Month

Archives: October 2004

9 Marines Among 31 Killed In Iraq News

9 Marines among 31 Killed in Iraq The news from Iraq on the last Saturday before the US elections was truly horrible, with an orgy of death and explosions. More US troops…

Towers Of Beirut Readers Have Asked Me

Towers of Beirut Readers have asked me to what Bin Laden was referring when he said he first conceived the idea of attacking US skyscrapers when the Israelis destroyed the "towers" of…

Elections And Religious Tensions In

Elections and Religious Tensions in Iraq Al-Hayat reports that Shaikh Sadr al-Din Qubanji, a Friday mosque preacher for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, criticized "religious figures who doubt" everything…

Other Shoe Drops Bin Laden Weighs In

The Other Shoe Drops: Bin Laden Weighs in It is interesting that Usamah Bin Laden explicitly said that it doesn't matter to al-Qaeda whether Bush or Kerry is president. Only the degree…

Pentagon Briefing On Missing

Pentagon Briefing on Missing Explosives I just watched the Larry DiRita host a Pentagon briefing on the issue of the missing explosives at al-Qaqaa. I was disgusted by the political spin DiRita…

Us Has Killed 100000 In Iraq Lancet

US Has Killed 100,000 in Iraq: The Lancet The Lancet, a respected British medical journal, reports that the US and coalition forces (but mainly the US Air Force) has killed 100,000 Iraqi…

Missing Hmx It Really Is Missing

Missing HMX: It Really is Missing The evidence accumulates hourly that deadly HMX explosives were at the al-Qaqaa facility on April 18 of 2003 and subsequently disappeared. The allegation that the material…

2 Us Troops 15 Others Killed 17

2 US Troops, 15 Others killed 17 persons died in violent attacks in Iraq on Thursday, including two US troops. Al-Hayat reports that Grand Ayatollah met with the Chaldean Patriarch. The grand…

Breaking News Film Crew May Have

Breaking News: Film Crew May have Smoking Gun A US film crew has footage of the explosives at al-Qaqaa that later went missing. This development may be the downside of embedding for…

Iraqi Officials Deny Early

Iraqi Officials Deny Early Disappearance of Explosives Dr. Muhammad Sharaa who leads Iraq's science monitoring department, denies that the 380 tons of high explosives that has gone missing could have been moved…

Brown 2004 Bremer Report On Al Qaqaa

Brown: 2004 Bremer Report on al-Qaqaa Looting Professor Nathan Brown of George Washington University writes: In the dispute between the Kerry campaign and the Bush administration over the disappearance of explosives at…

Qazi Tries To Forestall Sunni Boycott

Qazi tries to Forestall Sunni Boycott of Elections Az-Zaman: United Nations special envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, held talks on Wednesday with Shaikh Muhammad Bashar al-Faydi, a leader of the Association…

Deadly Dual Use Explosives Missing

Deadly Dual Use Explosives Missing: Part Deux The politicization of news in the United States has reached such an embarrassing point that what Vice Presidential candidate Dick Cheney thinks about what was…

Bush Will Ask For Another 70 Billion

Bush will ask for another $70 Billion Allawi Slams Bush over Troop Massacre The Bush administration will ask for another $70 billion for Iraq in another month or two if re-elected. Remember…

10 Killed In Four Bombings Including

10 Killed in four bombings, Including US Soldier Charges of Corruption In Halliburton Bids AP reports that that on Monday, guerrillas bombed four coalition and Iraqi military convoys on Monday, killing 8.…

Bush Is Making Us Safer Complete Lack

Bush is Making us Safer? The complete lack of interest of the Bush administration in actually securing dangerous materials connected to the old, abandoned Iraqi nuclear program has long belied Bush's stated…

Iri Suppresses Key Data Muqtada As

IRI Suppresses Key Data Muqtada as Popular as Allawi In my posting on Sunday, I complained that the International Republican Institute rather unrealistically put a happy face on the results of its…

Defending Massad Those Who Care

Defending Massad Those who care anything for freedom of speech and academic integrity should please rise to the defense of Professor Joseph Massad at Columbia University. A concerted campaign has been gotten…

