Antiwar.com

President Bush relied almost exclusively upon the top-secret 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq’s Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction for justification of his pre-emptive invasion of Iraq to "disarm" Saddam Hussein. On the eve of the invasion, anyone – including Congressional leaders – having access to that top-secret document ought to have … Continue reading “Coming Up Empty”

It’s not a new tactic here in Iraq. The US military has been doing it for well over a year now. Last January 3rd, in the al-Dora rural region on the outskirts of Baghdad, where beautiful farms of date palms and orange trees line the banks of the Tigris, I visited a farm where occupation … Continue reading “Iraqis Suffer Under American Yoke”

Jerusalem – The Palestinian militant groups who carried out the attack Thursday night in the Gaza Strip that killed six Israeli civilians said they had been planning the assault for weeks. But the timing is not coincidental: it is the first major challenge by armed groups to the newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Close … Continue reading “Gaza Killings Cast a Long Shadow”

Sometimes you have to go to the regional newspapers for the punchy editorials. The Pentagon’s announcement that the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction officially ended quietly in late December provokes the Virginia Pilot to observe, “And America is left with a seemingly endless war in Iraq, but without a rationale for it.” Well, … Continue reading “Absolutely?”

The other day I posted a Dahr Jamail piece entitled, Iraq: The Devastation, but another word has recently come to mind that, I suspect, might apply no less aptly to Iraq and other areas where the Bush administration is exerting its muscle. That word is “desolation.” Let’s forget for a minute the recent Newsweek report … Continue reading “Desolate Fallujah: City Without a Future?”

Conduct Unbecoming P.C. Roberts may or may not be right in his opinion that the president, vice president, and secretary of defense have acted “unbecomingly.” He’s dead wrong in the sarcasm he fires off about the misguided punishment of the top Air Force (AF) lawyer for breaking “obsolete and quaint” rules against fraternization. I was … Continue reading “Backtalk, January 15, 2005”

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. – from the introduction to the BBC series The Power … Continue reading “The Power of Nightmares”

Panic is setting in at the Pentagon. Ever bolder and ever widening, the Iraqi insurgency grows in firepower and tactical sophistication, as well as in sheer numbers, while the architects of what appears to be a looming stalemate are scrambling to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with what is being called the “El … Continue reading “Iraq and the El Salvador ‘Option’”

Three dozen of the nation’s most prominent Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders Wednesday issued a special appeal to U.S. President George W. Bush to appoint a high-level special envoy to work full time on promoting peace talks between the governments of Israel and the Palestine Authority (PA). The leaders, who together represent 25 national … Continue reading “Religious Leaders Urge Bush Seize the Moment on Mideast Peace”

I‘m typing as mortars are blasting away in the nearby "Green Zone." Mortars are easy to tell – the higher pitched thunk of their launch, then a pause, then a loud boom that echoes through the still night. Blaring sirens wail in the distance, along with the random cracking of gunfire. Nightfall always seems to … Continue reading “What Calm Looks Like in Iraq”