Defusing Tension in the Middle East

At their board meeting in Vienna next week, the directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency will consider whether a scenario that has long haunted Western capitals has now become an unmistakable reality – the pursuit by the mullah's regime in Iran of a...

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Torture Victims Sue US Security Companies

Lawyers for Iraqis tortured while in U.S. custody have sued two private security companies for allegedly abusing prisoners to extract information from them with the goal of winning more contracts from the U.S. government. According to the class action lawsuit filed...

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One Down, US Seeks Second UN Resolution

UNITED NATIONS, June 9 (IPS) - After securing a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution supposedly granting "full sovereignty" to Iraqis, the United States is shifting its focus to winning a second decision that would protect its troops from possible war...

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The Pointless Poll

Nebojsa Malic is on vacation this week. Five years after the NATO occupation of Kosovo began, the Balkans remains as restive as ever. Serbs in the occupied province have just suffered another terror attack, even as the UN occupiers fuss about gender quotas. Tensions...

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The Torture Working Group

On the eve of the Iraq war, Pentagon lawyers gave license to torturing suspected terrorists in custody. Use of drugs on prisoners wasn't banned in all cases. Even killing in some cases was justified. That's the gist of a March 6, 2003, draft Pentagon report titled,...

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The Reagan-Haters

Amid the near-unanimity of the panegyrics for Ronald Reagan – emanating from both the left and the right – the few dissenters stand out in their utter wrongheadedness. Christopher Hitchens, the Trotskyite-turned-warmonger, has a reputation to live up to, and...

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Pentagon Memo Legitimizing Torture

The Wall Street Journal has released the text of the now-infamous March 6, 2003 Defense Department memo regarding legal liability for torture. The conclusions reached advised President Bush and Pentagon officials that prohibitions against torture do not apply to the...

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War! War! War!

In the words of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, Memorial Day weekend was all about "War, war, war!" In addition to the real ceremonies, the History Channel and the old movie channels featured nonstop war movies and documentaries. This was quickly followed by...

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Pride, Patriotism, and Propaganda

After declaring a war on terrorism, the Bush Administration has gotten us into two unwinnable wars, Afghanistan and Iraq. The war on terrorism is not a war; it is a state of affairs. There is no one enemy to conquer, no land to capture, no way to know when we have won...

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