Never miss an opportunity to embrace individuals who eradicate Arabs (if you’re Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi): During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US’s military intervention in Iraq. “I want to thank you for your support of Israel and…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Journalism class 101
How about this for a page one yarn in today’s Independent? Voters in the United States may have switched their attention to the contest to find his successor, but George Bush will embark on an ambitious nine-day tour of the Middle East tomorrow in a last desperate effort to salvage a legacy from two terms…
Missing the real target
The mainstream media failed fundamentally in the run-up to the Iraq war (something I argued way back in early 2004.) Of course, if you believe, as I often do, that most corporate journalists simply see their job as endorsing establishment power, rather than challenging it, then the acquiscience before Bush administration lies over WMDs was…
The never-ending occupation
The US army could stay in Iraq for “maybe a hundred years” and that “would be fine with me,” Republican presidential nominee John McCain said last week. The fact that the mainstream media deems McCain a “serious” candidate, a person who only speaks about the potential loss of American soldiers and utterly ignores the Iraqi…
Killing civilians is good for your career
Allan Nairn, Democracy Now, January 3: Well, I think one thing you could say about the advisers for all the candidates who have a chance is that the presence of these advisers makes it clear that these candidates aren’t serious about enforcing the murder laws and that they’re willing to kill civilians, foreign civilians, en…
Sorry about that violence
Despite the fact that a majority of Iraqi lawmakers in 2007 called for the withdrawal of foreign, occupation troops from the country, the Bush administration ignored the request. After all, the will of the Iraqi people has always been irrelevant. So how is Washington showing its commitment to the Iraqis? US admissions of Iraqi refugees…
Iraq, from outside the Green Zone
At the end of another year, the mainstream narrative around Iraq is that the American mission is nearing success. If one simply relies on military press releases, this would be the truth. But the reality, of course, is far different. Dahr Jamail explains: Despite all the claims of improvements, 2007 has been the worst year…
War by committee
Arguably the most essential new site of the year, Wikileaks, reveals yet more secrets from the “war on terror” and Iraq: Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld launched the failed April 2004 assault on the Iraqi town of Fallujah before marines were ready because it had become “a symbol of resistance that dominated international…
The fall will be slow and sweet
Tony Karon, Rootless Cosmopolitan, December 24: A year from now, the Bush Administration will be emptying its desks into cardboard boxes and preparing to hand over to its successor. And, it’s a relatively safe bet that the menu of foreign policy crises and challenges it will leave in the in-trays of its successors will be…