Whither the Surge?30 Jan 2007Excerpt: According to President Bush, the additional 21,500 U.S. troops to be deployed in Iraq will provide “the force levels we need” to secure Baghdad. The president would have us believe previous lack of success is because “there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents” and that “this time, we’ll have the force levels we need to hold the areas that have been cleared.”
The Crime of the Century30 Jan 2007Excerpt: President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq is the greatest crime of the 21st century.
Hysteria at Herzliya30 Jan 2007Excerpt: When Congress finally decides on just the right language for its “non-binding resolution” deploring Bush’s leadership in this war, it might consider a resolution to keep us out of the next one.
Israeli Internal Assessments of Iran Belie Threat Rhetoric30 Jan 2007Excerpt: When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared last week at the Herzliya conference that Israel could not risk another “existential threat” such as the Holocaust, he was repeating what has become the dominant theme in Israel’s campaign against Iran—that it cannot tolerate an Iran with the technology that could be used to make nuclear weapons, because Iran is fanatically committed to the physical destruction of Israel.
Chuck Hagel and the Return of the Old Right30 Jan 2007Excerpt: Sen. Chuck Hagel’s interview with GQ, no less, is interesting on a number of levels—as a barometer of his status as “the new McCain,” as the statement of an antiwar Republican of the Old Right school, as an expression of sheer outrage at the deception that dragged us into war—but one statement in the midst of it struck me as particularly significant: “Is it strange,” he was asked, “for you to be allied on these issues [the war and civil liberties] with the antiwar left, which is not exactly your constituency?”
Wednesday: 273 Iraqis, 5 GIs Killed; 72 Iraqis Injured30 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 3:35 a.m. EST, Feb. 1, 2007 At least 273 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead today; this includes 210 suspected militants killed by the Iraqi Army over the last two days. Another 72 Iraqis were injured in violent attacks throughout the country. Also five U.S. servicemembers were reported killed in separate incidents.
If You Want Peace, Work for It29 Jan 2007Excerpt: In this day and age, peace is like a cloud: it comes and it goes. Peace is something people wish could be part of their lives for good, but like every other dream, unless you do something to make it happen, it will continue to be a figment of your imagination.
The Three US Armies in Iraq29 Jan 2007Excerpt: The Iraq War is coming up on its fourth anniversary. Increasingly embattled, even desperate, President Bush has decided to send another 21,500 American troops into the fight. They will join over 150,000 U.S. soldiers already deployed in Iraq.
Inflation: The Hidden Cost of War29 Jan 2007Excerpt: The Pentagon recently reported that it now spends roughly $8.4 billion per month waging the war in Iraq, while the additional cost of our engagement in Afghanistan brings the monthly total to a staggering $10 billion. Since 2001, Congress has spent more than $500 billion on specific appropriations for Iraq. This sum is not reflected in official budget and deficit figures. Congress has funded the war by passing a series of so-called “supplemental” spending bills, which are passed outside of the normal appropriations process and thus deemed off-budget.
Insurgency May Be Back on Its Heels, but It’s No Setback29 Jan 2007Excerpt: Bush’s splurge is already bringing premature claims of success, even though the first troops are just arriving in Iraq. A column in today’s Washington Times by Ollie North quotes an American officer in Iraq as saying, “Do they [members of Congress opposed to the war] even know that in the last two weeks we have set AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq] and the Mahdi Army both back on their heels?” Well, maybe, but if they are back on their heels, it is only to sit and see how their enemy’s latest operation evolves. That is smart guerilla tactics, and does not mean they have suffered a setback.
Demagoguery Posing as Scholarship29 Jan 2007Excerpt: Dinesh D’Souza, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has raised a ruckus in his new book The Enemy at Home. In the book, he contends that the 9/11 attackers were motivated by neither U.S. foreign policy abroad nor by a hatred of U.S. freedom, as President Bush has repeatedly argued. Instead, D’Souza declares that Osama bin Laden hates the liberal U.S. culture that promotes contraception, abortion, and homosexuality. In a recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post defending the book, D’Souza says that he doesn’t “hate America.” No, he just hates liberal America and is reprehensibly trying to use the horrible 9/11 attacks to score points against the Democrats of the Left.
