Israel’s Bad Influence5 Jan 2007Excerpt: In my opinion, Americans who want American youth to die and bleed for the benefit of a foreign country are guilty of more than dual loyalty.
Bonkers Bolton’s Legacy5 Jan 2007Excerpt: Once George W. Bush became President, the neo-crazies—in and out of government—attempted to implement their long gestating plan to remake the Middle East to their peculiar liking, effecting “regime change” in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere, by force if necessary.
Bush’s Surge Strategy Faces Heavy Opposition5 Jan 2007Excerpt: If, as expected, George W. Bush next week announces his intention to “surge” some 20,000 additional US troops to Iraq to pacify Baghdad and Sunni-dominated Anbar province, he may find himself in a tougher fight than he expected even a week ago.
Clearing Decks or Rearranging Deck Chairs?5 Jan 2007Excerpt: So what are we to make of all those apparently significant changes both in the Bush foreign policy team and his top military commanders? The question is whether he is clearing the decks for action or rearranging the deck chairs.
Somalia: A State Restored? Not So Fast5 Jan 2007Excerpt: For more than a decade, Somalia has been Exhibit A in the Hall of Statelessness, a place where the state had not merely weakened into irrelevance but disappeared. Somalia’s statelessness had defeated even the world’s only hyperpower, the United States, when it had intervened militarily to restore order. Fourth Generation war theorists, myself included, frequently pointed to Somalia as an example of the direction in which other places were headed…
Saturday: 130 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 11 Iraqis, 2 Coalition Soldiers Wounded5 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 12:45 a.m. EST, Jan. 7, 2007 Although the week began relatively peacefully, violenge surged today, in part due to a renewed effort to control sectarian violence in the capital. At least 130 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 11 were wounded in violent attacks. Military authorities announced the deaths of two American soldiers in two differentincidents. Also, a GI and a British soldier were injured separately. An American soldier and his Iraqi interpreter were wounded when a bomb went off near their vehicle in Nuamaniyah. In Basra, a British soldier was injured when his convoy came across a roadside bomb. Mortars also rained on a British installation north of Basra, but no casualties were reported. Also, U.S. forces killed four gunmen during a raid on suspected bomb makers.
The Surge to Nowhere4 Jan 2007Excerpt: Like some neocon Wizard of Oz, in building expectations for the 2007 version of his “Strategy for Victory” in Iraq, President Bush is promising far more than he can deliver.
Failure Personified: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice4 Jan 2007Excerpt: After six years, the administration’s foreign policy team is a wreck. The president’s poll ratings look good only in comparison to those of the vice president. Both the original defense secretary and deputy defense secretary are gone, discredited by the Iraq debacle. The original secretary of state and deputy secretary of state also have left, viewed at best as loyal soldiers, and at worst as hapless dupes, in a disastrous cause. The president wasn’t even able to win Senate confirmation of his choice for UN ambassador—Cheney confidant and 2000 election recount warrior John Bolton.
Cakewalk Crowd Abandons Bush4 Jan 2007Excerpt: Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan, said a rueful John F. Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs. George W. Bush knows today whereof his predecessor spoke.
A Single Standard for Gerald Ford and Saddam Hussein4 Jan 2007Excerpt: During the same week that former U.S. president Gerald Ford passed away, Iraqi authorities executed Saddam Hussein. As one might expect, official Washington’s reactions to the two events were radically different.
Confronting the Empire4 Jan 2007Excerpt: How it is that, having lost an election widely viewed as a referendum on the war, the Bush administration has the temerity to announce a “surge” in American forces engaged in active combat in Iraq?
Friday: 82 Iraqis Killed, 27 Wounded4 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:55 a.m. EST, Jan. 6, 2007 In Baghdad, Muslim clerics issued warnings that residents should be on the alert for increased attacks during what is called “Baghdad Liberation Day.” Clashes did erupt in one neighborhood despite precautions. Overall today, 82 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 27 were wounded in separate incidents around the country.
US Hypocrisy Reaches All-Time High3 Jan 2007Excerpt: One of the lessons of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials of Germans after Germany’s defeat in World War II was that obeying orders is no excuse for war crimes. U.S. prosecutors took the position that the German military should have refused to obey Hitler’s orders.
