Being a war reporter was also dangerous but the risks are increasing. Here’s a powerful piece by the always interesting David Carr in The New York Times: The setting at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Tuesday represented the height of refinement, but Alan Rusbridger, editor in chief of The Guardian, reminded the black-tie crowd at the…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Only fools are crying over the fall of David Petraeus
The job of a real journalist is to be skeptical of establishment power. Sadly, many reporters rather love receiving cuddles from officials, generals and leaders. Michael Hastings is against all cuddles! His work has shown consistent distance and his recent book, The Operators, about the failed war in Afghanistan, is vital reading. His latest piece,…
US military incapable or unwilling to document its own wars
A great yet disturbing story via ProPublica: A strange thing happened when Christopher DeLara filed for disability benefits after his tour in Iraq: The U.S. Army said it had no records showing he had ever been overseas. DeLara had searing memories of his combat experiences. A friend bled to death before his eyes. He saw…
Does the European Left ignore Islamist violence in a mutual hatred of Israel?
It’s an interesting and long argued detail, here by Colin Shindler in the New York Times. He makes some disturbing points but ignores the elephant in the room, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and how that affects global attitudes towards Israel, Jews and Zionists: Last week, Twitter… shut down… a popular account for posting anti-Semitic messages in…
Britain as the torture-endorsing nation
Fascinating new evidence in the Guardian: Within days of the 9/11 attacks on the US, the… CIA… told British intelligence officers of its plans to abduct… al-Qaida… suspects and fly them to secret prisons where they would be systematically abused. The meeting, at the British embassy in Washington, is disclosed in… a forthcoming book by the Guardian journalist Ian Cobain.…
How the US lost in Afghanistan against a guerrilla movement
More than ten years after 9/11, it’s still little appreciated how America and its allies have lost two wars comprehensively, Iraq and Afghanistan (though a friend today said to me that the former was a success, with any number of oil contracts going to North American firms). Here’s Gareth Porter in IPS with some fascinating…
Speech in support of Wikileaks and against 11 years of war in Afghanistan
This month is the 11th anniversary of the Afghan war, a disastrous conflict that has achieved nothing more than destruction for Afghans and foreigners. Yesterday Sydney’s Stop the War Coalition held a rally to mark this anniversary as well as supporting Wikileaks and Julian Assange in their struggle to tell the truth about Afghanistan, via…
