Showing all posts tagged Iraq
This is what American “reconstruction” looked like in Iraq
Former Foreign Service Officer at the US State Department, Peter Van Buren, has written a book about the disastrous Iraq invasion, of which he was a part. It’s an (almost) comical account of the gross ineptitude of the occupation and the massive amount of money wasted. Tax-payer money: Very few people outside the agricultural world…
What legitimate civil disobedience against a war criminal looks like
Bravo: On Monday 26 September, three members of Veterans For Peace and a member of Code Pink confronted Donald Rumsfeld at a Boston stop of his book tour. I attempted to make a citizen’s arrest. Police hustled all four of us out, while a hostile rightwing crowd shouted and jeered. To get in, we had…
Welcome to lack of US transparency over wasted billions on disaster capitalism
Yes: The internal records of a congressionally mandated panel that reported staggering estimates of wasteful U.S. wartime spending will remain sealed to the public until 2031, officials confirmed, as the panel closed its doors on Friday. The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan was established by Congress in 2008 and spent three years…
Washington happy to arm thugs, despots and crooks (yet still talk democracy)
Really: American arms merchants enjoyed a dominant year in 2010 as the United States was responsible for selling more than half of all weapons worldwide. Although U.S. arms exports actually declined last year, compared to 2009, the dramatic drop in global arms deals resulted in American suppliers controlling 53% of the market (up from 35%…
We fight more battles but care little about those people in the firing line
Imperial nations love to fight wars – and Barack Obama has only increased the American military footprint – but it comes with a heavy cost (via ProPublica): Private contractors injured while working for the U.S. government in Iraq and Afghanistan filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Monday, claiming that corporations and insurance…
War logic; spend billions, kill many, move on
Surely it’s time for Washington to find the next juicy target of American “liberation” (via the Huffington Post)? With just over three months until the last U.S. troops are currently dueto leave Iraq, the Department of Defense is engaged in a mad dash to give away things that cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars to…
Iraq tragedy explodes on Australian television
Now and then, on commercial TV, the brutal reality of our world erupts on the screen and reminds us of our real place and responsibility:
9/11 legacy is an Israeli/American catastrophe
My following essay is published today on ABC online: The 9/11 attacks had barely happened and the smouldering wreckage in New York and Washington was still shocking America and the world. Israel already saw an opportunity. Then former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked to express his feelings about the terrorist action in the immediate…
Why was Al-Jazeera offering to censor content for the US?
This Wikileaks cable from October 2005 displays a concerning enthusiasm from Al Jazeera Managing Director Wadah Khanfar to censor content following US concerns over “disturbing” material: Summary: PAO met 10/19 with Al Jazeera Managing Director Wadah Khanfar to discuss the latest DIA report on Al Jazeera and disturbing Al Jazeera website content. Khanfar is preparing…