Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, June 8 (IPS) – National elections in Afghanistan planned for September will be increasingly in doubt unless western nations commit more troops to the war-weary country, international human rights groups told leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, gathering this week on Sea Island in the state of Georgia. With less than … Continue reading “Failed Promises Imperil Afghanistan Polls, Groups Tell G8”

Almost three years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the United States is still falling short in its ability to deal with weak, failing or failed states, which increasingly threaten U.S. national security, says a major report released here Tuesday by a bipartisan commission. Washington must do far … Continue reading “Weak States Are ‘Sleeping Giants’ for US Security”

A classified Pentagon report, providing a series of legal arguments apparently intended to justify abuses and torture against detainees, appears to undermine public assurances by senior U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, that the military would never resort to such practices in the “war on terrorism.” Short excerpts of the report, which was drafted … Continue reading “How High Does the Abu Ghraib Scandal Go?”

With the notable exceptions of China and India, a majority of people in 19 key countries are pessimistic about the world’s current direction, says a just-released survey, which found a high correlation between that feeling and the belief that U.S. influence is increasingly negative, particularly as compared to Europe. The survey, conducted by the international … Continue reading “Global Pessimism About US Power”

A coalition of civil-rights and veterans groups charged in a New York court Wednesday that the U.S. Defense Department is withholding records about the abuse of detainees in military custody as part of the Bush administration’s “war against terrorism.” The federal court lawsuit accuses the Pentagon of failing to comply with a Freedom of Information … Continue reading “Groups Sue Pentagon Over Iraq Abuses”

The abrupt resignation of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet adds new grist to Washington’s rumor mills, already churning at warp speed due to the ongoing prisoner-abuse scandal in Iraq and reports that the Bush administration’s favorite in Baghdad turned over critical information to Iran. Whether Tenet, who also served for seven years as … Continue reading “More Imperial Intrigue as CIA Director Resigns”

Fourteen months after reaching the zenith of their influence on U.S. foreign policy with the invasion of Iraq, neoconservatives appear to have fallen entirely out of favor, both within the administration of President George W. Bush and in Baghdad itself. The signs of their defeat at the hands of both reality and the so-called “realists,” … Continue reading “Neocon Collapse in Washington and Baghdad”

Launching a new effort to stem the plummeting loss in public confidence in his Iraq policy, U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his commitment to bringing "freedom" and self-government to Baghdad and warned that US failure will "only mark the beginning of peril and violence." Addressing a respectful and unusually restrained group of mid- and … Continue reading “Bush Offers Nothing New Except Prison”

More than seven million of the world’s nearly 12 million refugees have been “warehoused” in dangerous border areas or urban slums without regard to their basic human rights for 10 or more years, according to the 2004 “World Refugee Survey” released Monday by the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR). The report, which found a sharp … Continue reading “Millions ‘Warehoused’ Without Rights for 10 Years or More”

Despite a tidal wave of bad news from the Iraq occupation they did so much to promote, neoconservatives are calling for U.S. President George W. Bush to pursue a military solution against resistance fighters there. “Crush the Insurgents in Iraq,” screamed a column in Sunday’s Washington Post by prominent New York politician-banker Lewis Lehrman and … Continue reading “Neocons Go Macho on Iraq”