14 percent of Iraqis are now displaced from their homes. That would be the equivalent of 42 million Americans forced from their places of residence. I mean, it is a Stephen King-style futuristic apocalypse for Iraq. Only it has just happened, during the past 4 1/2 years. And the American government is responsible for kicking […]
Archives for November 2007
Extremists Expand in Swat Bhutto, Iftikhar Call for Rallies Media Defiant
While the Pakistani military is bothering innocent human rights activists and attorneys who want to defend the country’s constitution, it is ignoring Muslim radicals’ advances in the north of the country, according to Zee News: ‘ Pro-Taliban militants have strengthened their hold on the Swat valley in northwestern Pakistan by seizing several key towns after […]
Massive Bombing in Afghanistan Kills 50, including 6 MPs
In a further sign that the Bush-imposed order in Afghanistan (and the Middle East) is unraveling, a suicide bomber in Baghlan near Kabul unleashed a bomb amid a parliamentary delegation that had come to visit a sugar factory. The blast left at least 50 dead and killed 6 members of the Afghanistan parliament. Around 50 […]
2007 Deadliest Year Yet for US Troops 30 Bodies found in Tharthar Shiite on Shiite Tensions in South
2007 will be the deadliest year yet for US troops in Iraq. Seven American soldiers were killed on Monday alone, bringing this year’s total to 853, more than at any time since 2004 (the year of the Mahdi Army uprising among Shiites and the Salafi Jihadi push on Baghdad). As Michael Munk writes, ‘ US […]
Cole in Salon on Bush and Musharraf’s Grand Illusion
My article on the Pakistan crisis, “Bush and Musharraf’s Grand Illusion,” is now available online. Excerpt: ‘ In the fall of 1999, as he campaigned for the presidency, George W. Bush was asked by a reporter to name the leader of Pakistan. Bush could not. He famously replied: “The new Pakistani general, he’s just been […]
Attorney Protests, Arrests Benazir Pledges Rally Urdu Press on Musharraf’s State of Emergency
The Financial Times reports that Pakistan’s cabinet has decided to hold elections in January after all, backing off statements made over the weekend that they might be postponed for a year. The FT suggests that the vehemence of the response from demonstrating lawyers and other elements of civil society has been stronger than Gen. Musharraf […]
Erdogan Unswayed by Bush calls for Patience Wave of Bombings, Assassinations in Iraq
Bush attempted to mollify Turkish Prime Minister Rejep Tayyip Erdogan at a White House meeting on Monday, but given Erdogan’s belligerent comments afterwards, I’d say he did not succeed. As I’ve noted before, Washington would never have asked Israel to stand by and wring its hands after Hamas blew up dozens of civilians and soldiers […]
Fundamentalist Leader Qazi Hussain brands Musharraf a Traitor
Qadi Hussain Ahmad, the leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-i Islami called Sunday for massive protests against the coup of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. He was speaking to a crowd of 20,000 near the major Punjabi city of Lahore. I just saw Qazi Hussain on Aljazeera condemning Musharraf as a traitor, saying in English, “This is clear […]
Urdu Press Blames US for Crisis
While Gen. Musharraf maintains that he was forced to make his most recent coup by the threat of Muslim extremism, many of Pakistan’s Urdu newspapers have a different interpretation. They suggest in their editorials that the Bush administration’s pressure on Musharraf to move in an uncompromising way against Muslim fundamentalists sharpened the contradictions in Pakistani […]
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