How many days has it been Since I was born? How many days ‘Til I die? Do I know any ways I can make you laugh? Or do I only know how To make you cry? ― Leon Russell, Stranger in a Strange Land The mass media in the US have covered up the most important fact in America’s ongoing …
Iraq: A Nation Destroyed by American Contempt – César Chelala
Iraq’s dismal health situation is testimony to the invasion of the country by foreign forces, including now the takeover of important parts of its territory by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Iraqi people have been the subject of mass executions, rape, torture and, in addition, the destruction of the country’s infrastructure. The international community has …
The Executive Summary: Neuropsychological and Electronic No-Touch Torture Report – Robert Duncan
Torture is a horrific topic and most minds will turn away from it because it can’t be comprehended that humans can be motivated, or computer programs can be run to do this to other sentient beings. Just when we believed we were becoming more civilized as a culture, the technology for torture has advanced more than a hundred fold in recent …
The Geopolitics of American Global Decline By Alfred W. McCoy
A glance at what passes for insider “wisdom” in Washington these days reveals a worldview of stunning insularity. Take Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye, Jr., known for his concept of “soft power,” as an example. Offering a simple list of ways in which he believes U.S. military, economic, and cultural power remains singular and superior, he recently argued that there was no …
Judith Miller’s Comeback By Matt Taibbi
o I read disgraced former New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s new book, The Story. It’s awesome! She’s really not kidding about a comeback. It might be the weirdest episode in journalism since “Kenneth, What Is the Frequency?” I’d say this will be a no-holds-barred review, but I promised myself I wouldn’t compare this book to Mein Kampf for at least 500 …
The Taliban in Our Midst – Mikey Weinstein
This guest Op-Ed from my dear friend, Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) [2] Advisory Board member, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson [3], comes in light of an unprecedented Christian fundamentalist furor over MRFF’s demands [4] for the U.S Air Force to court-martial [5] Major General Craig Olson. Why did we demand this [6] punishment for Olson? Because of this senior General’s illegal and unconstitutionally sectarian speech of shocking …
Top Bush Era CIA Official Just Confirmed the Iraq War Was Based On Lies – Claire Bernish
Twelve years after George W Bush initiated the illegal invasion of Iraq, ostensibly under the premise of preemptive self-defense, a stark majority — as many as 75% in 2014 — feel the so-called war was a mistake. As evidence rapidly accumulates that Bush’s yearning to launch an aggressive attack was likelier due to a personal grudge than anything else, that number will …
Writing History Before It Happens – Tom Engelhardt
It’s commonplace to speak of “the fog of war,” of what can’t be known in the midst of battle, of the inability of both generals and foot soldiers to foresee developments once fighting is underway. And yet that fog is nothing compared to the murky nature of the future itself, which, you might say, is the fog of human life. …
The American Military Uncontained – William J. Astore
It’s 1990. I’m a young captain in the U.S. Air Force. I’ve just witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, something I never thought I’d see, short of a third world war. Right now I’m witnessing the slow death of the Soviet Union, without the accompanying nuclear Armageddon so many feared. Still, I’m slightly nervous as my military gears up …
Did Jeb Bush just commit a War Crime in Justifying the Iraq War? – Juan Cole
Jeb Bush’s people are trying to walk back his disastrous interview with Megyn Kelly in which he said that even if he knew then what we all know now, he would have launched the war on Iraq in 2003. It is true that he doesn’t seem to have been very clear-headed in his answer. He blamed “the intelligence” for what he said …