Project on Government Oversight uncover a terrible tale of the US establishment punishing somebody who dared tell the truth about the US war machine: On a hot, parched day in June 2004, a convoy of Humvees was making its way across Iraq’s Sunni Triangle when a roadside bomb exploded, mangling the head vehicle and knocking…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Getting inside the head of Julian Assange
My following book review appeared in yesterday’s Sydney Sun Herald: Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography Julian Assange (Text, $29.95) This is unlike any book you’ve ever read. Take one of the most recognisable figures in the world, sit him down for hours of interviews and sign a multimillion-dollar contract to publish an authorised autobiography. Talk…
MSM once again, like Iraq 2003, ramping up war against Iran
Seymour Hersh writes in the New Yorker that in the rush to accept the Israeli and American line over Iran – Tehran is a major threat and must be isolated (pretty much the same argument they’ve been making for a decade or more) – skepticism and rationality has once again disappeared: I’ve been reporting on…
Supporting Overland and indy media
Wonderful independent Australian magazine Overland is currently running its Subscriberthon. I was asked to offer some words of support: Independent media has never been more important. Our world is currently experiencing a necessary crisis in confidence in corporate media, corporate governance and capitalism itself. Relying on corporate media to accurately report on this crisis is…
Condi Rice reassures world; Bush made space for Arab Spring
Yes, and Iraq is a liberated nation with peace and tranquility. Delusional: “The demise of repressive governments in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere during this year’s “Arab spring,” she says, stemmed in part from Bush’s “freedom agenda,” which promoted democracy in the Middle East. “The change in the conversation about the Middle East, where people now…
Those poor military contractors in Iraq just need a good hug
Trouble in paradise, as a legacy of American war-making (privatised security) faces new challenges. CNN reports: With the removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year looking more likely, absent an agreement to extend legal immunity, a large contingent of U.S. contractors will still remain facing their own legal and…
Iraqis should love America for a) war b) attempted genocide c) “freedom”
America destroys Iraq but “these people” should be damn lucky and thank Washington for the death of over one million of them: “I believe that Iraq should reimburse the United States fully for the amount of money that we have spent to liberate these people,” said Rep. Michelle Bachmann in an appearance Sunday on CBS’…
Washington’s footprint in Iraq will continue for years to come
Wired explains that the American occupation of Iraq isn’t ending, despite what Barack Obama preaches: President Obama announced on Friday that all 41,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq will return home by December 31. “That is how America’s military efforts in Iraq will end,” he said. Don’t believe him. Now: it’s a big deal that…
Future war mongers, lessons how to get corporate hacks on side
Gawker has a little piece of recent history that reflects the (usually squalid) relationship between the mainstream media and US military: Public relations is about “relationships.” Flacks develop “relationships” with reporters by calling them and yelling at them until the reporters start to realize, before they write something, that an unpleasant conversation might ensue. So…
Iraq remains the catastrophe that nobody wants to acknowledge
Juan Cole on the spluttering end to the (kind of/sort of) formal US involvement (though private contractors are only increasing): The US keeps fretting over Iranian influence in Iraq, but that is silly. If you didn’t want Iranian Shiite influence in Iraq you shouldn’t have overthrown the Sunni Saddam Hussein and seated the Shiite fundamentalists…