Jim Lobe

In a major defeat for President George W. Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court Monday ruled that detainees captured in Bush’s “war on terrorism” and detained at a U.S. base in Cuba or in U.S. territory have the right to challenge their detention in federal court. In an 8-1 decision, the justices found that U.S. citizens … Continue reading “Supreme Court Deals Bush Major Defeat on Detainees”

Two weeks after compromising with its traditional allies on the wording of a key UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, U.S. foreign policy under George W. Bush appears to be moving further toward the more realist policies of his father in other areas as well. Few pretend to know whether the move is tactical for … Continue reading “Bush Gives Realism a Chance”

Unless you own a lot of stock in Halliburton or other big defense, security, or construction companies, chances are the Iraq war has turned out to be a pretty bad investment, both in human lives and taxpayer dollars, according to a new assessment by a progressive Washington-based think tank, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). … Continue reading “Iraq War Analysis Paints Grim Picture”

The willingness of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to show greater deference to the United Nations and international law will be severely tested this week as it tries to persuade the Security Council to extend its exemption of U.S. troops serving in peacekeeping operations from the jurisdiction the new International Criminal Court … Continue reading “Will the World Give US War Crimes Immunity?”

While more than 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq continue trying to impose security in advance of the June 30 handover of limited sovereignty to the new Iraqi administration, the security situation in nearby Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. With national elections just three months away, observers here say that tribal warlords, as well as resurgent Taliban … Continue reading “Afghan Elections Threatened by Lack of Security”

WASHINGTON – “The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaeda,” U.S. President George W. Bush told reporters Thursday, is “because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda.” This is what logicians call a tautology, or a “useless repetition,” as the dictionary defines it, but it is … Continue reading “Bush Team Tries to Brazen It Out”

WASHINGTON – Amid increasingly strident calls from United Nations officials for international intervention to stop “ethnic cleansing” in western Sudan, a U.S. group is calling on Washington to declare the situation “genocide” and lead a military force into the region until UN troops can be assembled. Washington-based Africa Action on Tuesday announced it was circulating … Continue reading “Group Wants US to Intervene in Sudan”

WASHINGTON – In a direct challenge to recent assertions by both President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the special bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon has found “no credible evidence” of any operational link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. While the commission, which has … Continue reading “9/11 Panel Denies Al-Qaeda-Iraq Links”

WASHINGTON – In an unprecedented broadside, more than two-dozen top retired U.S. career diplomats and military commanders, many of whom reached their top positions under former President George H.W. Bush, have called for George W. Bush to be defeated in his re-election bid in November. “It is time for a change,” declared a one-page statement … Continue reading “Retired Diplomats, Soldiers Tell Bush to Beat It”

Although their hopes for transforming Iraq into a pro-U.S. base in the heart of the Arab world have been badly set back, neo-imperial hawks in the Bush administration are proceeding as fast as possible to reinvent U.S. forces worldwide as “globocop,” capable of preempting any possible threat to its interests at a moment’s notice. In … Continue reading “Stymied in Iraq, Hawks Still Positioning US as Globocop”