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...
Polls: Abuse Photos Spell Trouble for War Party
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...
Prisongate: The Down and Dirty
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...
Failure and Success in Cyprus
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...
Iraqi Journalists Liberated, From U.S.
The Mongol Invasion of Iraq: Lessons Never Learned
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...
Iraq Occupation Means Good Times for War Profiteers
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...
Against the Phony Resolution on Iraq Abuse
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...
A Time for Truth
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"...
Chickenhawk Groupthink
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...


