Updated at 5:21 p.m. EDT, Nov. 3, 2011
For a second day in a row, bombers were successful in amassing a large number of casualties in a single coordinated attack. Today’s main blasts occurred at a military base near Baquba. Overall, at least 18 Iraqis were killed and 56 more were wounded in this attack and other violence. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are angling to keep a high-profile detainee in their custody.
read moreUS House Committee Okays Sweeping Sanctions on Iran
Amid growing tensions in the Middle East, including speculation about a possible Israeli attack on Iran, a key U.S. congressional committee Wednesday approved two bills that would impose sweeping new economic and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran. The legislation,...
The Merchants of Death and Me
I attended a recent talk on “defense cooperation” between the United States and the Arab world. Inevitably, no one on the panel of five bothered to ask why the United States should be fueling an arms race by selling to nearly every country in the region, but as each...
The Imperial Boomerang Returns
The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home. – James Madison House Raids, Murder, and Other Aggression The war in Iraq has been conducted using “urban warfare” tactics including the raiding of Iraqi homes. On...
ISAF Data: Night Raids Killed Over 1,500 Afghan Civilians
U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) killed well over 1,500 civilians in night raids in less than 10 months in 2010 and early 2011, analysis of official statistics on the raids released by the U.S.-NATO command reveals. That number would make U.S. night raids by far...
Closing Overseas Bases Is Good Policy and Good Politics
It has been like a cross between a suspense and a horror movie. If the committee doesn’t come up with a compromise by the Thanksgiving deadline, the axes will come out. Perhaps only Washington insiders appreciate the suspense. As for the horror part, the blood will...
Rare Triple Bombing in Basra Kills a Dozen Iraqis
At least 16 Iraqis were killed and 64 more were wounded today, most of them during a rare bombing in Basra.
read moreHistory Repeats Itself With Somalia Invasion
Kenya’s ill-advised incursion into Somalia on Oct. 16 after a rash of kidnappings in the tourist paradise of Lamu will most likely lead to a long and expensive quagmire. The escalation will further destabilize a region already reeling from war, piracy, famine, and...
Yes, Let’s Leave Iraq – Completely
Listen to Rep. Ron Paul deliver this address. It is not too often I am pleased by the foreign policy announcements from this administration, but last week's announcement that the war in Iraq was in its final stage and all the troops may be home for Christmas did sound...
Libya Victory Portends Endless Intervention
NATO’s “victory” in Libya has sown many seeds of possible future calamity. But none is fraught with as much danger as providing a new “war on the cheap” model for Western nations that have fallen on hard economic times. Although the very real possibility of civil war,...
