The Iraq war started seven years ago. It has caused unbelievable civilian suffering, something largely ignored by the corporate press. Lest we forget: Democracy Now! this week interviewed Yanar Mohammed, president of the Baghdad-based Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq: …the economic agenda in Iraq, the privatization, the heavy privatization, that’s happened in Iraq in…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
The US is not fully pulling out of Iraq (tell the corporate media)
Dahr Jamail reminds us that the American occupation will continue for many years to come, certainly well past the end of Barack Obama’s term in office.
Iran, Iran, Iran (don’t talk about Israel and settlements)
Just in case we’d forgotten why Washington should never pressure Israel (today it’s Iran, yesterday it’s Iraq and perhaps in years to come…Venezuela?): As more than a dozen lawmakers go on record to ask the Obama administration to end the diplomatic spat with Israel following Vice President Joe Biden‘s visit, some are now warning that…
Why Washington is scared of a website that doesn’t care about its secrets
The ground-breaking website Wikileaks – unafraid to publish pretty much any information that comes its way – is clearly a threat to the empire: This document is a classifed (SECRET/NOFORN) 32 page U.S. counterintelligence investigation into WikiLeaks. “The possibility that current employees or moles within DoD or elsewhere in the U.S. government are providing sensitive…
Stop the presses: Petraeus links Israel/Palestine to US impotence
Praise the Lord. Finally, somebody realises that Israeli actions are directly affecting American interests and lives. Sure, this has been clear for decades but better late than never. The likely outcome from Washington? More “disappointment” with Israeli actions in Palestine and little else: On Jan. 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a…
Goldstone threatens the chances of killing civilians, anywhere
Surprise, surprise. So the real issue with the UN Goldstone report over Gaza isn’t really the innocents killed, it’s that the recommendations could be used against the West (via the Forward): In Congress, New York Democrat Gary Ackerman, chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, is one of those leading…
What happens when Bush destroyed the city of Fallujah? Cancer, that’s what
I’ve written over the years about the many health effects of depleted uranium in Iraq. American forces stand accused of causing a massive rise in cancer amongst the local population. Now, more questions are being asked about the Iraqi city of Fallujah, after at least two massive American attacks in the years after 2003. Al-Jazeera…
When Barack Obama goes Down Under
My following article appears in the Huffington Post: The arrival of the new American Ambassador to Australia was breathlessly welcomed by the Australia media pack in late 2009. Jeffrey Bleich, an American lawyer from California, assumed his position in Canberra and was introduced to the country through an interview on the public broadcaster ABC. After…
Friedman welcomes Iraqi democracy…glosses over the deaths
Earth to the New York Times and Thomas Friedman. Backing an invasion of Iraq requires responsibility, not more platitudes. Of course, when you’re not doing the fighting, wars seem so noble: Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been…
Miliband says Iraq war was a jolly important show of British strength
The Iraq war may have convinced other Arab dictatorships to not upset Washington and London, but seriously, the British elite is forced to defend the debacle like this? The Foreign Secretary told Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the war that Britain’s willingness to follow through on threats of military force had made some Arab governments…