The Iraqi shoe thrower, Muntazer al-Zaidi, eloquently explains why he committed the act: I am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
America says it is good and true and the globe laughs
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald on the inherent delusions of the American corporate media and posits: the world looks at us with contempt and slams the exceptionalist mindset: I’m asking this sincerely, not rhetorically:… is there anything other than extreme self-delusion, grounded in blinding self-regard… (i.e., self-decreed exceptionalism), that can explain this?… … The Washington Post Editorial Page today is…
What are soldiers really doing in Iraq and Afganistan?
An important editorial in the Columbia Journalism Review on the need for journalists to report fairly and deeply into wars fought in our name: General William Tecumseh Sherman, like a number of military leaders through history, despised journalists. Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press, noted in a recent speech that a reporter…
US liberation brings web crackdown to Iraq
Internet censorship is rife across the Middle East, issues I discuss in my book, The Blogging Revolution. Now, six years after the fall of Saddam, Iraq may be going in a similar direction:
Iraq’s oil is attractive to all
It’s long been argued that oil was a key reason behind the Iraq war. Western multinationals are central in this campaign but, as the New York Times reports today, we shouldn’t forget the role of the leading Communist nation: When China’s biggest oil company signed the first post-invasion oil field development contract in Iraq last…
When killing Iranians is your primary Jewish goal
The singular aim of Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick (a woman with form) is depressingly lacking in foresight, originality, morality or legality: What can Israel do to prevent Iran from further expanding its nuclear capacity and block it from emerging as a nuclear power? The answer to this question is the same as it has…
Don’t provide cover for no Middle East progress
This headline in today’s Independent is unintentionally hilarious: Israeli moves give Blair hope of rebuilding political trust The idea that Tony Blair is taken seriously in the region is ludicrous. Arabs have not forgotten his support for the Iraq war and 2006 Lebanon war. Besides, the so-called progress between Israel and the Palestinians is virtually…
When loving the establishment is a media natural
Accusations of left-wing bias against public broadcasters is a mainstay of the culture wars (witness the latest non-story in Australia over the ABC). Mehdi Hasan, senior political editor of the New Statesman, argues that the BBC is an inherently status-quo enforcing organisation: The BBC’s bias is thus an Establishment bias, a bias towards power and…
Netanyahu needs to learn some democracy lessons
The Israeli group Breaking the Silence recently released a report about alleged crimes by IDF officers during the Gaza war. The response from many in Israel was to attack the messenger rather than examining the charges. Benjamin Netanyahu continued this onslaught during his visit to London: “They are breaking their silence about the only democracy…
Bloody ungrateful Iraqis
Conservative, Republican blog Powerline offers this nuanced analysis of America’s wars: But the future of Iraq doesn’t look at all bright now that the Americans are fading from the scene. It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing to be done. The Iraqi government wants us out, the American government wants to get out, and the Iraqi and…