Hope Abandoned: Obama Stands Up for Murder and Plunder
Well, it doesn’t really get much plainer than this, does it? From AP:
Sen. Barack Obama said Friday he would return the country to the more “traditional” foreign policy efforts of past presidents, such as George H.W. Bush, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
At a town hall event at a local high school gymnasium, Obama praised George H.W. Bush — father of the
Update on the Civil War Surge in Iraq
Yesterday we saw the complete unravelling of the lie that the assault on Basra is strictly an all-Iraqi operation, with the Baghdad government imposing its authority on “criminal gangs” in the port city. American warplanes joined in the attack yesterday, dive-bombing residential areas. Nor were these U.S. operations confined to Basra; American planes struck several cities throughout the country, with a heavy concentration in the Sadr City quadrants of Baghdad. (For more, see the earlier post, Operation Permanent Presence: The Civil War “Surge” in Iraq.)
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Meat Cutter Blues: The ‘Soft Totalitarianism’ of the American Elite
There is a small store here in Oxford on the fringes of the Jericho area known as the Two-Pound Bookshop. There, in what we’re told is a temporary establishment, you can find a remarkable and ever-changing array of books (and a handful of CDs) on a wide range of topics, all for only, yes, £2.
Many of these are out-of-print or hard to find books. In just the last few weeks, I’ve gone there and picked up such volumes as The Massacre at El Mozote, Mark Danner’s harrowing account
A Rare Flame in Dark Times: Supporting Arthur Silber
Arthur Silber has long been one of the brightest lights of the blogosphere, making connections that almost no one else sees, and providing a wealth of research, insight, and — let’s put it plainly — enlightenment that is almost unknown elsewhere in the foul, mephitic darkness of our political debate. In a just world — or even in a slightly less deranged one — Silber would be a prominent national voice, heard by millions, heeded by the wise, feared by the powerful.
But his unquenchable penchant for speaking the
Operation Permanent Presence: The Civil War “Surge” in Iraq
The current esclation of the Iraqi civil war — first in Basra and now all across the occupied land — seems to be a perfect dovetailing of the complementary but not identical strategic needs of the Bush Administration and its client government in Baghdad. The regime of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is hoping to destroy or cripple — or outlaw — its principal political rival in the south before elections later this year. The Bush regime — which is intimately involved in every step of the Basra
Darkness at Noon: Fatal Ignorance Puts Iraq on the Cross
From the very beginning, the brutality, ruin and deceit of the American aggression in Iraq has been compounded by an unshakeable ignorance. This deadly cloud of unknowing has enveloped the entire chain of command, from the witless president who didn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam to the troops on the ground who believed – as they were no doubt drilled to believe – that the invasion was “payback for 9/11,” a righteous war of self-defense against a terrorist nation that had attacked America.This implacable ignorance was on perfect display this week in a “feel-good” story put out
Worried Just a Bit? Bush Launches Economic ‘Shock and Awe’ on Iran
In recent days, we’ve been noting stories indicating a definite “surge” in the Bush Administration’s drive toward war with Iran. First, the Saudi government revealed – one day after a visit from Dick Cheney – its urgent plans to deal with “radiations hazards” stemming an attack on Iran’s nuclear power facilities. Then General David Petraeus declared that Iran was responsible for a major attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone, and the main driver of violence in Iraq generally, laying out, once more, a clear (if mendacious) casus belli
Still Not Worried? Petraeus Blames Iran for Green Zone Attack
Yesterday, we noted the story that the Saudi government is now preparing plans to deal with “any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards” that may arise from an attack on Iran’s nuclear reactors. This was reported by a top Saudi newspaper, Okaz, and relayed by a leading German news service, dpa — one day after Dick Cheney paid a visit to the kingdom. As we noted, no one knows exactly what was said at that confab of allied authoritarians — but something sure
Worried Yet? Saudis Prepare for “Sudden Nuclear Hazards” After Cheney Visit
(NOTE: Apologies for the server problem that blocked access to this link for several hours on Monday.)
I. One Tick Closer to Midnight
Last Friday, Dick Cheney was in Saudi Arabia for high-level meetings with the Saudi king and his ministers. On Saturday, it was revealed that the Saudi Shura Council — the elite group that implements the decisions of the autocratic inner circle — is preparing “national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts’ warnings
Easter Rising: A War Against the World
(UPDATED BELOW.)
Jon Schwarz, in exorciating the well-wadded cluelessness of Jeffrey
Goldberg, gives us one of the very best descriptions of our present
reality that I’ve ever seen:
What Goldberg still cannot see, despite it hitting him in the face
every second for five years, in that the “war” Donald Rumsfeld and Dick
Cheney have fought is not the United States Vs. Iraq. Nor is it the
United States vs. Things Jeffrey Goldberg Doesn’t Like.
Instead, the war the Bush administration has fought