Doomsday Clock Ticking Faster
23 Jan 2007
Excerpt: The Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has moved the minute hand of the legendary Doomsday Clock forward by two minutes to show that the world is now only five minutes away from the ultimate catastrophe, or the end of civilization, symbolically represented by the midnight hour.

The Trial of Dick Cheney
23 Jan 2007
Excerpt: The opening statements in the trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby struck official Washington like twin thunderbolts, opening up a huge fissure in the Bush administration at the same time that everything else—the security situation in Iraq, the Republican Party, the president’s approval rating—is falling apart at the seams. With Scooter under fire from federal prosecutors and caught in a furious fusillade of mutual recriminations, what it all augurs is the final collapse of the War Party.

Wednesday: 137 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 70 Iraqis Wounded
23 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Updated at 12:25 p.m. EST, Jan. 24, 2007 U.S. forces conducted major operation along Haifa Street in Baghdad today. Dozens were killed and many were injured. Throughout the country, at least 137 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 70 were wounded. At least three U.S. servicemembers were also killed. One soldier was killed and another two injured during an unspecified military operation today in Baghdad. Two Marines were killed in separate events in Anbar province on Tuesday. Also, a twelve-year-old boy died from wounds received during a raid conducted by U.S forces north of Baghdad. Police in Baiji reported that American forces delivered two bodies to them; the victims were killed by U.S. troops on a road between Baghdad and Mosul.

Tuesday: 100 Iraqis, 5 GIs Killed; 56 Iraqis Wounded; Helicopter Crash Kills 5 Americans
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Updated at 1:00 a.m EST, Jan. 24, 2007 A day after a major bombing in Baghdad, violence rages on. Overall, 100 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead and another 56 were wounded in attacks around the country. Also, five more American servicemembers were killed in separate incidents on Sunday and Monday, and a civilian security helicopter crashed in central Baghdad. A helicopter belonging to Blackwater Security Company crashed in central Baghdad near the al Shorja market. All four on board were killed. A fifth person in a second helicopter was shot to death. Authorities are unsure as to what caused the crash but are reporting that at least four of them had gunshot wounds to the head. They had been monitoring an official convoy traveling through the streets of Baghdad when they crashed.

The Pentagon vs. Press Freedom
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: We often hear that the Pentagon exists to defend our freedoms. But the Pentagon is moving against press freedom.

Hillary Clinton and the Israel Lobby
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: George W. Bush’s position on Iran is “disturbing” and “dangerous,” reads a position paper written in late 2005 by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). One year ago the Bush administration accepted a Russian proposal to allow Iran to continue to develop nuclear energy under Russian supervision. Needless to say, AIPAC wasn’t the least bit happy about the compromise.

The Fatal Conceit in the Middle East
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Former President Carter’s new book about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has raised the ire of Americans on two sides of the debate. I say “two sides” rather than “both sides,” because there is another perspective that is never discussed in American politics. That perspective is the perspective of our Founding Fathers, namely that America should not intervene in the internal affairs of other nations.

A US Soldier Speaks Out From Baghdad
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: More than 1,000 active-duty U.S. soldiers have signed a petition to Congress—known as an appeal for redress—calling for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. Among them is Sgt. Ronn Cantu of Los Angeles, Calif. He served in Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division from February 2004 until February 2005 and participated in the second siege of Fallujah in November 2004.

Bush Continues to Unite the World… Against Him
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Despite two years of a concentrated effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her public diplomacy major-domo Karen Hughes to boost Washington’s global image, more people around the world have an unfavorable opinion of U.S. policies than at any time in recent memory, according to a new BBC poll released Monday.

Rebellion Over Iraq: Son Against Father
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: There have been pop psychology explanations that attribute President Bush 43’s aggressive foreign policy decisions to a rivalry with President Bush 41—for example, ascribing junior’s invasion of Iraq as a reaction to his father’s writings about the pitfalls of doing so.

The X Factor in 2008—Iran
22 Jan 2007
Excerpt: After a weekend in which 29 Americans died and the 82nd Airborne deployed in Baghdad, what the Iraq war will mean to the politics of 2008 becomes clear.

Over the Top in Iraq
21 Jan 2007
Excerpt: It’s been a repetitive phenomenon of these last years—when fears about disaster (or further disaster, or even the farthest reaches of disaster) in Iraq rise, so does the specter of Vietnam. Despite the obvious dissimilarities between the two situations, Vietnam has been the shadow war we’re still fighting. The Bush administration began its 2003 invasion by planning a non-Vietnam War scenario right down to not having “body counts,” those grim, ridiculed death chants of that long-past era. His administration, as the president put it before the November midterm elections, wasn’t going to be a “body-count team.” But the Vietnam experience has proven nothing short of irresistible in a crisis. Within the last month, after Bush himself bemoaned the lack of a body count in the vicinity, the body count slipped back into the news as a way to measure success in Iraq.