A Death Threat Wrapped Around a Bullet3 Jan 2007Excerpt: An Iraqi friend whom I’ve known for 10 years looked worn and very weary yesterday when he came to visit me at my apartment in Amman, Jordan. He hadn’t slept the night before because he’d been on the phone with his wife, who throughout the night was terrified by crossfire taking place over the Iraqi village where she stays with their four small children. My friend longs to soothe and protect his wife and kids. But now he lives apart from them, in another country.
Iraq Vets Come Home Physically, Mentally Butchered3 Jan 2007Excerpt: On New Year’s Eve, the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq passed 3,000. By Tuesday, the death toll had reached 3,004—31 more than died in the Sep. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Democrats’ Agenda3 Jan 2007Excerpt: With the New Year, the Democrats have now taken over the Congress. In the last election the public turned against the mismanagement of the war in Iraq and against the war itself, leading the voters to throw out the Republicans. To respond to the voters, the politicians must rein in the war and bring it to a quick end. Bush, on the other hand, has apparently learned very little. He has belittled the Iraq Study Group report and its recommendations. If he brings the troops home, as the public wishes, he is admitting defeat. Rather than “cutting and running” he will almost certainly send more soldiers to Iraq, in a move that should be called “Operation Target,” since it will provide more soldiers for Iraqi shooting practice.
Thursday: 96 Iraqis, GI Killed; 78 Iraqis, 5 GIs Wounded3 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:40 p.m. EST, Jan. 4, 2007 Today’s planned execution of two of Saddam Husseinand#8217;s colleagues has been postponed indefinitely following criticism over the former leaderand#8217;s hanging. The 96 Iraqis who were killed or found dead today were not so lucky nor was the American soldier who was gunned down in western Baghdad. Another 78 Iraqis and five U.S. servicemembers were wounded in separate events.
Requiem for a Dictator2 Jan 2007Excerpt: In February 2003, President Bush argued that “a liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region, by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions. America’s interests in security, and America’s belief in liberty, both lead in the same direction: to a free and peaceful Iraq.” According to the president, the Iraqi people under Saddam Hussein’s rule were living “in scarcity and fear, under a dictator who has brought them nothing but war, and misery, and torture.” Therefore, “any future the Iraqi people choose for themselves will be better than the nightmare world that Saddam Hussein has chosen for them.”
Doubling Down on the Imperial Mission in 20072 Jan 2007Excerpt: Okay, folks, it’s time for a year-opening sermon. And like any good sermon, this one will be based on illustrative texts, in this case from 2006, and inspirational passages plucked from them. Its goal, as in any such quest, will be to reveal a world normally hidden from us in our daily lives.
Brace Yourself for 20072 Jan 2007Excerpt: There was a certain end-of-an-era feeling in Washington in the last few weeks of 2006. In the aftermath of the Republican loss of Congress in November, interpreted by most pundits as the American public’s repudiation of President George Bush’s policy in Iraq, the expectation in the U.S. capital was that the city would enter the last stage of the post-9/11 neoconservative revolution.
Keane/Kagan Plan Means More Bloodshed2 Jan 2007Excerpt: On Jan. 2, the BBC reported a leak from a “senior administration source” that President George W. Bush is going to give a speech, whose “central theme will be sacrifice,” announcing an increase in U.S. troops in Iraq for security purposes. Speculation abounds whether the leak is designed to block Bush’s insane policy with protests or to soften its controversial edge when announced. The BBC reports that “already one senior Republican senator has called it Alice in Wonderland.”
Bloody Years for Journalists in Iraq2 Jan 2007Excerpt: ARBIL —After an estimated 10 percent of active journalists in Iraq died in 2006, the rest are asking themselves what lies ahead for them in the New Year.
Mission Accomplished2 Jan 2007Excerpt: Arnaud de Borchgrave—a conservative Washington Times columnist, but no neocon—recently had this to say about our president’s future course in Iraq: “Some political soothsayers in Washington predict Mr. Bush is limbering up for the biggest U-turn in his political life. Think again. The French have an expression for what will probably come next—‘La fuite en avant.’ The literal translation doesn’t hack it. Loosely interpreted, it means evading an issue with a headlong rush somewhere else.”
Wednesday: 34 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 20 Iraqis Wounded2 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:55 p.m. EST, Jan. 3, 2007 Iraq, especially Baghdad, remains remarkably quiet as the Eid al-Adha holiday draws to an end, but at least 34 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 20 were wounded. Also, U.S. military authorities today reported that an American soldier was killed when a roadside bomb blasted his vehicle just south of the capital on Sunday, and the Dept. of Defense announced that another soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Saturday.
Antiwar.com original