Antiwar.com

WASHINGTON – “The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaeda,” U.S. President George W. Bush told reporters Thursday, is “because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda.” This is what logicians call a tautology, or a “useless repetition,” as the dictionary defines it, but it is … Continue reading “Bush Team Tries to Brazen It Out”

ARBIL – A year after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the mountains and plains of northern Iraq are still covered in landmines planted by the former Iraqi dictator’s regime during the 1980s. That is when he fought a decade-long war with Iran and many battles with Kurdish guerrillas. The Red Cross has made thousands of … Continue reading “Saddam’s Enablers May Also Go on Trial”

I wrote a column a ways back that infuriated a lot of Asians out there. Friends here in Sichuan said I had gone over the top and I apologized for what I thought was a pretty poor attempt to explain stereotypes in China. I have thought about that column for a while now and I … Continue reading “The Sage-King Mindset”

Perhaps it is just as well to conclude regretfully that mere facts will seldom if ever hold much sway with people whose minds are already made up. In the wake of the report from the 9/11 commission to the effect that there is “no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the … Continue reading “Deep Denial Remains”

So it turns out that there weren’t any links between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, after all, but, hey, guess what? The story has been revised and updated. Forget Iraq, we really meant to link Al Qaeda to – Iran! Yeah! That’s it! And the beat goes on…. I wonder how many months from … Continue reading “The Neoconservative Moment”

From Dahr’s weblog BAGHDAD – Dr. Faiq Amin, the manager of the Medico Legal Institute (i.e., the Baghdad morgue), told me a couple of days ago that their maximum holding capacity is 90 bodies. Since Janurary an average of over 600 bodies each month have been brought there. Of these, at least half have died … Continue reading “Beirut Redux”

DUBAI – A series of escalating spats in the Gulf waters between Iran, on one hand, and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, on the other, has cast a large shadow over relations between these countries. Officials from the three Gulf countries and many foreign diplomats are also perplexed over the recent hostile actions … Continue reading “A Brawl in the Persian Gulf”

TOKYO – The commitment made by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the international community that the country’s Self Defense Forces (SDF) would join a planned multinational force in Iraq, has far-reaching implications globally. According to analysts, Japan can now be expected to play a more active role in foreign policy. “Japan has preferred to … Continue reading “Japan Abandoning Postwar Constitution”

I come to the floor today to offer amendment to the Defense Department authorization bill. The amendment would reaffirm a very important, long-standing position of our nation: that the United States shall not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This is a standard that is embodied in the U.S. Constitution and in … Continue reading “We Must Remain the Shining City Upon a Hill”

A recently released report from New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) places the blame for torture by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other locations around the world firmly on the policies of the Bush administration. In the 38-page report titled The Road to Abu Ghraib, HRW describes the pattern of official … Continue reading “Human Rights Watch: Official US Policy to Blame for Torture”