Jeffrey Rudolph writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment Can You Pass the Terrorism Quiz? Misconceptions about terrorism, regularly promoted by the mainstream media, have facilitated harmful US government actions—two wars, domestic legislation that curtailed civil liberties, excessive national security spending. That basic, factual information about terrorism is so rarely reported thus serves to […]
Archives for August 2010
12 Million Affected by Pakistan Floods
The horrific flood in Pakistan, the worst in its history, has now destroyed more homes (650,000) than the 2005 earthquake. And, some 12 million Pakistanis, nearly 10 percent of the country’s population, have been at least somewhat affected by the floods. About 1600 persons have been killed. The floods, having hit first the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa Province […]
Pentagon Quest for Wikileaks Mirrors Plot of Eisler Thriller
The Pentagon is pressuring wikileaks not only not to release more classified documents about the Afghanistan war but to take down the files already posted.. A reader at reddit.com said that the statement showed that the Pentagon does not understand how the Internet works. The CSM quotes a former FBI official who concedes that probably […]
Dispute over Civilian Casualties Roils US-Afghan Relations
Between 4 and 12 civilians were killed by US troops in a nighttime raid in Nangarhar province on Wednesday, NATO admitted today. Nangarhar has repeatedly been the scene of public protests against the foreign troop presence. In fact, the wikileaks Pentagon documents show that local protests against US and NATO troops have been widespread, routine, […]
Mosque Building and Gay Marriage vs. Mob Rule by the Right
The decision of a US district court to strike down Proposition 8, the California referendum item that made gay marriage illegal after it had earlier been legalized by the state assembly, was a blow for individual rights over a tyranny of the majority. In its form, it resembles the decision of the New York authorities […]
Would an Assassination of Iran’s Ahmadinejad Have Really Mattered?
Although the Iranian government denies it, it seems likely that someone attempted to assassinate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president, while he was being driven to Hamadan to give a speech on Iran’s nuclear energy research program. Ahmadinejad recently faced strikes by the artisans, merchants, money-changers and shopkeepers of the bazaar or traditional marketplace. In some ways, […]
Israeli and Lebanese Armies Trade Fire; at least 4 Dead
There is one sad thing and there are several surprising things about the border clash on Tuesday between Israel and Lebanon. The sad thing is that the firefight broke out over the removal of a tree. The Israeli army says it was their tree, which they wanted to remove to get a better view of […]
Jiyad: The Da`wa Party Dilemma and Gridlock in Iraq
Sajad Jiyad writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment: The dilemma for Hizb al-Da’wa: A commentary on the issue of leadership in Iraq A friend recently said to me that the Iraqi mentality is to only respect the leader and to be outside the spotlight is to be outside full stop. This, according to […]
US Military Mission in Iraq ends not with a Bang but a Whimper
President Obama reaffirmed on Monday that the US would have all combat troops out of Iraq by the end of August. He said that the final 50,000 would all be out of Iraq within 18 months, in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) negotiated by the Iraq parliament with the Bush administration in […]
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