Social Security

On June 4, 2004, lawyers for Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) will argue, in federal court, that a judge should allow further "discovery" to help establish why VitW travelers believed they had a duty to challenge economic sanctions against Iraq. The U.S. government...

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Has Bush Become a Realist?

America may be heading home from Iraq sooner than many of us realize. For the implied message of the president's address at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., is that America wants out of Iraq. Rereading that speech, one finds in it little of Churchill's...

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C’est la Guerre

When President Bush declared War on Terrorism, he pledged to prevent regimes – such as North Korea, Iran and Iraq – from providing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons to terrorists. Of course, Iran and Iraq had both developed chem-bio weapons and had...

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Bush Doctrine Breeds Terror and Tyranny

Bush administration policies in the war on terrorism mutated the global threat, mobilizing anti-U.S. sentiment. The crisis in Iraq, coupled with radical shifts in U.S. policy in the Middle East and elsewhere, gave extremists a new focus, allowing radical groups to...

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Lying or Confused?

I confess – I'm not sure if President Bush lied or is just confused when he said in his recent speech that "full sovereignty" was to be handed over to an Iraqi government on June 30. Full sovereignty would mean that the Iraqi government could tell us to get out...

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Republicans Can’t Handle the Truth

I used to marvel at James Carville and Paul Begala. Despite the parade of scandals during the Clinton administration – eight years of lies, deceit and power abuses – they never got tired of defending the indefensible. Now I stand in amazement at Rush...

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ISP Fights PATRIOT Act

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) yesterday released more information about the heavily censored legal challenge it is bringing against the government's use of a controversial provision of the USA PATRIOT Act that allows the FBI to obtain from businesses...

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Pundits, Heal Thyselves!

Suppose your doctor misdiagnoses your condition – he tells you that six months hence you'll be stone-cold dead, pushing up the daisies. As it turns out, however, you did not have leukemia after all, but were only suffering from Lyme disease. Would you not...

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A Long, Hot Summer Begins

Sometimes I forget that burnout applies to me too. After nearly two months straight of chasing stories, it was obviously time for a break. Unlike home though, one can't go take in a movie, take a jog or even a casual stroll. Walking around anywhere in Baghdad, being a...

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UN: Bullies and Beggars

UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) - As the United Nations gears up to dispatch thousands of new troops into political trouble spots in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, its peacekeeping missions are being undermined by a shortage of funds, unpaid debts and charges of sexual...

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