6 Us Troops Wounded More Than 28

6 US Troops Wounded, More than 28 Iraqis Dead, Over 50 Wounded On Saturday, Alistair Lyon reported from Baghdad along with David Randall in London that guerrillas wounded 6 US troops; killed…

Is Iri Spinning Poll I Find Cover Page

Is the IRI Spinning the Poll I find the cover page at the International Republican Institute web site concerning its recent polling in Iraq to be extremely disturbing. IRI is of course…

Eminem On Bush And Iraq Comments By

Eminem on Bush and Iraq: Comments by Hale and White Philosopher Benjamin Hale responds to my posting about Eminem on Friday: ' There are more interesting implications of Eminem’s condemnation of the…

Eminem On Bush I Dont Know What

Eminem on Bush I don't know what Marshall Mathers's politics are. But I do know that they could be of consequence for the youth vote, and his loud pleas for everyone to…

7 Iraqis Killed 9 More Die Of Previous

7 Iraqis Killed, 9 more Die of Previous Injuries Al-Hayat: Guerrillas fired mortar shells at caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as he was leaving the northern city of Mosul on Thursday. Journalists…

In Memory Of Maude Meanwhile Scotsman

In Memory of Maude Meanwhile, The Scotsman reports on the British government's agreement to deploy 850 British troops in the area southwest of Baghdad. Here's my lay guess as to what this…

Iraq Losing Billions In Petroleum

Iraq Losing Billions in Petroleum Revenues AFP reports that interim Iraqi Minister of Petroleum Thamer Ghadban says that sabotage and lack of refining capacity has cost Iraq $7 billion since March, 2003.…

Washington Whodunits And Iraq War

Washington Whodunits and the Iraq War Evangelist Pat Robertson has ignited a firestorm by telling CNN that President Bush alleged in March of 2003 that "there will be no casualties" in the…

11 Us Soldiers Wounded In Samarracar

11 US Soldiers Wounded in SamarraCar Bombs & Assassinations On Wednesday, clashes in Samarra left 11 US soldiers wounded, with 8 civilians killed and 12 wounded. Reuters naughtily notes that the US…

Bush Would Accept Islamic Iraq Bush

Bush would Accept Islamic Iraq Bush fundamentalizes the Middle East President Bush has said that he would "accept" an "Islamic Iraq," according to AP. If free and open Iraqi elections lead to…

10 Dead 109 Wounded Warren Strobel Of

10 Dead, 109 Wounded Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder has an excellent retrospective on the damage done to the US effort in Iraq by the Department of Defense's lack of planning for…

Democracy And Iraqi Universities Nancy

Democracy and Iraqi Universities Nancy Youssef of Knight Ridder gives us an excellent piece on the democratic process and debates at Iraq's universities. An excerpt: ' Students hold protests and sit-ins, sign…

Sistani Calls For Independent Slate

Sistani Calls for Independent Slate AFP/ ash-Sharq al-Awsat report that a spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said Monday that the spiritual leader supports the formation of a committee of "independents" to…

15 Dead 52 Wounded In Iraq Violence Al

15 Dead, 52 wounded in Iraq Violence Al-Zaman says that violence killed 15 and left 52 persons injured in a series of explosions and attacks on Sunday and Monday, in Baghdad, Mosul,…

Over Dozen Police Killed Nearly 2

Over a Dozen Police Killed, Nearly 2 Dozen Wounded Reuters reports that guerrillas detonated a car bomb on Sunday near a Baghdad cafe frequented by Iraqi police, killing seven persons and wounding…

Tawhid Joins Al Qaeda On Internet Site

Tawhid Joins al-Qaeda On the internet site of Monotheism and Holy War (al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad), the group allegedly declared, "We announce that the Tawhid and Jihad Group, its prince and soldiers, have…

Will Tested Of Coalition Of Willing

Will Tested of Coalition of the Willing Between 20,000 and 75,000 protesters came out in London to march against US presence in Iraq. The Bush Administration appears to have asked the British…

