Since sometime before Caesar was a lance corporal, the United States Marine Corps' greatest fear has been becoming "a second land army." It has long believed that if the country perceived it had two armies, it would require one to go away, and that one would be the...
Fallujah, Pacified
June 3 A rumbling explosion just let off near my hotel. This not too long after getting back from Adhamiya where I was talking to witnesses at the scene of yet another car bomb; the third in as many days here in Baghdad. At the scene in Adhamiya the scorched,...
Global Pessimism About US Power
With the notable exceptions of China and India, a majority of people in 19 key countries are pessimistic about the world's current direction, says a just-released survey, which found a high correlation between that feeling and the belief that U.S. influence is...
UN’s Integrity Questioned Again
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - When U.S. President George W. Bush desperately sought UN assistance last month to organise elections in Iraq and help form a new interim government, some senior UN officials bragged the United States was crawling back to the world body on bended...
UN: US Soldiers May Be Guilty of War Crimes
GENEVA (IPS) - A new report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concludes that "grave violations" even potential war crimes have occurred since the U.S.-led forces have occupied Iraq, leaving "a stain upon the effort to bring freedom" to that...
Entering the Interim
So now there's an interim government in Iraq, and at least there's the appearance that the Iraqis exercised a bit of independence from the United States in the choice of a prime minister (Iyad Allawi, a Shia with longstanding military and CIA connections, head of the...
The Sorrows of Empire
Foreign policy scholar Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire and, Blowback, discusses his works with Saul Landau. Check out his other interviews High Bandwidth (DSL or Cable modem): Low Bandwidth (dial-up modem):
Groups Sue Pentagon Over Iraq Abuses
A coalition of civil-rights and veterans groups charged in a New York court Wednesday that the U.S. Defense Department is withholding records about the abuse of detainees in military custody as part of the Bush administration's "war against terrorism." The federal...
Forcing Square Pegs Into Round Holes
While the original pretext offered to the Australian people for the invasion and occupation of Iraq was the presence of weapons of mass destruction and their certain use against Western targets, the justification has now moved from the pragmatic to the ideological. As...
New Iraqi President Holds Tentative Grassroots Respect, Little Power
After a brief, frenetic political battle between the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) and the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority, both parties on Tuesday named Sheikh Ghazi Al-Yawar president of Iraq's newly formed interim government. Yesterday UN representative...


