Bumpin’ It in China

It’s 3 o’clock and the sun is shining down bright upon the scattered groups of people hanging about in front of the shopping complex. A huge banner over the front façade blows gently in the breeze – the number “8” fills the banner, and hundreds of tiny photos depicting various bands and their crews fill … Continue reading “Bumpin’ It in China”

Nuts to Bush

Last November, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – as agents for the European Union – began negotiations with Iran on "a mutually acceptable long-term arrangement" that would (a) provide "objective guarantees" to the EU that Iran’s nuclear program was exclusively for "peaceful purposes," (b) guarantee future EU-Iranian nuclear, technological, and economic "cooperation," as well … Continue reading “Nuts to Bush”

Deconstructing Iraq: Year Three Begins

A Little Background Music Shakar Odai, the head of the Internal Affairs Department of the Baghdad police, was recently interviewed by David Enders of Mother Jones magazine, who wrote: “‘More than 98’ percent of the police officers (a force known alike for its use of torture and its widespread corruption) returned to work after the … Continue reading “Deconstructing Iraq: Year Three Begins”

Sandbagging the NSG

Why did Secretary of State Rice make India the first stop on her whirlwind Asian tour? Perhaps to see if she could sabotage yet one more Iranian deal-in-the-making. Not content with sabotaging the current Iranian negotiations with the European Union on trade and investment "normalization," Condi whizzed down to New Delhi to prevent India from … Continue reading “Sandbagging the NSG”

Two Year Anniversary of Iraq War Kicks Off in DC

Demonstrations against the Iraq War scheduled to occur in nearly 600 cities in all 50 states this weekend, kicked off this Thursday across the street from the White House in Washington, DC as representatives of veterans groups and others signed a document pledging to encourage and support soldiers who, of their own conscience, refuse orders … Continue reading “Two Year Anniversary of Iraq War Kicks Off in DC”

A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Iraq Edition

I visited Baghdad as a reporter a few years before the US invasion. There were posters and statues of the ousted President Saddam Hussein everywhere. But not one checkpoint. Those lucky enough, or maybe unfortunate enough to report from the occupied Iraqi capital after March 2003, must have noticed how things have changed. It seems … Continue reading “A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Iraq Edition”

The Intelligence Made
Them Do It

Let’s review now. It was bad intelligence that made President George W. Bush invade Iraq, right? No, you say, and you are correct; that is just White House spin. The “intelligence” was conjured up many months after President George W. Bush’s decision to attack. Now, two years and thousands of lives later, the story is … Continue reading “The Intelligence Made
Them Do It”

The Body Snatchers: Kids, Did Your Recruiters Tell You About the Shallow Graves?

“Look! You fools! You’re in danger! Can’t you see? They’re after you! They’re after all of us! Our wives…our children…they’re here already! You’re next!” ~Dr. Miles Bennell, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers Before you or someone you love enlists, check out the lessons you’d better learn from the aptly-named article, “No Soldier Left Behind”: … Continue reading “The Body Snatchers: Kids, Did Your Recruiters Tell You About the Shallow Graves?”

Is Iraq Becoming the World’s Biggest Cash Cow?

WASHINGTON – The United States has charged a former employee of the U.S. construction giant Halliburton and a Kuwaiti subcontractor with defrauding the U.S. government of millions of dollars in a contract scam in Iraq, one day after an international watchdog group warned that lax oversight was threatening the reconstruction effort there. Two men – … Continue reading “Is Iraq Becoming the World’s Biggest Cash Cow?”