World Bank Mum Over Report of Staff Injury28 Feb 2007Excerpt: An Iraqi World Bank staffer has been wounded in Baghdad, according to an inside source in the Bank and an email message from a source on the ground in Iraq, the first casualty for an international organization since a bombing that targeted the Baghdad U.N. headquarters in 2003.
Thursday: 151 Iraqis, 2 Marines, 1 British Soldier Killed28 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 12:10 a.m. EST, March 2, 2007 In Iraq today, at least 151 people were reported killed or found dead, including several foreign militia members. Fifty-nine Iraqis were wounded as well. Also, two Marines and a British soldier were killed in separate incidents, and two GIs and a British soldier were wounded.
Lt. Watada Is Not Alone27 Feb 2007Excerpt: The Army refiled five charges against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada late last week, paving the way for a possible second court-martial for the highest-ranking member of the military to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. When his first court-martial ended in a mistrial on Feb. 7, serious debate had not yet begun to surface on the emerging opposition to the war within the military, the legality of the war, and the right of military personnel to publicly disobey illegal orders. Though it’s unclear that a second court-martial may legally proceed, the possibility brings these issues back into focus.
Pick an Enemy, Any Enemy27 Feb 2007Excerpt: “We are ready for the next war,” a reserve soldier in the Israel Defense Forces told a TV reporter this week, on the scene of a brigade-size maneuver on the Golan Heights.
Our Pals in Pakistan27 Feb 2007Excerpt: Making an unannounced stop in Pakistan on Monday, Vice President Cheney “expressed U.S. apprehensions of regrouping of al-Qaeda in the tribal areas and called for concerted efforts in countering the threat” according to an aide to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. According to Musharraf, Pakistan “has done the maximum in the fight against terrorism.” Furthermore, Musharraf contends that there is no evidence that either Osama bin Laden or the Taliban’s Mullah Omar are hiding out in Pakistan. But if bin Laden and company are not in Pakistan, where does Musharraf think they are? Did they flee Afghanistan to sip pia coladas on the beach in Fiji?
The Better Part of Valor27 Feb 2007Excerpt: The new poll numbers on Iraq are in, and they mark a new level of discontent: a majority of Americans now favor setting a date certain for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Regime Change Is the Reason, Disarmament the Excuse27 Feb 2007Excerpt: Is Iran making nuclear weapons? Is the United States preparing to wage war against them to prevent them from obtaining nuclear weapons? Our guest is Scott Ritter. He is a former Marine, United Nations weapons inspector, and author of an armful of books: Endgame, War on Iraq, Frontier Justice, Iraq Confidential, and his latest is Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change.
Wednesday: 44 Iraqis, 1 GI, 1 Briton Killed; 66 Iraqis Injured27 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated: 12:55 p.m. EST, March 1, 2007 At least 44 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 66 more injured in several smaller incidents. Also, a British soldier was shot dead in Basra. British bases were also shelled but no damage was reported. The U.S. military reported that one American soldier was killed by smalls arms fire in western Baghdad on Tuesday.
Tuesday: 94 Iraqis, 4 GIs Killed; 102 Iraqis, 3 GIs Wounded26 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 12:55 a.m. EST, March 1, 2007 At least 94 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 102 were wounded in various violent attacks. Also, four Americans soldiers were killed in separate roadside bombings, and another three were wounded.
With Friends Like These…26 Feb 2007Excerpt: Hundreds of thousands of American troops already occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, a number that is rising as the military surge moves forward. The justification, given endlessly since Sept. 11, is that both countries support terrorism and thus pose a risk to the United States. Yet when we step back and examine the region as a whole, it’s obvious that these two impoverished countries, neither of which has any real military, pose very little threat to American national security when compared to other Middle Eastern nations. The decision to attack them, while treating some of region’s worst regimes as allies, shows the deadly hypocrisy of our foreign policy in the Middle East.
More Mission Creep in Afghanistan26 Feb 2007Excerpt: While media attention has been focused on the U.S. quagmire in Iraq, an equally failed war in Afghanistan has received little coverage. As in countless militaristic U.S. nation-building fiascoes, “mission creep” in Afghanistan is leading to another foreign policy disaster. Although the escalation in Afghanistan has not been announced publicly, a reliable source with connections at the Pentagon tells me that the Joint Staff has been ordered to plan for a surge in that country, and the Department of Defense comptroller has been asked to budget the money for it. As in Iraq, however, the escalation just promises to sink the United States deeper into the nation-building morass.
Kirkuk: Sparks Rise From a Time Bomb26 Feb 2007Excerpt: ARBIL —The security situation in Iraq’s northern oil rich-city Kirkuk has deteriorated over the past few weeks as a constitutional deadline approaches to determine the fate of the city.
