The U.S. government says Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia is nothing more than a deserter who disobeyed direct orders to return to his army unit in Iraq. Mejia does not deny that he refused to go back. He says he witnessed abuse and mistreatment of prisoners at a detention...
Report: US Needed 500,000 Troops to Pacify Iraq
Iraq could be heading for a far worse situation in weeks ahead, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) warns in its annual report published Tuesday. The IISS, one of the world's leading institutions for strategic relations, paints a bleak picture for...
Sadr’s Militia Grows
While U.S. troops continue to damage mosques in heavy fighting against resistance forces they say are holed up in holy sites of Kufa and Kerbala, men in the Sadr City area of Baghdad rushed yesterday to join the Mehdi Army, a militia force loyal to rebel cleric...
Washington Pushes Freedom But Not for Al-Jazeera
When the U.S. state department shyly released a human rights report two weeks ago amidst an international outcry over U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners, it slipped in some tough talk on media freedom against the practice, not for it as would be expected....
Why Ashcroft Must Go
The first time they allowed Brandon Mayfield any visitors, he reached out toward the heavy glass partition and spoke into the telephone, trying to reassure his wife and mother: "Even after the FBI had searched his house, carried away belongings and confiscated credit...
Arab League Turns On Itself
The Arab world is in a dilemma. Never before have internal dissension and the ills facing it been so numerous, mirrored in the just-concluded Arab summit in Tunis. Arab unity has never been legendary. Contradictions and discord have plagued the Arab League, older than...
Who is Stephen Cambone?
Stephen Cambone, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's right-hand man, was for the first time caught in the glare of media attention as part of the congressional inquiry into Iraq prison abuses. Under sharp questioning by a few senators on May 11, 2004, Cambone...
Motives for 9/11 I didnt "get" September 11. It was worthy of a Hollywood summer blockbuster in terms of spectacle, and had immense symbolic value, but I was never sure exactly what bin Laden was up to. .... I had to start from the premise that bin...
Escalation vs. Exit: The Costs of Both
"Nitwit pundits and Sunday morning television sages, with that faked look of thoughtfulness which is their trademark, talk about an exit strategy as if it were just one more Mapquest printout. But any such exit strategy will lead us only on a short path to...
Psyops In Fourth Generation War
I recently received an invitation to speak at a conference at Ft. Bragg on psychological operations, or psyops. Regrettably, a schedule conflict prevented me from accepting, but the invitation got me thinking: what are psyops in Fourth Generation war (4GW)? It is...


