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…
Showing all posts tagged war on terror
So this is what “victory” looks like in Afghanistan?
Thuggery, criminality and in all likelihood illegality. And this is our side (via IPS): U.S. Special Operations Forces have been increasingly aiming their night-time raids, which have been the primary cause of Afghan anger at the U.S. military presence, at civilian non- combatants in order to exploit their possible intelligence value, according to a new…
Outsourcing death in war is the new American way
The “war on terror” has seen an explosion of private contractors making a killing from catching and killing all Arabs, I mean, terrorists, around the globe. Accountability is close to non-existent so we have no real idea which companies are involved, how many people are hired or what they’re actually doing. Remember, we’re told we…
How to represent the post 9/11 American decade
I’ve spent the last days at Australia’s first investigative journalism conference organised by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, where I’m an Honorary Associate. It was called Back to the Source and I spoke on the effect of Wikileaks on modern journalism (short version; it’s major, it’s profound and the mainstream press are nervous about…
Killing people remotely with drones is their American dream
How long before machines or robots are selecting targets from America in war zones across the world?
Chomsky on the real 9/11
This is classic clear-thinking from Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now! this week, views so rarely expressed in the corporate press: …The claim that the U.S. was being attacked [on 9/11] because, as the president put it, they hate our freedoms was completely untenable. They hated our policy. In fact, it would be more accurate to…
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…
Nothing like a good war that enriches the leeches
The list of private companies gouging America and its allies since 9/11 is long and dubious. For example (via Mother Jones): In 2007, US planners decided to pave a 64-mile mountain road between the Afghan towns of Khost and Gardez. They figured it would take $69 million to complete, but the cost swelled to $176…
Hooters remembers September 11 in a way that smells of class
No, this isn’t cheapening the memory of 9/11 and the disastrous decade since: