Updated at 5:00 p.m. EST, Nov. 21, 2008Although the prayer day tends to be relatively peaceful, a massive demonstration took place in Baghdad at the behest of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Across Iraq, three people were killed and another 20 were wounded, mostly in...
Backtalk, November 21, 2008
Michael Moore's Off-Color Draft Joke Mr. Coleman, Sir, as a former U.S. Marine and a Vietnam war vet, I agree with you 100%. Old Mike Moore had best "rethink" his supposed joke. And he'd best do so damn fast. I enjoyed the description of the draft to the Pentagon like...
How Guantánamo Can Be Closed: More Advice for Barack Obama
In a previous article, Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, examined the reasons why Barack Obama must stick to his election promise to close the "War on Terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay, focusing on the Bush administration's...
Stuff Happens: The Pentagon’s Argument of Last Resort on Iraq
It's the ultimate argument, the final bastion against withdrawal, and over these last years, the Bush administration has made sure it would have plenty of heft. Ironically, its strength lies in the fact that it has nothing to do with the vicissitudes of Iraqi...
Learning from John McCain’s Mistakes: Supporting Aggression in the Caucasus
John McCain's defeat has set off a scramble to control the Republican Party's ideological soul. The GOP should learn from Sen. McCain's mistakes. Despite his reputation as a foreign policy guru, his neoconservative instincts invariably led him astray. His embarrassing...
Stop Hillary!
We had a breather during the final stretch of the presidential election campaign, but the way is now cleared for a renewal of the propaganda campaign urging war with Iran. The latest salvo: a UN report claiming Iran plans on building 3,000 new centrifuges, and...
Greybeards Urge Overhaul of Global Governance
Capping a nearly two-year consultation involving dozens of US and international leaders, a new report by three US think tanks is calling on President-elect Barack Obama and other leaders to implement sweeping reforms in global governance to more effectively tackle...
Robert Gates: As Bad As Rumsfeld?
"As Bad As Rumsfeld?" The title jars, doesn't it. The more so, since Defense Secretary Robert Gates found his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, such an easy act to follow. But the jarring part reflects how malnourished most of us are on the thin gruel served up...
Who Will Stop the Settlers?
The middle-of-the-night eviction last week of an elderly Palestinian couple from their home in East Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers is a demonstration of Israeli intent towards a future peace deal with the Palestinians. Mohammed and Fawziya Khurd are now on...
Obama Urged to Strengthen Ties with UN
A bipartisan group of some three dozen senior foreign policy figures has released a statement calling for President-elect Barack Obama to make strengthening long-troubled US relations with the United Nations a major priority in his new administration. It calls, among...


