Our gift to the Iraqis

While Iraq bleeds and the Western media obsess over the Bush administration’s (increasingly) limited options in the ravaged nation, what is happening on the ground? Al-Jazeera.info translates some articles from the London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi: The first article is about a study conducted by the Iraqi Southern Research Center for Strategic Planning. It mentions…

News bytes

– Read the transcript of the recent debate between Noam Chomsky and Alan Dershowitz. Marvel at the Harvard Law Professor’s inability to acknowledge the reality of the Israeli occupation. – Larry “Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm” David on why he can’t see gay western “Brokeback Mountain”. – Patrick Cockburn on the year that Iraq fell…

Liberation here, please

The Village Voices introduces some headlines for Iraqi newspapers after news broke that the Pentagon was planting news stories in the occupied country: 1. Longtime Residents Applaud US Marine-Led Urban Renewal Project in Falluja; “Thank Allah They Got Rid of A Bad Element and Worse Architecture,” Says Woman on Street 2. 25-30% of Iraqi Workforce…

News bytes

– Noam Chomsky on “malignant design” and world cruelty. – Karma Nabulsi, politics fellow at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and a former PLO representative, discusses the Arafat myth and Western ability to humanise the Israelis and demonise the Palestinians. – George Monbiot on the US using chemical weapons in Iraq, lying about it and covering…

Headline of the week

Chalabi offers the White House an exit route from Iraqi quagmire, Independent, November 8 Ahmad Chalabi is certainly a man corrupt Washington can do business with. This is Bush ideologue, David Frum, back in August: “I know Ahmed Chalabi not well but reasonably well. He is not a perfect man. But in a country full…

Be proud

David Frum is a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. He coined the term, “Axis of Evil.” He co-wrote a book with Richard Perle called “An End to Evil“, “a how-to guide for winning the war on terror.” Their answer? “The United States is good, those who pose a threat, current or future, are evil…

Important, but…

The Monthly is the new magazine on the block. Modelling itself on the New Yorker, the Melbourne-based publication is a noble attempt at producing high-quality, essay style articles on issues of the day. Its success rate is decidedly mixed, not least due to its insistence on commissioning the “old guard” of Australian publishing, from Robert…

Jail time

The New York Times’ Judith Miller has been ordered to jail for refusing to reveal confidential sources. Hyperbole spewed forth by all concerned: Miller: “If journalists cannot be trusted to guarantee confidentiality, then journalists cannot function and there cannot be a free press. The right of civil disobedience is based on personal conscience, it is…

Short memory

Remember Judith Miller? She’s the New York Times journalist who was promoting bogus claims of Iraqi WMD before the 2003 invasion. When it was discovered that she had been sourcing her material from none other than fraudster Ahmed Chalabi, she kept her job and remains one of the Times’ key reporters. So much for accountability…

Freedom fighters love torture

The “People’s Mujahideen” of Iran (MKO) are a revolutionary army based in a US protected camp in Iraq. They’re a 4000 person strong anti-Iranian dissident group. They’re supported by a number of high profile British politicians, human rights lawyers and some Washington neo-conservatives. They’re now accused of torture and brainwashing. The Guardian report is extraordinary:…

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