I’m at a Loss for Words

In a week in which it comes to light that President George W. Bush revealed that God told him to invade Iraq–with all that implies–and former Repulican presidential candidate–and pretender to the vice-presidential slot along with John McCain–Mike Huckabee made a supposedly jocular comment in the middle of a speech to the American Rifle Association [...]

Winter Soldiers Left Out in the Media Cold

Last March 13-16 some 250 American veterans of the Iraq and Afghan occupations gathered at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD for the “Winter Soldier – Iraq and Afghanistan” conference, a replica of a similar event which took place in Detroit in 1971, during the Vietnam War. This recent weekend was devoted to [...]

Gringo Baghdad: Luxury Hotels and Golf

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the [...]

Who is Pepe Escobar, Anyway?

Journalist Pepe Escobar is one of those remarkable Brazilians like the film director Fernando Meirelles or the photographer Sebastiao Salgado, rich in both human and professional qualities. In fact, all three of them are related to Sao Paulo. The first two were born in that city and Salgado studied economics at the university there.
Escobar was [...]

Guantánamo Torture Records “Lost”

Right.
This from today’s Guardian.
These guys are so predictable. I’m constantly reminded of the old saw: “Military intelligence is to intelligence as military music is to music.”

Americans Victims of Pentagon Media PSYOPS

I’m Aghast But Not Surprised
In a bombshell article published yesterday in the NY Times, entitled “Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand,” investigative journalist David Barstow reveals a continuing Pentagon psychological operations (PSYOP) maneuver to disinform the American public through the manipulation of retired senior military [...]

Why the U.S. Can’t Leave Iraq

Just ran across this fascinating article by Christopher King on the Al Jazeera website. I was impressed not so much by the premise, which is familiar, as by the numbers, which are bruising. If you have ever asked yourself: “When will this American madness end?” you’ll be smitten by this article.
But before [...]

U.S. Shows Extreme Generosity with Refugees… from Justice

Plum Jobs Go to Coalition Collaborators
It has been heart warming to see the generosity with which the United States government, universities and businesses are treating Tony Blair, ex-prime minister of the U.K., and José María Aznar, ex-president of Spain. Both of these distinguished elder statesmen were named to prestigious professorships at American universities, and [...]

Iraq: Who Won the War?

This article in today’s Independent provides a nice summing up of what the U.S. and Britain have achieved with their war on Iraq.  Authors Raymond Whitaker and Stephen Foley have prepared a thorough and dispassionate report from an independent British point of view. It makes fascinating–and depressing–reading.  At the end of the piece they offer [...]

Robert Fisk Has Had Enough

The British reporter, Robert Fisk, was not only a valuable source for me in researching and writing The You of My Song, but a significant moral support, as well, when it came to writing not just with honesty, but with conviction. Now, after spending more than three decades covering the most conflictive areas of Europe [...]