Who Is the Enemy?29 Jan 2007Excerpt: Two incidents involving U.S. forces in predominantly Shia southern Iraq over the past week appear to demonstrate the growing complexities and dangers of the country’s civil conflict.
Tuesday: 128 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 270 Iraqis Wounded29 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:58 p.m. EST, Jan. 30, 2007 During the final day of the holy festival of Ashura, 128 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 270 wounded in violent attacks, many directed at pilgrims. Also, two American servicemembers were reported killed in separate incidents.
A Midwinter Night’s Dream28 Jan 2007Excerpt: The United Nations General Assembly has just adopted a resolution condemning denials of the Holocaust. The resolution, co-sponsored by 103 countries, was approved by consensus, without a vote.
The Dawn of Peace28 Jan 2007Excerpt: This is an essay on conflict in the north of Uganda, which has been going on for 20 years now. I am a Ugandan. I have watched the men, women, and children of Gulu, Kitgum, Apac, Karamoja, and other parts of Uganda suffer from brutal deaths, maiming, and severe poverty. I personally hope that wars will end, and we shall never have to go through another one ever again.
The Return of Shock and Awe?28 Jan 2007Excerpt: In the State of the Union address Bush said that failure in Iraq was not an option (not the first time the president has sounded the tocsin). “Many in this chamber,” he stated, “understand that America must not fail in Iraq, because you understand that the consequences of failure would be grievous and far-reaching.” Among the possible consequences mentioned was an ever increasing escalation of sectarian violence culminating in the “nightmare scenario” of the entire region “being drawn into the conflict.”
The Feingold Option28 Jan 2007Excerpt: Sen. Russ Feingold may have withdrawn from the presidential sweepstakes, but he has entered the national debate over the Iraq war in a fairly dramatic fashion.
Monday: 92 Iraqis Killed, 95 Wounded28 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 12:30 a.m. EST, Jan. 30, 2007 Iraqi forces remain on high alert for Ashura-related violence today. Meanwhile, at least 92 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 95 were injured in todayand#8217;s smaller attacks. No foreign deaths were reported.
Sunday: 452 Iraqis, 5 GIs Killed; 182 Iraqis Injured; US Helicopter Shot Down27 Jan 2007Excerpt: Updated at 11:15 a.m. EST, Jan. 29, 2007 In Iraq, at least 452 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 182 were injured in various attacks during the festival of Ashura. Three more American servicemembers were killed in separate incidents, and a U.S. helicopter was shot down, killing two more soldiers as well.
The Overblown Terror Threat and Islamophobia26 Jan 2007Excerpt: Analysts both in the Muslim and the Western world by and large agree that fear and lack of objective dialogue are the root cause of Islamophobia and anti-Americanism. And while the debate on which one of the two ignited the other is still ongoing, one fact remains irrefutable: more people were victimized as a result of Islamophobia than the other way around.
Stop the Cannon Fodder26 Jan 2007Excerpt: There are two concepts all of us have to struggle with. One is our individuality. The other is the mass…
No Substitute for Free and Unfettered News Gathering26 Jan 2007Excerpt: Say what you will about Sarah Olson, she got the story. On the ground and armed with only an audio tape recorder, reporter Olson did nothing more radical than dig deep—the first law of journalism. Her interview with Lt. Ehren Watada vividly painted the portrait of a young man in anguish—to serve or not to serve. As the after-hours boys in the Press Bar used to say, “It’s a great story!”
Another Dark Era Threatens Lebanon26 Jan 2007Excerpt: A mini-civil war has played out throughout Lebanon this week as Government and Opposition factions push their power struggle to the brink…
What if Iran Suspends? A Western Dilemma26 Jan 2007Excerpt: As the Feb. 21 deadline for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program fast approaches, both Iran and the West are scrambling to prepare themselves for all possible moves by the other side.
Window Into Pre-War Planning26 Jan 2007Excerpt: It is obvious from their stories that most of the “reporters” covering the trial of Lewis Libby—charged with perjury and obstruction of justice—have either never bothered to read the five count indictment or are too stupid to comprehend what they have read.
Antiwar.com original