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Last month the Bush administration announced plans to deepen U.S. involvement in Colombia by doubling the number of U.S. troops and private military contractors stationed there. The move came in the midst of an energetic public-relations campaign by the U.S. State Department and the Colombian government. Both administrations attempted to paint U.S. policy in Colombia … Continue reading “Bush Administration Seeks to Expand US Military Personnel in Colombia”

The photographs of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers have had a major impact on public opinion in the United States, according to back-to-back national polls that also show continued erosion in support for President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. A major poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center … Continue reading “Polls: Abuse Photos Spell Trouble for War Party”

What struck me most about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s testimony last week was how he reserved his greatest indignation for those who leaked classified information exposing rampant military abuse of Iraqi prisoners. They did so “against the law,” he twice noted in a testy exchange with a senator. Rumsfeld seemed more upset with conscientious whistleblowers … Continue reading “Prisongate: The Down and Dirty”

The proponents of the Annan Plan for Cyprus have expressed great regret at the rejection of the plan by Cyprus’s Greek southern section in a general referendum. But really, the plan’s main supporters got exactly what they wanted- and even if they hadn’t, they would still have won a considerable victory. Cyprus was ruled for … Continue reading “Failure and Success in Cyprus”

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 blithering, the blathering, the pontification, and the grandstanding – that about describes the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on the Abu Ghraib filth-fest. The Democrats were so hot to link Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directly to the scandal, and the Republicans were so busy defending their man (and the war) that neither bothered … Continue reading “Who is John Israel?”

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”