As the drumbeat for war against Iran grows louder by the day – cheered by the same neo-conservatives, extreme Zionists and hacks who led us into conflict with Iraq – it’s vital to hold to account the commentators who never take responsibility for their war-mongering. A fine piece in Jadaliyya: This is not another article…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
We have seen the future and it is polluted with drones
Tiny drones, massive drones and drones that can think like humans. This Washington Post feature explains how governments and private companies are set to make billions in the coming decades. Civilians suffering under drones? Ignored: In 1980, Abraham Karem, an engineer who had emigrated from Israel, retreated into his three-car garage in Hacienda Heights outside…
I am sorry for destroying Fallujah; former US soldier
US Marine Ross Caputi in a remarkably honest piece deeply understands what he did to the Iraqi city of Fallujah: It has been seven years since the end of the second siege of… Fallujah… – the US assault that left the city in ruins, killed thousands of civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands more; the assault that…
Vulture capitalism logic; kill and abuse and ensure more business
American mercenary company Blackwater (now known as Academi, to ensure even more lucrative contracts) has an appalling record of human rights abuses. Gawker recently obtained a massive cache of documents that highlight this cowboy firm: Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism,announced yesterday that it has changed…
Drones won’t be bringing freedom to anybody anytime soon
Many in the corporate press love to luxuriate over drones, those seemingly silent and deadly killers against America’s “enemies”. The reality is rather different, explains Nick Turse in TomDispatch: According to statistics provided to TomDispatch by the Air Force, Predators have flown the lion’s share of hours in America’s drone wars.… As of October 1st,…
Holding corporates to account for helping America torture
Centre for Constitutional Rights launches a necessary case: Last night, attorneys for Iraqi torture victims abused in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers in Iraq challenged two private military contractors’ claims to immunity from being sued on the grounds that their alleged torture occurred during wartime. Today, a coalition of groups, including…
The deadly risk of being a journalist in 2011
Committee to Protect Journalists offers a grim end of year report: Pakistan remained the deadliest country for the press for a second year, while across the world coverage of political unrest proved unusually dangerous in 2011, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its year-end survey of journalist fatalities. CPJ’s analysis found notable shifts from…