To Drink From the Sea of Gaza

Perhaps Abe Lincoln was right that you can't fool all the people all the time, but a lot of people can surely be fooled for a long, long time. Just look at Ariel Sharon. From the start, the "Disengagement Plan" was an exercise in deceit. But the world is eager to be...

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What Really Caused Tenet’s Departure?

If you thought the neo-crazies had lost control over President Bush, think again. A neo-crazy delegation – headed by Richard Perle – marched up to the White House last week and demanded that Bush fire Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) George Tenet....

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Reaganism versus ‘Neo-Reaganism’

The death of Ronald Reagan will no doubt prompt panegyrics from all the most prominent bastions of neoconservative thought – National Review, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, etc. ad nauseam. They will claim him for their...

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TURN TOWARD THE LEFT

A Note from the Author: This is a continuation of my Wednesday column on the formerly libertarian Cato Institute's complete capitulation to the war hysteria, and is best read in that context. To summarize briefly: in endorsing Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision...

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Fallujah, Pacified

June 3 – A rumbling explosion just let off near my hotel. This not too long after getting back from Adhamiya where I was talking to witnesses at the scene of yet another car bomb; the third in as many days here in Baghdad. At the scene in Adhamiya the scorched,...

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Global Pessimism About US Power

With the notable exceptions of China and India, a majority of people in 19 key countries are pessimistic about the world's current direction, says a just-released survey, which found a high correlation between that feeling and the belief that U.S. influence is...

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UN’s Integrity Questioned – Again

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - When U.S. President George W. Bush desperately sought UN assistance last month to organise elections in Iraq and help form a new interim government, some senior UN officials bragged the United States was crawling back to the world body on bended...

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UN: US Soldiers May Be Guilty of War Crimes

GENEVA (IPS) - A new report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concludes that "grave violations" – even potential war crimes – have occurred since the U.S.-led forces have occupied Iraq, leaving "a stain upon the effort to bring freedom" to that...

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Liberated Kurds Find Little Freedom

ARBIL, Iraq, (IPS) - Fruit and vegetable vendors push their carts around a street market in Arbil, the seat of governance of Iraqi Kurdistan. The city is very different from Baghdad. Kurdish is spoken here, and written large on shop windows. Also, there is no visible...

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Fresh Failures in Iraq

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Our allegiances to our allies and friends change constantly. For a decade, exiled Iraqi Ahmed Chalabi was our chosen leader-to-be in a new Iraq. Championed by Pentagon neocons and objected to by the State...

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