution to rein in pro-government militias, known as Janjaweed, in the western region of Darfur, within 30 days, a surprising move that seems to reflect a split in the Islamic regime. Until late Friday, Khartoum had rejected the UN Security Council’s resolution threatening the regime with sanctions … Continue reading “Sudan Officials Split Over UN Sanction Threat”

The Pentagon is learning that things work differently here in the United States than they do in Iraq. In this country, when the judiciary issues an order, the Pentagon is required to obey it. That’s why the government is now permitting Ali Saleh al-Marri to meet with his attorney as part of his habeas corpus … Continue reading “Pentagon Learns About the Sixth Amendment”

BAGHDAD – The grass has all but disappeared off what used to be the football field of the Palestinian Haifa sports club on the edge of Baghdad. After more than a year as an improvised refugee camp that at one point housed some 2,000 people, it looks sun-bleached and bent by the wind. Hardly a … Continue reading “Iraq’s Palestinians Dispossessed Again”

Well, now we know that no matter who wins in November, we’re going to stay in Iraq as long as it takes and do whatever it takes to achieve final victory – whatever “victory” means. The election will, however, decide which country is next to have its “regime changed.” If Kerry is elected, it’ll be … Continue reading “Decision 2004: Iran or Sudan?”

Books keep pouring off the presses on the subject of why George W. Bush should not be reelected. I got four in my mailbox recently. Bush might be the biggest boon to book publishing since Harry Potter. The most serious of the four books is The Bubble of American Supremacy, by George Soros. The most … Continue reading “Throwing the Book at Bush”

Every May, Sirbuz Khan, 26, makes his way north along the Karakorum Highway from Islamabad and spends the next six to seven months moving around China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region buying silk for his family’s cloth business. Business is good – for every five meters of pure white silk Khan buys, he can make a … Continue reading “Sino-Pak Policy: Carrot and the Stick”

ATHENS – The guns are not pointing at visitors, they do not need to. The men carrying them have visitors to the new Olympics stadium in their sight all the way. The men are carefully positioned to see there is not a moment anyone could be out of sight. A visitor begins to feel like … Continue reading “Athens Goes ‘Rambo’ on Security”