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…
Showing all posts tagged Pakistan
Blackwater now making love with another corporate leech, BAE
The private mercenary company Blackwater, despite years of serious allegations of human rights abuses across the world, is only seeing bigger opportunities for expansion. The latest (via independent American journalist Tim Shorrock), is this: Blackwater, the notorious mercenary company now known as “Xe,” has a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Charles (Chuck) Thomas, formerly…
My reaction to 9/11 didn’t turn into desire to murder Arabs
I was interviewed last week by Radio Farda, Iranian Branch of Radio Free Europe, on my attitudes toward 9/11 and the subsequent decade. My answers were translated into Farsi so my English responses are below: 1) Do you remember how and where you got the info on 9/11? I was in Melbourne, Australia and I…
The Left and 9/11
Two views, one from here in Australia and the other on the global scene. From my perspective, the last decade has brought both remarkable levels of carnage by both Western actions and Islamists but also a growing awareness of where the real threats reside, and it isn’t from some men in a cave in Afghanistan…
US drone strikes are perfect example of modern terrorism
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has the facts: CIA drone strikes have led to far more deaths in Pakistan than previously understood, according to extensive new research published by the Bureau. More than 160 children are among at least 2,292 people reported killed in US attacks since 2004. There are credible reports of at least…
What US occupation looks like on the ground
My following lead book review appeared in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald: INFERNAL TRIANGLE Paul McGeough Allen & Unwin, $32.99 This unblinking collection of dispatches separates the rhetoric from the reality of the post-September 11 battlefields. The new US Defence Secretary and former CIA director, Leon Panetta, recently told journalists the Obama administration was ”within reach”…
US (nearly) declares death of terrorism but will only expand wars
So let me get this right. The US spends billions annually to fight countless wars, defend the homeland, launch drone attacks against “enemies” in at least six countries and the threat is only this? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared Saturday that the United States is “within reach” of “strategically defeating” Al Qaeda as a terrorist…
America’s drone wars are wonderful earner for conflict addicts
Disturbing New York Times feature which barely touches on the ethical question of killing “terrorists” (and more often innocent civilians) from a great height thousands of miles away. Murder is still murder: Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another…
AIPAC faithful hate Palestinians and believe in fairy tales
Max Blumenthal paints the bleak picture: On May 22, thousands of supporters of America’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, converged on Washington for the group’s annual conference. For two days they watched Democratic and Republican congressional leaders pledge their undivided loyalty to the state of Israel, and by…
US needs Pakistan like a fish needs a three-seater
After the recent US murder of Osama Bin Laden – was Pakistan warned about the attack? Some almost certainly were but denied it to give the impression that Pakistan wasn’t colluding with the super-power (which they are, in a massive way) – where’s the relationship likely to go now? Lawrence Wright in the New Yorker…