Charlie Wilson’s War, Act Two

Though it happened just over 20 years ago, today’s media has all but forgotten that Afghanistan’s Taliban was largely the creation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a hard-drinking, party-loving Texas congressman who helped funnel billions of dollars in arms to "freedom fighters" like Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar. The congressman … Continue reading “Charlie Wilson’s War, Act Two”

Iraq: A Right-Wing Alternate Reality Show

Never mind all that folderol about Iraq’s burgeoning insurgency: those bombs going off everywhere, the kidnappings, and the complete inability of the U.S.-installed Iraqi government to keep order in the streets of their own capital city – “The war is over,” says Karl Zinsmeister, “and we won”! Does that mean we can bring our troops … Continue reading “Iraq: A Right-Wing Alternate Reality Show”

Neocons Bludgeon Professors With ‘Academic Freedom’

OAKLAND, California – A specter is again haunting U.S. colleges and universities. At the beginning of the Cold War in the early 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, the infamous Republican senator from Wisconsin, stalked the political landscape recklessly hurling charges that hordes of Communists had infiltrated the U.S. government before, during, and after World War II. Sen. … Continue reading “Neocons Bludgeon Professors With ‘Academic Freedom’”

Chasing Zarqawi

Just in the last few days, according to USA Today, a “propaganda video purportedly made by al-Qaeda-linked terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi” has been released showing suicide attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq supposedly inspired by or ordered by him. Since George Bush first mentioned him in October 2002 in a speech in Cincinnati as … Continue reading “Chasing Zarqawi”

‘Withdrawal Would Cripple US Credibility’

Obsession with seeming unequivocal and immovable has been frequent in the Oval Office. During the Vietnam War, such fixations were indifferent to the fact that the war was losing the U.S. government moral credibility around the world. But from the outset, Lyndon Johnson invoked credibility as an argument for staying the course. "If we are … Continue reading “‘Withdrawal Would Cripple US Credibility’”

In Iraq, Another Occupation Day

As the United States celebrated its independence this weekend, Iraq celebrated another week under foreign occupation. So I thought it useful to look at Thomas Jefferson’s case against England’s King George III and compare it with the Iraqi case against our own President George II. Below are some of the complaints leveled against King George … Continue reading “In Iraq, Another Occupation Day”

Eyes Wide Shut, India Enters Military Alliance With US

NEW DELHI – Once proudly nonaligned, India has turned its back on strategic policy independence through a military cooperation agreement with the United States that analysts say has taken the 5-year-old "strategic partnership" to an unprecedented plane. The new "Framework for the U.S.-India Defense Relationship" unveiled last week involves more than arms deals and envisages … Continue reading “Eyes Wide Shut, India Enters Military Alliance With US”

Secrecy and the Warfare State

Daniel Ellsberg is quite a remarkable man. He defied the law, his future, an entire career’s worth of brainwashing, and important friendships in order to leak the truth about the Vietnam War to the people of America. Richard Nixon so feared the man that he sent CIA hitmen to “incapacitate him totally” – whatever that … Continue reading “Secrecy and the Warfare State”