‘Far More Insidious’ Than Fascism
21 Jan 2007
Excerpt: In June 1935, British author E. M. Forster addressed an international writers’ congress called to discuss ways of defending culture against the threat of fascism. In England, the author of A Passage to India observed, “our traditions and our liberties are closely connected,” freedom having been “praised for … several hundred of years.” English freedom was race- and class-bound, he conceded, “but the fact that our rulers have to pretend to like freedom is an advantage.” The same can be said about the civil rights struggle in this country; in the Fifties and Sixties, the nation could no longer pretend that the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were for whites only.

Intelligence vs. Evidence
21 Jan 2007
Excerpt: In his most recent peroration defending our escalating war of “liberation” in the Middle East, our Dear and Glorious Leader opined that Iran was stirring the Iraqi pot, and he strongly implied that they’d better back off—or else. Vowing to guarantee Iraq’s borders and territorial integrity, the president declared:

Peace Must Prevail
21 Jan 2007
Excerpt: “An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.” – Thomas Paine, 1737-1809 So says Thomas Paine, and it is not only true, but a reflection of his personality. He stated this during the Revolutionary War. True to the saying “The pen is mightier than the sword,” Thomas Paine wrote many pamphlets encouraging Americans to fight for their rights. However warlike Paine may seem, though, he was a peaceful writer.

Bloody Monday: 158 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 226 Iraqis Wounded, 4 GIs Wounded
21 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Updated at 12:25 a.m. EST, Jan. 23, 2007 In today’s violence, a coordinated bomb attack killed dozens and injured over 160 in a Baghdad marketplace. Overall, 158 Iraqis were killed and 226 wounded throughout the country. One American soldier was killed and four more wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Ninewah province today. A British soldier was injured in a traffic accident. Also, Saturdayand#8217;s deadly Black Hawk helicopter crash is now believed to have been caused by an enemy missile.

Bloody Weekend: 29 American Servicemembers, 1 British Soldier, 151 Iraqis Killed
20 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Updated at 12:25 1.m. EST, Jan. 22, 2007 At least six more American servicemembers were reported killed in separate events that occurred on Saturday, and two Marines were killed on Sunday. This brings the weekend total to 29 American deaths. Meanwhile, 70 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 26 were wounded in violent attacks today. The weekend tally for them is 151 dead Iraqis and 59 wounded. A British soldier was killed near Basra and four more were injured. Also, Moqtada al Sadrand#8217;s Mehdi Army announced that they would resume relations with the Iraqi parliament.

Israel’s Dark Future
19 Jan 2007
Excerpt: When I published my book Blood and Religion last year, I sought not only to explain what lay behind Israeli policies since the failed Camp David negotiations nearly seven years ago, including the disengagement from Gaza and the building of a wall across the West Bank, but I also offered a few suggestions about where Israel might head next…

Congress Can Stop the Iran Attack, or Be Complicit in War Crimes
19 Jan 2007
Excerpt: President Bush is invoking his “commander in chief” authority to escalate the war in Iraq, and he will likely also invoke it to launch an aerial attack against Iran. Congress has long ago abdicated and delegated to the president its constitutional responsibility to initiate wars. Yet Congress still has one surefire way to influence events: it has the constitutional authority to make the “nuclear option” against Iran illegal. In so doing, it would stop the relentless drive to war against Iran dead in its tracks.

Show Me The Intelligence
19 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Have you noticed? Neither President George W. Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney have cited any US intelligence assessments to support their fateful decision to send 21,500 more troops to referee the civil war in Iraq. This is a far cry from October 2002, when a formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was rushed through in order to trick Congress into giving its nihil obstat for the attack on Iraq.

Southern Iraqi Tribes Joining Armed Resistance
19 Jan 2007
Excerpt: BAGHDAD —Violence is spreading further across Iraq, as Shi’ite Arab tribes in the south begin to engage occupation forces in new armed resistance.

Lying About Lying
19 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Jury selection has begun for the trial of Lewis Libby, charged with lying to the Feds about lies Libby claims he didn’t tell to sycophantic “reporters.”

Deadly Saturday: 81 Iraqis, 21 GIs Killed; 33 Iraqis, 3 GIs Wounded
19 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Updated at 12:35 p.m. EST, Jan. 21, 2007 Saturday was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in almost two years. American military authorities reported that an American helicopter crashed, killing 12 American soldiers near Baquba. The U.S. military also announced that nine other American soldiers were killed in five separate incidents; three soldiers were wounded as well. And, 81 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 33 were wounded in various incidents throughout Iraq.

Depression, War, and Cold War
18 Jan 2007
Excerpt: Robert Higgs, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, is a depressing fellow. Not in person—Bob is animated, interesting, and challenging, and makes a wonderful dinner partner and conference participant. But the natural consequence of reading his work is profound depression. An economic historian, he excels at publicizing data other academics ignore. Through it we see why Thomas Jefferson presciently warned that the natural tendency of liberty is to give way.

US Offers Scant Help to Fleeing Iraqi Refugees
18 Jan 2007
Excerpt: With some two million of its citizens having fled to other countries and another 1.7 million internally displaced, Iraq has become one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing humanitarian crises for which the United States should take far more responsibility, according to human rights groups and other experts.