The War Before the War

Sam Gardiner has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College, and Naval War College. He was recently a visiting scholar at the Swedish Defense College. During Gulf War II, he was a regular on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, BBC radio and television, and National Public Radio. He authored … Continue reading “The War Before the War”

Report: Israeli Soldiers ‘Getting Away With Murder’

Israeli soldiers have killed an average of more than one Palestinian civilian per day since the current Intifada uprising began in 2000, but only a handful of cases have even been investigated, according to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. Between Sept. 29, 2000, and Nov. 30, 2004, more than 1,600 Palestinians not involved … Continue reading “Report: Israeli Soldiers ‘Getting Away With Murder’”

Bush Becoming a Casualty of His Own War

Imagine that the United States had a parliamentary system like that of Canada or Britain in which prime ministers are under constant threat that declining public support could make it difficult for them to maintain the cohesion of their ruling coalition and could end up bringing down their governments and leading to new elections. It … Continue reading “Bush Becoming a Casualty of His Own War”

Backtalk June 23, 2005

Walter Jones, Patriot for Peace Justin Raimondo asked in his recent column “Walter Jones, Patriot for Peace,” whether the left and right antiwar forces in Congress and across the nation can join together to oppose the war in Iraq. I believe they can. If someone like Rep. Walter Jones Jr. (R-N.C.), the man who gave … Continue reading “Backtalk June 23, 2005”

Withdrawal: Seize the Moment

Republican Congressman Walter B. Jones (famed for insisting that the Congressional cafeteria re-label French fries as “freedom fries” on its menu), a man who represents North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, home to the Marine’s Camp LeJeune, voted enthusiastically for the Iraq war, but recently changed his mind. Last week, he became one of four congressional … Continue reading “Withdrawal: Seize the Moment”

Despite Regime Change, Iraq Debts Keep Mounting

UNITED NATIONS – International social justice groups are calling on the United Nations to stop paying out millions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenues to Kuwaiti businesses and individuals as war reparations for Saddam Hussein’s invasion of that country 15 years ago. "The citizens of Iraq should not be held responsible for the actions of … Continue reading “Despite Regime Change, Iraq Debts Keep Mounting”

Walter Jones, Patriot for Peace

The sounds of mortar fire punctuated the American soldiers’ words as he spoke in code over the radio: “Red on red.” It was another day of Operation Thunderbolt, now ongoing near the Iraqi-Syrian border, but the insurgents weren’t firing at the Americans – they were battling each other. It’s red-on-red in America, too, as the … Continue reading “Walter Jones, Patriot for Peace”

The Other War We’re Losing

In view of the steady stream of bad news from Iraq – five dead Marines in Saturday’s paper, two more in Sunday’s, and four soldiers in Monday’s, along with the Ba’athist element of the resistance so "weakened" it is now striking targets in Iran – it is easy to forget that we are fighting, and … Continue reading “The Other War We’re Losing”

The Economics of Terrorism

On my June 18 radio show [stream] [download], I interviewed Loretta Napoleoni, an economist, reporter, and novelist from Italy, about the economics of terrorism, a subject she knows well. Her work for Italy’s financial papers goes back to the ’70s and includes coverage of jihadists, the IRA, and even interviews with leaders of the Italian … Continue reading “The Economics of Terrorism”

US Moral Authority in ‘Free Fall,’ Senators Warn

As Amnesty International urged the George W. Bush administration to "close Guantánamo and disclose the situation in the USA’s shadowy network of detention centers around the globe," a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services group once led by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, won a $30 million contract to help build a new permanent prison … Continue reading “US Moral Authority in ‘Free Fall,’ Senators Warn”