Archives for 2009

A massive truck bomb was set off near a Japanese construction company in the southwestern city of Qandahar in Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing about 41 and wounding some 65 persons. All the wounded were innocent civilians. It was set off at 7 pm as Afghans were breaking their Ramadan fast, about two hours after the […]

Senator Ted Kennedy’s death Tuesday night has deprived the nation of one of the most insightful and committed progressive politicians the country had. Kennedy all along had opposed Bush’s Iraq War, and saw clearly before most of the country the various scams used to get it up. It is worth remembering that the narrative most […]

The thing that concerns me most about the investigation of Central Intelligence Agency interrogators is that US law served as such a poor guide to them for what was permitted. Although administrations do break laws, I think if Congress had had the courage and the energy to actually enact clear statutes on torture, the CIA […]

Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that five major Shiite fundamentalist parties along with some other personalities and small parties have announced the National Iraqi Alliance, the successor to the United Iraqi Alliance that had grouped the same parties plus the Islamic Mission (Da’wa) Party of current prime minister Nuri al-Maliki. This move could keep Nuri al-Maliki […]

Wissam Ali Kadhem Ibrahim was put on television in Iraq confessing his role in last Wednesday’s bombings. The former Baathist official described an operation that drew on old-time Baathist assets in Diyala province to Iraq’s northeast. The official spoke with cold, clinical precision. He showed no signs of torture. I found the confession at least […]

Adam L. Silverman writes in a guest op-ed for IC The recent increase in political violence in Iraq has once again led to renewed discussions of the potential religious component. Violence has recently been directed against the heterodox Kurdish population and a recent NY Times article also addressed the question of sectarian issues. One key […]

Obama, unlike Bush: 1. Has no plans to invade any new oil countries.2. Knows who president of Pakistan is3. Knows how to safely consume pretzels4. Does not take orders from his veep5. Not on vacation 40% of time6. Clears away Bush’s harm, rather than clearing brush on farm7. Worried about 47 million uninsured, not about […]

The Financial Times argues that the final judgment on how upright the Afghan elections were matters enormously to the Obama administration. If the US public decides these election results were phonied up, it will turn, FT argues, even more against the war than it already is (51 percent oppose the Afghanistan war in the US). […]

It was worse. Back in the bad old days of Bush’s corrupt gang, we on the left were pilloried for suggesting that the administration was manipulating terrorism-related news in order to win the 2004 elections. But when Tom Ridge says it . . . In fact, I argued in summer, 2004, that when Ridge did […]