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The star witness before yesterday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba. Taguba carried out an investigation on the activities of the Army’s 800th Military Police Brigade at Abu Ghraib prison. Afterward, he wrote a 6,000 page report, the summary of which was leaked to the press by Seymour M. … Continue reading “Gen. Sanchez’ Command OK’d Use of Dogs on Prisoners”

Last week, CBS’s Sixty Minutes II program showed footage of American soldiers creating “human pyramids” from detained Iraqis. However, it should be remembered that Iraqis, and indeed Muslims in general, are no strangers to “human pyramids.” The last time that such pyramids were built in the region was in the 13th century when the hordes … Continue reading “The Mongol Invasion of Iraq: Lessons Never Learned”

Several major weapons manufacturers and military contractors reported higher than expected first quarter profits or increased revenue at the end of April. Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, and Halliburton were three of the companies that have benefited from recent US military contracts, as more reports of heavy fighting and evidence of torture underline the brutality of the continuing … Continue reading “Iraq Occupation Means Good Times for War Profiteers”

I oppose the House resolution that claims to condemn prisoner abuse in Iraq. Like so many resolutions we have seen here on the Iraq war, this one is not at all what it purports to be. Were this really a resolution condemning abuse of prisoners and other detainees, I doubt anyone here would oppose it. … Continue reading “Against the Phony Resolution on Iraq Abuse”

With pictures of the sadistic sexual abuse of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison still spilling out onto the front pages, it is not too early to draw some conclusions. The neoconservative hour is over. All the blather about “empire,” our “unipolar moment,” “Pax Americana” and “benevolent global hegemony” will be quietly put on a shelf … Continue reading “A Time for Truth”

In a 1972 book, Victims of Groupthink: A Psychology Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, Irving Janis identified the Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as particularly compelling examples of how very smart people can collectively make very stupid decisions. In studying the Bay of Pigs, for example, Janis noted that … Continue reading “Chickenhawk Groupthink”

THE SETTING Toby Dodge’s Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied 1 (03) constitutes a very interesting guide to the British period in Iraq – or Mesopotamia, as it was then called. The period began, naturally enough, in World War I. Like their counterparts in the Central Powers, British policymakers were … Continue reading “Inventing Iraq – Yet Again?”

As the United Nations prepares to organize elections and help create a new interim government in Iraq starting in July, skepticism is growing about the wisdom of risking UN lives in a country swirling in violence and chaos.. The UN mission in Iraq is bound to fail, predict many Middle East analysts and UN staffers, … Continue reading “UN Warned of Death Trap in Iraq”

The allegations of prisoner torture by our troops in Iraq are disturbing, and clearly drastic action must be taken to ensure such conduct stops immediately. But why are we condemning a small group of low-level reservists when we do not yet know the full story? As revolting as the pictures are, we cannot know with … Continue reading “Passing the Buck in Iraq”