Archives for October 2004

Is Bush Shortchanging our Troops? The refusal of 19 reservists of the 43rd Quartermaster Company in Tallil to take fuel up to Taji north of Baghdad sheds significant light on issues that have come up in the presidential debates. As Eric Brunner-Williams notes, “It appears that they disobayed an illegal order, to conduct routine logistics […]

Jailed for Blogging I received this message from on an email network I subscribe to. ‘ Omid Memarian, Iranian writer and journalist, weblogger and social activist was arrested on Sunday. According to his brother, who provided a report to ISNA, Omid was arrested in his work place and then taken to his home, where his […]

More Bombs, and a Minor Mutiny Did they or didn’t they? Contradictory reports fly about the apparent mutiny of some troops in Iraq. Apparently they were ordered to take a convoy north with no air cover, and thought this was a very bad idea. Violence continued in Iraq on Friday, with a spectacular car bomb […]

Arab-American Swing Vote Up for Grabs Gary Younge has a truly excellent article in the Guardian on the Arab-American community and the way they are leaning toward Kerry this time, after a majority supported Bush in 2000. The Arab-Americans are a significant minority in several swing states, including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. At a […]

Kerry, Gay Daughters and Blue Hairs Christopher Manion, a conservative critic of the neoconservatives, is the author of among the more trenchant Christian critiques of Bush’s approach to Christianity and of the Iraq war. He writes for the conservative site LewRockwell.com, and yesterday upbraided me for my analysis of the Kerry-Cheney contretemps over the Cheneys’ […]

Neo-Baath v. the Shiites Brig. Gen. Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, the head of the Iraqi secret police, has charged 27 employees in the Iranian embassy in Baghdad with espionage and sabotage. He blames them for the assassination of over a dozen members of the Iraqi secret police in the past month. He claims to have seized […]

Green Zone Hit by Suicide Bombers Two suicide bombers wrought havoc inside the Green Zone in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least four Americans. Al-Jazeerah suggested that the bold attack on the heart of US presence in the capital came in response to continued US bombing of Fallujah and recent American demands that Fallujans turn […]

Why the Cheneys are Angry Why are Lynne and Dick Cheney so angry that John Kerry mentioned their daughter Mary’s lesbianism in the third presidential debate? The difference of opinion on whether the mention was appropriate is rooted in two different worldviews, and on two different metaphors for gayness. The behavior of the Cheneys demonstrates […]

Bush v. Kerry: The Persian Gulf Empire and Perpetual War The visions for the American future laid out by George W. Bush and John Kerry differ starkly on matters of war and peace, and the shape of American power in the Middle East. Bush has put enormous resources into the Iraq war compared to those […]