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Kingdoms have risen and fallen in China’s Xinjiang region for the past 2000 years. In the early 20th century, foreign archaeologists were surprised and delighted to find Muslim communities built upon Tang dynasty ruins built upon Tibetan villages built upon Han forts built upon Indian Buddhist monasteries – with Roman and Bactrian frescos thrown in … Continue reading “China and Islam in the Northwest Chinese Region”

Where I grew up, the code of the hills says (among many other things) to never talk a bigger game than you are prepared to play. The United States has done this twice in Iraq and now has egg on its face that no amount of Washington spin can clean off. Example No. 1 is … Continue reading “Big Talk”

To understand the impact in the United States of the photos of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners, it is necessary to recall what then-Secretary of State Elihu Root said in 1899, as the country first emerged as a global power in the Spanish-American War. The American soldier, he said, is “different from all other … Continue reading “Perhaps Not So Exceptional After All”

An older Iraqi man is wailing near the grave of a loved one in the dusty heat of a football stadium converted into a cemetery. Between wails he raises his fist and yells, "Allahu akbar!" (God is great). We wait outside until he slowly exits the new cemetery with his brothers holding him. The Martyrs’ … Continue reading “‘We Will Fight Them Again!’”

102 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL ° SPRING 2004 David C. Hendrickson is professor of political science at Colorado College. He is the author, most recently, of Peace Pact: The Lost World of the American Founding. A Dissenter’s Guide to Foreign Policy David C. Hendrickson America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy Ivo H. Daalder and … Continue reading “A Dissenter’s Guide to Foreign Policy”

By HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Allegations of torture and mistreatment of detainees by U.S. forces in Iraq do not involve isolated cases, but are part of a broader pattern of what the Army’s own investigation into the matter called "systemic abuse." Concerns about mistreatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in other undisclosed detention facilities set … Continue reading “A Timeline of Torture & Abuse Allegations and Responses”

“Banned” methods of prisoner interrogation were approved at the highest levels of US command. Methods authorized include so-called pain-inducing “stress positions” in which detainees are bound to stand or squat until they are unable to comply, or until they break. The use of these techniques was confirmed in a press conference at the Pentagon. Although … Continue reading “New General, Old Methods at Iraq Prisons”

According to a joke circulating in Washington political circles, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s notorious torture chamber in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad – once held up as a symbol of barbarity – was never shut down. A signboard outside the prison chamber now reads: “Under New Management.” US management, that is. The extent … Continue reading “Iraq Scandal Opens US to Charges of Double Standards”

The Bush administration keeps talking about bringing democracy to the Middle East, but a key element in democracy is always the accountability of public officials to the public. That is why we have elections, that is why we have a division of powers, that is why Congress can impeach the executive and the Supreme Court … Continue reading “The Mideastization of the US, or: Rumsfeld Must Resign”

Surprise surprise: having said for almost four decades that no Jewish settlement should ever be dismantled, Sharon’s plan to dismantle Jewish settlements in Gaza was rejected by his own Likud party members. You can fool all the people all the time – but don’t sell them a new folly every week. Sharon was defeated by … Continue reading “Heads We Win, Tails They Lose”