Suskind On Bush I Can Fly Ron Suskinds

Suskind on Bush: "I can Fly!" Ron Suskind's profile of George W. Bush reminded me eerily of Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. Suskind portrays Bush as filled with…

Is Bush Shortchanging Our Troops

Is Bush Shortchanging our Troops? The refusal of 19 reservists of the 43rd Quartermaster Company in Tallil to take fuel up to Taji north of Baghdad sheds significant light on issues that…

Jailed For Blogging I Received This

Jailed for Blogging I received this message from on an email network I subscribe to. ' Omid Memarian, Iranian writer and journalist, weblogger and social activist was arrested on Sunday. According to…

More Bombs And Minor Mutiny Did They

More Bombs, and a Minor Mutiny Did they or didn't they? Contradictory reports fly about the apparent mutiny of some troops in Iraq. Apparently they were ordered to take a convoy north…

Arab American Swing Vote Up For Grabs

Arab-American Swing Vote Up for Grabs Gary Younge has a truly excellent article in the Guardian on the Arab-American community and the way they are leaning toward Kerry this time, after a…

Kerry Gay Daughters And Blue Hairs

Kerry, Gay Daughters and Blue Hairs Christopher Manion, a conservative critic of the neoconservatives, is the author of among the more trenchant Christian critiques of Bush's approach to Christianity and of the…

Neo Baath V

Neo-Baath v. the Shiites Brig. Gen. Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, the head of the Iraqi secret police, has charged 27 employees in the Iranian embassy in Baghdad with espionage and sabotage. He blames…

Green Zone Hit By Suicide Bombers Two

Green Zone Hit by Suicide Bombers Two suicide bombers wrought havoc inside the Green Zone in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least four Americans. Al-Jazeerah suggested that the bold attack on the…

Why Cheneys Are Angry Why Are Lynne

Why the Cheneys are Angry Why are Lynne and Dick Cheney so angry that John Kerry mentioned their daughter Mary's lesbianism in the third presidential debate? The difference of opinion on whether…

Bush V

Bush v. Kerry: The Persian Gulf Empire and Perpetual War The visions for the American future laid out by George W. Bush and John Kerry differ starkly on matters of war and…

6 Us Troops Killed Mass Grave Exhumed

6 US Troops Killed Mass Grave Exhumed A suicide bomber and guerrillas who detonated several roadside bombs killed 6 US troops on Wednesday. Caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened the inhabitants of…

They May As Well Have Voted In May

They may as Well have Voted in May Hamza Hendawi draws aside the strange curtain that had fallen over election preparations in Iraq. Ash-Sharq al-Awsat also reports on the issue, saying the…

Quotes Of Day Sy Hersh In Uc Berkeley

Quotes of the Day Sy Hersh in the UC Berkeley News: "How could eight or nine neoconservatives come and take charge of this government?" he asked. "They overran the bureaucracy, they overran…

Mosque Arms Stockpiles Targeted In

Mosque Arms Stockpiles Targeted in Ramadi Alexandra Zavis of AP reports that US troops raided 7 mosques in Ramadi on Tuesday and arrested a leading Sunni clergyman, Abdul Alim al-Saadi, and his…

Sistani Rules That Believers Must

Sistani Rules that Believers Must Register to Vote Barzani threatens to Fight for Kirkuk KarbalaNews.net reports that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has issued a formal legal ruling requiring believers to register to…

3 Us Soldiers Killed 5 Wounded 2

3 US Soldiers Killed, 5 Wounded 2 Iraqis Killed, 27 Wounded wire services report that guerrillas killed at least three US soldiers in separate attacks on Monday. In Mosul, a guerrilla detonated…

Cheney Pressured Cia Philip Sherwells

Cheney Pressured CIA Philip Sherwell's article for the Telegraph about the bad feeling between the Bush administration and the old guard at the CIA has an interesting tidbit buried in the middle…

Womens Issues In Iraq Ash Sharq Al

Women's Issues in Iraq Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports that Safiya al-Suhail, the shaykha or female tribal leader of the Banu Tamim tribe, has been appointed Iraqi ambassador to Egypt, and that Egypt has…

