American journalist and author Joshua Phillips talks about his discoveries while writing, “None of Us Were Like This Before“: Prisoner abuse and torture was far more widespread than most people understand. It happened well beyond the walls of Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and CIA “black sites.” Prisoners were seriously abused in other U.S. military bases and…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Gillard remains in the gutter over asylum seekers (and she feels fine)
Australia’s new refugee policy is truly a “he-man” competition. Who can seem toughest on those evil people smugglers? Who can maximise political capital over the handful of desperate souls from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq keen to make a better life? Opening a regional processing centre in East Timor smacks of a typical Western colonial…
America doesn’t believe in real democracy, by the way
Note this story in today’s Washington Post: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed alarm Saturday about what she called a growing crackdown on citizens groups around the world and announced a fund to help them fight back. In what aides called her most important speech in a four-day swing through former Soviet-bloc countries, Clinton…
Will the dishonest mainstream media on torture please stand up?
The reluctance of the American corporate media to call US torture “torture” has been exposed in a recent Harvard study. When “they” do it – Iraqis, Afghans, Colombians etc – it’s called torture. But when “we” do it, well, time to find another, less painful word. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald will have none of it and…
How did David Kelly die?
Here’s a story that requires sun-light. I’ve heard from various sources over the years that Dr David Kelly was probably murdered by either British agents, hired foreign thugs or an intelligence service: The official story of Dr David Kelly is that he took his own life in an Oxfordshire wood by overdosing on painkillers and…
Reporter Hastings on what our profession should be doing
Journalist Michael Hastings is extensively interviewed on Democracy Now! over his explosive Rolling Stone article:
Blair should be in the Hague
Satire is dead: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to receive a prestigious US medal and $100,000 (…£67,000) prize for his work in conflict resolution. The National Constitution Centre is awarding him its Liberty Medal for “steadfast” efforts to broker peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Previous winners include Nelson Mandela and…
We invade and occupy Iraq and now it’s a petrol station for us all
What we gave Iraq. One: The former chief executive of a British chemical company faces the prospect of extradition to the US after the firm admitted million-dollar bribes to officials to sell toxic fuel additives to Iraq. Paul Jennings, until last year chief executive of the Octel chemical works near Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, and his…
Neo-cons dare to speak about failed states
There is something pretty wrong about framing countries as “failed states” and ripe for photo shoots, but that’s what Foreign Policy has done. Places like Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan are on the list and it seems that the magazine has taken a perverse pleasure in doing so. And what kind of credibility does a…
We’re dying in Afghanistan and you want to hug a general?
While here’s yet another mainstream journalist upset that Michael Hastings actually embarrassed military men in Afghanistan – it truly seems that many corporate reporters and commentators would rather general worship towards men and women in uniform – the real cost of two devastating wars is brought home. When was the last an injured service person…