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The Imperator Reports:Let the Blood Flow On

General David H. Petraeus has taken time off from his busy schedule as a public relations flack for the White House to give Congress his long-awaited “progress report” on the major escalation of the war that George W. Bush ordered last January. As the Washington Post relates, he was crowned by both Democrats and Republicans with metaphorical laurel wreaths, like unto a conquering Roman general of old — which was somewhat strange, given that most Roman imperators received a

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Falling Nation: The Fertile Murder of 9/11

Below is the column I wrote the day after the attacks on September 11, 2001; it was published in the Moscow Times two days later. There’s been a lot of water — and blood — under bridge since then, a lot of new facts, and many new questions; but I think most of the piece still holds true, especially this line: “Blood will have blood; that’s certain. But blood will not end it. For murder is fertile: it breeds more death, like a spider laden with a thousand

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Nuclear Feudalism: Terror War Profits and the Crack-Up of Pakistan

I.
There is high drama in Pakistan these days, as terror, tribalism and repression cut a deadly swathe through the collapsi
ng regime of military strongman Pervez Musharraf. The latest upheaval came on the political front this weekend, as the nation’s last elected leader was forcibly barred from entering the country — while yet another former leader was frantically negotiating a backroom deal, with Washington’s blessing, on sharing power upon her own imminent

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Karma Chameleon: The Pimpernelian Shape-Shifting of Osama bin Laden

You’ve probably already heard this, but as Winter Patriot reminds us, it seems that some guy in a fake beard claiming to be Osama bin Laden appeared the other day on a videotape obtained in what the Washington Post called “unusual circumstances” by an obscure outfit of D.C.-based jihad-peepers who compile lurid clips of Muslims gone wild. (WP has more here.) This obscure Beltway outfit turned the tape over to anonymous “U.S. intelligence officials” who anonymously told the Post that the

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The Deceivers: Malice Aforethought in the Iraq War Crime

Sidney Blumenthal’s article on Salon.com (“Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction“) — and Jon Schwarz’s critique of it (“Salon WMD Story Seemingly Overstated“) — return us once again to the matter of the origins of the Iraq War. Jon of course has done sterling service in bringing to light the “Downing Street Memo” and related documents on the trumped-up case for war knowingly promulgated by Bush and Blair.

This seems an apt time for a second look at a

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Please, Sir, May I Have Another? Surrender Monkeys on Parade

Democrats Newly Willing to Compromise on Iraq

There is really nothing to say about this that we haven’t said a hundred times before, except perhaps this small observation:

Why say the Democrats are newly willing to “compromise” on Iraq? When exactly have they not been willing, even eager, to support — and extend — the war of aggression in Iraq?

As for the substance of the story, it’s not worth

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The Light Shines in Darkness: Keep a Special Flame Burning

(UPDATED BELOW.)

If you want to continue to see posts with the kind of piercing acuity and verbal panache that Arthur Silber offers up with astounding regularity, then get on over to his blog, Once Upon a Time, and drop your tithe in the offering plate.

Because Arthur speaks the truth — instead of the third-rate twaddle that gets you choice gigs at, say, The Atlantic — he finds himself, like truth-tellers through the ages, up against the wall.

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Trashing the Troops: The Bush-Cheney Way of War

Army cuts time spent on training (Boston Globe):
The US Army, struggling to cope with stepped-up operations and extended deployments of its soldiers to Iraq, has shortened the duration of several of its bedrock training courses so that troops can return to fighting units on the front lines more quickly, according to senior training officials. One training course that is considered the “first step” in educating newly minted sergeants — the noncommissioned officers considered the backbone of Army units — has been cut in half to
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Crazy for Feeling This Way: Catch-22 Redux

Army Doctor: What seems to be the problem, son?
Sgt. Joe Sarian: I feel like I’m going crazy, Doc! I keep having flashbacks, panic attacks, sudden rages. I can’t sleep at night, and if I do nod off, I wake up howling from nightmares. I feel confused all the time, can’t remember things, get mixed up. I stay out all night, driving the streets, hitting the bars, and when I do go home to my wife and kids, I scream at them and

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