Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Robert Fisk remembers the war mongers who longed for Muslim blood post 9/11
And the veteran Middle East journalist utters one of the key reasons the terrorist attacks happened; Israeli occupation of Palestine: By their books, ye shall know them. I’m talking about the volumes, the libraries – nay, the very halls of literature – which the international crimes against humanity of 11 September 2001 have spawned. Many…
While the Wikileaks revelations continue, questions to be asked
One: The US and Australia schemed unsuccessfully in 2005 to block Mohamed ElBaradei’s election to a third term as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a newly leaked US diplomatic cable shows. Both countries were unhappy with Mr ElBaradei’s “unhelpful” response to Iran’s nuclear program, but the bid to prevent his re-election to…
Why the Murdoch empire in Australia threatens democracy
Melbourne academic Robert Manne rightly calls for a neutering of Murdoch empire power in Australia: The company’s domination of our newspaper market poses a real and present danger to the health of Australian democracy … Unquestioning support for American foreign policy led the paper to conduct an extraordinarily strident campaign in favour of an invasion…
How 9/11 showed a West unsure of who it wanted to kill
This week’s New Statesman editorial: Above all, the doctrine of liberal intervention, even on so-called humanitarian grounds, was gravely undermined by the misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Blair’s dream of a new, interdependent world order turned out to be no more than the delusion of a western triumphalist who believed that history was moving…
Anybody care that countless billions wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan?
American multinational KBR has its tentacles everywhere, including in Australia. The US-based Project on Government Oversight laments the over-reliance on suspect corporations with little or no accountability. This is the definition of disaster capitalism: At least one out of every six dollars spent by U.S. taxpayers on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past…
Thank you Washington for watching Australian public and democratic protests
The infiltration of American (non) intelligence in Australia is almost comical; it certainly hasn’t brought any more love to the fading super-power. FireDogLake reports: Pro-Cuba, pro-Serbian, pro-Palestinian, pro and anti-Kosovo Independence, Sri Lankan, antiwar and socialist demonstrations were closely monitored by the US Embassy in Canberra, Australia in 2008 and 2009, a secret cable posted…
Book reviews can save lives
A fascinating piece of history written by Australian academic Scott Burchill: In August 2004 I was asked by The Age to review [Australian journalist] John Martinkus’ new book ‘Travels in American Iraq‘ (Black Inc, 2004). It was a very good account of life after the invasion and Martinkus was clearly more sympathetic to the occupied…
When you say “liberating” Afghanistan, you mean privatising the lot?
The future of warfare, led by America and the West, is fueled by unaccountable corporations: At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted. And at least that much could again turn into waste…