Will Surge Hurt US More Than Sanctions Hurt Iran?26 Feb 2007Excerpt: The winds of fortune in the Iranian nuclear standoff seem to have shifted, judging by the U.S.’ new confidence. But in Washington’s apparent quest to get an upper hand, misreading the causes of the backlash in Iran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may cause the U.S. to lose rather than gain leverage.
Anti-US Group Battles Yemeni Govt26 Feb 2007Excerpt: SANA’A, Yemen—Militants from a major Shia group within Yemen have stepped up their fight against the government over recent weeks. The group opposes what it sees as policies supportive of the United States and Israel.
Rick Santorum, American Crusader26 Feb 2007Excerpt: Ideology and faith are stirring new calls to arms among influential political factions in the United States. At a time when the U.S. public is questioning the interventionism and unilateralism of the Bush administration, leading social conservatives and neoconservatives insist that the United States needs to militarily confront the purported threats facing the Judeo-Christian world order.
Talking Points for the Next War25 Feb 2007Excerpt: At 10:16 p.m. on March 19, 2003, after copious military preparations in the Persian Gulf region and beyond, after months of diplomatic maneuvers at the United Nations, after a drumbeat of leaked intelligence warnings and hair-raising statements by top U.S. officials and the president about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and how close Saddam Hussein might be to developing a nuclear weapon, after declaring Saddam’s regime a major threat to Americans, after countless insinuations that it was somehow connected to the 9/11 attacks on our country, after endless denials that war with Iraq was necessarily on the administration’s agenda, President George W. Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office. “My fellow citizens,” he began, “at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger…”
America’s Alliance With bin Laden25 Feb 2007Excerpt: The latest Seymour Hersh piece has a lot of new information, some of it shocking, some of it not at all surprising to readers of Antiwar.com and observers of this space.
A Diplomatic Solution to Iran’s Nuclear Program25 Feb 2007Excerpt: The deadline that the UN Security Council Resolution 1737 imposed on Iran for suspending its nuclear program passed without Iran complying with the resolution’s demands. Tension in the Persian Gulf has also risen, after President Bush threatened Iran for its alleged meddling in Iraq. The question is, is there a path to peaceful resolution of the looming conflict between Iran and the U.S.?
How to Live With Hunger25 Feb 2007Excerpt: When I was a child, a popular argument in favor of the Israeli “liberation,” i.e., occupation, of the Palestinian territories was its being a blessing for the Palestinians themselves. “When we took it over,” I was told at school, “there were just a couple of cars in the entire West Bank. And look how many they have now!” Indeed, in the first decades of the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian standard of living was on the rise—not because of Israeli investments (Israel never invested a cent in Palestinian welfare or infrastructure), but mainly because Israel exploited the Palestinians as a cheap labor force, and even a cheap labor force gets paid.
Monday: 137 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 88 Iraqis Wounded; Iraqi VP Wounded in Assassination Attempt25 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 12:20 p.m. EST, Feb. 26, 2007 A failed assassination attempt left Shiand#8217;ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi slightly injured and 12 others dead in Baghdad. Throughout the country, at least two foreign nationals and 137 Iraqis were killed today. Another foreign national and 88 Iraqis were wounded in various incidents. Also, a Marine was killed today during combat operations in Anbar province, and the U.S. military that a soldier died on Feb. 24th of wounds received from a landmine in Dujail on Feb. 21st.
Sunday: 151 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 134 Iraqis Wounded24 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 1:10 a.m. EST, Feb. 26, 2007 Although Iraqi authorities insist a security crackdown has had a positive effect on attacks in the country, violence rages on. At least 151 Iraqis were reported killed of found dead today and another 134 were injured. Also, an American soldier died after spending nearly a year in a coma that was the result of a shooting in Iraq.
Apartheid Looks Like This23 Feb 2007Excerpt: The scene: a military checkpoint deep in Palestinian territory in the West Bank…
Yet Another Famous Victory23 Feb 2007Excerpt: When President Bush the Junior first rode into town with his vigilante entourage, North Korea was still a signatory to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and had made all NPT proscribed materials, facilities and activities subject to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
Fear Stupid Acts23 Feb 2007Excerpt: I hope President George Bush will not be so stupid as to allow the Israelis to push him into an attack on Iran. Based on his past performance, however, I’m not sure what he will do.
All Roads Lead to Checkpoints23 Feb 2007Excerpt: There may have been a period when all roads led to Rome, but for the Palestinian people, all roads lead to checkpoints…
Antiwar.com original