Word is trickling out now about a Taliban attack on workers and security guards that killed some 30 persons and wounded 15 others, while yet others were taken captive. The victims had been working on a road in Sangin, Helmand Province. Roads allow easier government penetration of provincial areas, and this consideration may have led […]
Archives for August 2010
Taliban Ambush Kills 30 on Road Crew in Helmand;
Cole on PBS ‘Need to Know’
I’ll be interviewed by Alison Stewart on the PBS ‘Need to Know’ current affairs program on Friday evening in most markets, though the show may be on another day on your PBS channel and may be repeated over the weekend. I’m talking about the situation in Iraq as most US combat troops are withdrawn.
Iraqis differ in Reactions to US Combat Troops’ Departure
Aswat al-Iraq reports on reactions to the withdrawal of US combat brigades from Iraq in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The head of the Basra Provincial governing council, Jabbar Amin, said that the American combat forces had withdrawn at dawn on Thursday, which would charge the Iraqi forces with their true mission, in strengthening […]
Last US Combat Units withdraw from Iraq
The last US combat convoy left Iraq on Thursday, rather some time after George W. Bush declared an end to combat operations in Iraq in May, 2003. Of course, this flat statement is not entirely accurate. The remaining 50,000 troops are viewed as trainers and logistics support to the Iraqi government. But they include special […]
Bolton was Contradicted by Bush on Iran’s Bushehr Reactor
Former US ambassador and perennial angry old crank John Bolton is so upset about the possibility that Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor will soon go live that he says Israel has a window of only 8 days to attack it and destroy it. (After a reactor is already working, bombing it would turn it into a […]
59 Dead, 120 Wounded in Iraqi Suicide Bombing;
Iraqi Parties reject US Power Sharing Proposal
The Telegraph reports that 59 persons are dead and 120 wounded in a suicide bombing attack on potential army recruits in Baghdad. There may have been two perpetrators, presumably with bomb belts. Those volunteering for the Iraqi army were gathered in a large crowd outside a government building and being allowed in in groups of […]
Top Ways Dan Senor Could have avoided offending Iraqi Muslims
Former Bush administration spokesman in Iraq Dan Senor is against the building of a Sufi Muslim community center in lower Manhattan. He says he is concerned that interfaith understanding may be damaged. Since Senor is so worried about religion and hurt feelings, he no doubt feels badly about what he and his team did to […]
Dear Climate Change Deniers
Dear Climate Change Deniers: This summer, Russia, a former icebox, is so hot that it is actually on fire. A third of Pakistan is affected by massive flooding caused by especially hot tropical waters. Parts of the Greenland ice shelf are plopping into the ocean. That is all.
Book of the Day: Midnight on the Mavi Marmara
Book of the Day: Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How It Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict, Moustafa Bayoumi, Editor. Click on the hyperlink above to go to go to the OR Books web site, where you can order this volume of short trenchant essays on […]
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