Al Qaeda Baader Meinhoff And Patriot

Al-Qaeda, Baader-Meinhoff and the Patriot Act David K. Moore writes: " I have to bring something up about the analogy to the Red Army Faction. I was in college in Germany 75-76,…

How Would Cheney Complete War On

How Would Cheney Complete the "War on Terror"? Vice President Dick Cheney today attacked John Kerry. " Cheney and two other speakers at the rally also criticized Kerry for saying in a…

21 Dead 16 Injured In Car Bombs 2 Us

21 Dead, 16 Injured in Car Bombs 2 US Soldiers announced Killed Associated Press reports that 2 car bombs killed 11 and wounded dozens on Sunday in Iraq, and that heavy fighting…

Walbridge Bush War On Terror

Walbridge: Bush War on Terror Discounted in Bazaar John Walbridge of Indiana University, who has long experience in the Middle East and Pakistan, writes: " Your readers might be interested in my…

Shopping In Iraq Informed Observer

Shopping in Iraq An informed observer writes: " The thrust of the Farnaz Fassihi email, now, if not before, in the mainstream, and Dexter Filkins’ addendum in the NY Times today, was…

Bombs In Taba Multan Baghdad Signal

Bombs in Taba, Multan, Baghdad Signal Failure of War on Terror Three major bombs went off between the Nile and the Indus rivers on Thursday. Do they have anything in common, and…

Conditions In Iraq Zaid Al Ali Iraqi

Conditions in Iraq Zaid al-Ali, an Iraqi attorney who has practiced in New York and Paris, returned to his native land recently and wrote about what he saw. Excerpts: " [HOSPITALS]: As…

At Least 19 Killed In Violence Over 2

At Least 19 Killed in Violence, over 2 Dozen Wounded Reuters reports that guerrillas detonated a car bomb at Anah near the Syrian border, targeting recruits to the national guard. They killed…

Wmd Myth Meant To Deter Iran First Cia

WMD Myth Meant to Deter Iran First, the CIA comes out and says it can't find any convincing evidence that Saddam Hussein harbored Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi's presence at certain points in…

Cheney Rumsfeld And Bremer Deserting

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bremer: Deserting a Sinking Ship How to understand the sudden outbreak of candor among Bush administration officials (or former officials) about Iraq in the past couple of days? In…

Kerry On Iraq Guest Editorial By

Kerry on Iraq: Guest Editorial by Joseph White Professor Joseph White, Director of the Center for Policy Studies at Case Western Reserve University, has kindly agreed to share the following guest editorial…

Sistanis Threat January Elections Are

Sistani's Threat: January Elections are a Must Al-Zaman/DPA: The office of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has issued a demand that free and clean elections be held in every area of Iraq in…

41 Dead Over 100 Wounded 2 Us Soldiers

41 Dead, over 100 Wounded 2 US soldiers Killed Sunday Al-Jazeerah is reporting heavy fighting in the Shiite slums of East Baghdad between US forces and the Mahdi Army of young Shiite…

Corruption In Interim Government

Corruption in the Interim Government "The Planet's Supreme Kleptocracy" An informed reader writes: ' One aspect of the Iraqi reconstruction which hasn't received sufficient attention is the effect of placing so many…

Iraqi Political Campaign Has Opened

The Iraqi Political Campaign has Opened Scheherazade Faramarzi of AP has an excellent piece on the jockeying of Iraqi political parties with regard to the forthcoming elections. She crucially points out that…

Bombings And Other News Associated

Bombings and other News Associated Press reports the latest developments in Iraq. Highlights include the killing of 5 Iraqis in the Shiite ghetto of East Baghdad by US tank fire. Meanwhile, Muqtada…

Larkin Against Horowitzs Neo

Larkin against Horowitz's Neo-McCarthyism Graham Larkin of Stanford has penned an important article arguing against David Horowitz's sinister proto-Stalinist social engineering project of "balancing" universities ideologically. See also my "Are Professors Too…