No Semblance of Accountability

Perhaps the most striking thing about the official acknowledgment that the two-year hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is over is the fact that it was greeted by most with a collective shrug of the shoulders and an almost cheerful defense of what many of us...

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What Calm Looks Like in Iraq

I'm typing as mortars are blasting away in the nearby "Green Zone." Mortars are easy to tell – the higher pitched thunk of their launch, then a pause, then a loud boom that echoes through the still night. Blaring sirens wail in the distance, along with...

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Iraq and the El Salvador ‘Option’

Panic is setting in at the Pentagon. Ever bolder and ever widening, the Iraqi insurgency grows in firepower and tactical sophistication, as well as in sheer numbers, while the architects of what appears to be a looming stalemate are scrambling to snatch victory from...

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Aussie Gitmo Detainee Mulls Legal Action

CANBERRA - The U.S. and Australian governments could face legal action for damages after the Pentagon announced that it would release Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba after three years in detention without charges....

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Let’s Not Pretend We Didn’t Know

The only thing worse than seeing endless news stories about the torture of "detainees" at U.S. prison camps like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay is seeing the word "shocking" in relation to something that we all, in our heart of hearts, knew was...

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Recalling the Anti-Imperialist League

"We deny that the obligation of all citizens to support their Government in times of grave National peril applies to the present situation. If an Administration may with impunity ignore the issues upon which it was chosen, deliberately create a condition of war...

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Now Comes the Hard Part for Abbas

JERUSALEM - Mahmoud Abbas must have unleashed a great sigh of relief when the results of the Palestinian election were announced Monday and it became clear he had won over 60 percent of the vote – a result he can present as a broad, popular mandate. But the...

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Death Squads: Neither Quaint nor Obsolete

On Sunday, the U.S. periodical Newsweek revealed that the Pentagon is actively considering an effort in Iraq that human rights groups say more closely resembles a dark and desperate homage to D'Aubuissonism than an actual policy initiative. Harking back to the days...

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Chertoff Wrote Blueprint for Sept. 12 Crackdown

NEW YORK - Like President George W. Bush's nominee for attorney general, his choice for Homeland Security czar is likely to face stiff opposition from some Democratic senators and human rights advocates because of what they say were abuses of civil liberties during...

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