US Briefing on Iran Discredits the Official Line13 Feb 2007Excerpt: The first major effort by the George W. Bush administration to substantiate its case that the Iranian government has been providing weapons to Iraqi Shi’ites who oppose the occupation undermines the administration’s political line by showing that it has been unable to find any real evidence of an Iranian government role.
The Future of Terrorism13 Feb 2007Excerpt: The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), a group created by President Bush in March 2002, recently issued its “Report of the Future of Terrorism Task Force.”
National Security Experts Grim on Terror War13 Feb 2007Excerpt: A new survey of more than 100 U.S. foreign policy experts—both Republicans and Democrats, as well as retired military and intelligence professionals—has found deep pessimism over the “global war on terror” and even deeper pessimism over the war in Iraq.
Korea Deal Marks Big Victory for Realists13 Feb 2007Excerpt: Tuesday’s deal between North Korea and five other nations, including the United States, to take the first concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament in exchange for aid and normalized relations marks a long-awaited diplomatic breakthrough for U.S. President George W. Bush and a clear victory for “realists” in his administration.
Hell-Bent on War13 Feb 2007Excerpt: The United States government is hell-bent on a wider war in the Middle East, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone—not Congress, not any of our allies, not Divine Providence itself—capable of stopping them. Threats against the Iranians come on an almost daily basis: only yesterday U.S. officials convened a press conference where anonymous officials made baseless assertions about Tehran arming anti-American Shi’ite militias in Iraq.
Wednesday: 135 Iraqis, 6 GIs Killed; 90 Iraqis Wounded13 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:05 p.m EST, Feb. 14, 2007 The U.S. military is now reporting that last weekand#8217;s deadly helicopter crash was caused by hostile fire. Meanwhile, six more American soldiers were killed in separate incidents, and video of a missing GI has surfaced. Also, at least 135 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 90 more were wounded.
Congress Racing to Spend $1 Trillion on Iraq12 Feb 2007Excerpt: Two weeks ago I discussed how Congress and the administration use our fiat money system to literally create some of the funds needed to prosecute our ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ve already spent more than $500 billion in Iraq, mostly through supplemental spending bills that are not part of the normal appropriations and budget process. But with costs soaring and no end to the war in sight, yet another supplemental spending bill must be passed soon—and both parties in Congress are only too willing to provide the money under the guise of supporting the troops.
Wake Up! The Next War Is Coming12 Feb 2007Excerpt: An understated headline moved me yesterday; it was atop AP’s explosively formed story about the “explosively formed penetrators” traced to Iran that are killing our troops in Iraq: “Democrats Skeptical of Starting Row With Iran.” Yawn.
Tuesday: 72 Iraqis Killed; 62 Iraqis, 3 GIs, 2 Britons Wounded12 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 6:38 p.m. EST, Feb. 13, 2007 At least 72 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 62 more wounded. Many of the casualties occurred during a suicide truck bombing in Baghdad, which came a day after a similar attack in the capital killed over 70 people. Also, three American soldiers were wounded in Duluiya, and two British troops were injured in Amara.
Secrets Bush and Cheney Can’t ‘Declassify’11 Feb 2007Excerpt: If “reporters” covering the Scooter Libby trial for alleged perjury and obstruction of justice had bothered to read President Bush’s Executive Order 12958 of March 28, 2003—entitled “Classified National Security Information”—they would know that it does not give the vice president the authority to declassify anything.
Three’s a Crowd: Israel, Iran, and the Bush Administration11 Feb 2007Excerpt: There has been a qualitative leap in military technology that makes all inherited conventional wisdom, and war as an instrument of political policy, utterly irrelevant, not just to the United States but also to any other state that embarks upon it. Nations should have realized this a century ago, but they did not. But there have been decisive changes in balances of power, and more accurate and destructive weapons—and soon nuclear bombs and the missiles to deliver them—are becoming more and more available to the poorer countries. Technology is moving much more rapidly than the diplomatic and political resources or will to control its inevitable consequences.
Real Special11 Feb 2007Excerpt: As Iraq slides into the abyss, and the domestic reverberations of the conflict shake American politics, the question of who lied us into war is being raised—and not just by Democrats. There is a growing suspicion that we didn’t just get the intelligence wrong—and a growing clamor to retrace our steps back to the source of what seems like deliberate deception.
Monday: 138 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 209 Iraqis Wounded11 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 12:25 a.m. EST, Feb. 14, 2007 On the first anniversary of the Golden Dome bombing, at least 138 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 209 were injured in separate events. One extensive bombing occurred at a market in the capital. A GI was killed in Fallujah by a roadside bomb and an American soldier died in a non-combat related incident, both yesterday. The Dept. of Defense also reported on the death of a GI from wounds suffered during a roadside bomb attack on Friday. Also, two Germans are missing in Iraq and presumed kidnapped.
Sunday: 114 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 130 Iraqis Wounded10 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 1:15 a.m. EST, Feb. 12, 2007 At least 114 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 130 were wounded in various incidents. These deaths comes a day after Gen. David Petraeus took formal command of U.S. troops in Iraq and during increased U.S. military activity in several cities. Also, an American soldier was shot and later died of his wounds in Diyala province, and another American soldier was killed and a third wounded while they were conducting search operations in western Baghdad. At least 38 GIs have died in Iraq during February.
Criminals Control the Executive Branch9 Feb 2007Excerpt: Gentle reader, you are probably unaware of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski’s damning indictment of the Bush Regime in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 1, 2007, as the United States no longer has a media—only a government propaganda ministry.
The Najaf Massacre: Annotated9 Feb 2007Excerpt: As the fables about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and clandestine ties with al-Qaeda began to unravel following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the flagship of U.S. news reporting, The New York Times, took itself to task for its failure to challenge its news sources…And yet a little more than two-and-a-half years later, the same newspaper highlighted a story about a Jan. 28 “battle” near the holy city of Najaf that is filled with the same sloppy reporting, inadequate research, and just plain disinformation that characterized the Times’s pre-war coverage of Iraq.
Helping Israel Die9 Feb 2007Excerpt: Bottom line: there is a growing threat to Israel from suicide bombers. The most dangerous two work in the White House.
India-Iran Ties Jeopardized by US Threats9 Feb 2007Excerpt: NEW DELHI —As tension builds up in the Persian Gulf amidst the ongoing deployment of two United States aircraft carrier groups, India remains marginal to efforts for a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Iran’s nuclear activities, despite New Delhi’s long-standing friendly relations with Tehran.
Saturday: 3 GIs, 87 Iraqis Killed; 4 GIs, 41 Iraqis Wounded9 Feb 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:01 a.m. EST, Feb. 11, 2007 At least 87 Iraqis were killed and 41 wounded in various incidents. Also, U.S. authorities reported that three GIs were killed and four wounded yesterday during an explosion in the Diyala province. Also, U.S forces killed an American contractor on Monday.
Thelma and Louise Imperialism: Over the Cliff with George and Dick?8 Feb 2007Excerpt: Let me make an argument about Bush administration Iran policy—about the possibility that a regime-change-style, shock-and-awe air assault might someday be launched on Iranian nuclear facilities and associated targets—based on no insider knowledge, just the logic of George and Dick’s Thelma-and-Louise-style imperialism.
Antiwar.com original