Backtalk, August 20, 2004

Abu Ghraib I was shocked to see those sick photographs. When I enlisted in the U.S. Army I heard stories about atrocities committed by US soldiers in World War II and the Korean War, but we never saw any photos. Had I seen such pictures I would not have enlisted,...

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Maldives Unrest Worries International Community

COLOMBO – Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia's longest running autocratic leader, is under international pressure to stop the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Colombo-based diplomats, who declined to be named, said...

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Women Press for End to Draconian Indian Law

NEW DELHI - Credit must go to women if the insurgency-hit northeastern Indian state of Manipur, bordering Burma, finally gets rid of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA, imposed a quarter of a century ago. Already the women, protesting for more than...

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UN Sees Opportunity to Turn Screws on Burma

BANGKOK - By throwing his weight behind the legitimacy of Burma's opposition party, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has deprived Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt of claiming political progress to mark his first anniversary in office. Annan's statement on Tuesday goes...

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Kerry Is Clueless on Bases

The case that I have been making in this space – that, from a non-interventionist perspective, John Kerry may be worse than Bush when it comes to foreign policy – was boosted, if not proved, with the Democrats' denunciation of the President's plan to...

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The Outing of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan

Journalism is often defined as an attempt to "catch history on the run." We historians, when writing history, most often have at hand a range of documents on an issue, and the luxury of being able to weigh them against one another. In trying to track...

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Appearance and Reality in the New Baghdad

BAGHDAD - What a difference a few months can make. The last time I was in Baghdad was late November. The city, the whole country for that matter, acutely felt under occupation. There were signs of it everywhere. Flying from Amman to Baghdad by the Royal Jordanian, the...

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