Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Sunnis make merry on US's dime
Iraq's Sunni-dominated Awakening Councils, bankrolled by the United States, have certainly blunted al-Qaeda, but they continue attacks on US and Iraqi forces. The Sunnis, using a "fight, bargain, subvert, fight" approach, are all the while working towards their ultimate goal of the complete withdrawal of US troops and reducing the power of the Shi'ite-dominated government.
The Gaza bombshell
After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.
Vatican-Muslim talks due in Italy
Vatican and Muslim officials are due to meet in Rome to lay the foundations for landmark Catholic-Islamic talks later this year.
'Restraint' is deceitful, and 'forbearance' is vain
Even yesterday evening, after the IDF already had killed about 50 Palestinians, at least half of them unarmed, and including quite a number of women and children, Jerusalem continued to claim, "At present there will be no major ground operation." It's incredible: The IDF penetrates the heart of a crowded refugee camp, kills in a terrifyingly wholesale manner, with horrible bloodshed, and Israel continues to disseminate the lie of restraint. Two days earlier Israel killed more Palestinians than have been killed by all the Qassams over the past seven years. Among the dead were four children and an infant. The next day Israel killed another five boys. And who is the victim? Israel. And who is cruel? The Palestinians.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Meeting on arms data reignites Iran debate
Last Monday, the chief United Nations nuclear inspector gathered ambassadors and experts from dozens of nations in a boardroom high above the Danube in Vienna and laid out a trove of evidence that he said raised new questions about whether Iran had tried to design an atom bomb.
Man acquitted in Sears Tower plot faces deportation
More than two months after his acquittal on charges of supporting terrorism, Lemorin remains incarcerated, and U.S. immigration officials are moving to deport him to Haiti, which he left more than 20 years ago.
The government's effort to punish Lemorin despite the acquittal is drawing fire from his attorneys and some legal observers as an attempt to seek retribution in a high-profile case that prosecutors lost after a fair trial.
The government's effort to punish Lemorin despite the acquittal is drawing fire from his attorneys and some legal observers as an attempt to seek retribution in a high-profile case that prosecutors lost after a fair trial.
BOOK: The War on Islam
"The War on Islam"—4th, expanded edition, recipient of the Human Rights Foundation Gold Award—is now available at Amazon.com at a special prepublication price.
CIA coup in Iran and the roots of Middle East terror
As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Iraq for a historic meeting with Iraqi leaders, we turn to former New York Times foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer, author of “All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup And The Roots of Middle East Terror.”
The war and the recession: a connection?
The economy has supplanted the war at the top of the national agenda – but only because of two mistaken perceptions, writes Gen. William Odom. Contrary to popular belief, the surge isn’t working; it’s just postponing the inevitable. And that looming recession? A trillion-plus dollars squandered in war spending may have something to do with it.
US holds suspects on island of Diego Garcia
The UN torture investigator yesterday said he had received "credible" allegations that the US detained terror suspects on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia - a claim that directly contradicts statements by the British and US.
Dutch government could ban anti-Islam film
The 15-minute film, called Fitna - an Arabic term used in the Qur'an and sometimes translated as "strife" - was made by Geert Wilders, a rightwing politician who leads the nine-member PVV (Freedom) party.
Wilders has argued that there is no such thing as moderate Islam, and has called for a ban of the Qur'an, which he compares to Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Wilders has argued that there is no such thing as moderate Islam, and has called for a ban of the Qur'an, which he compares to Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Why the war on Obama
While some cynics still view Barack Obama's appeal for "change" as empty rhetoric, it's starting to dawn on Washington insiders that his ability to raise vast sums of money from nearly one million mostly small donors could shake the grip that special-interest money has long held over the US government.
Scorched-earth strategy returns to Darfur
The Sudanese government's offensives are aimed at retaking ground gained by a rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, which has been gathering strength and has close ties to the government of neighboring Chad.
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