Where are WMD railcars?

In the frenetic rush to war, much was said about Iraq's alleged ongoing bioterror programs. Many of us sat spellbound and shocked (and for more than just one reason) as Colin Powell stood before the United Nations and itemized the threats facing the world's population...

read more

Feeling the strain

In order to maintain troop levels in Iraq, stop-loss and stop-movement orders are preventing those who would choose to leave the military from doing so, adding to the strain on families where both husband and wife are soldiers and facing separations of as long as two...

read more

Telling the truth now a crime in Bosnia?

French General Philippe Morillon, whose intervention saved the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica from defeat in 1993 and helped establish it as a "safe area" for civilians (and the 28th Infantry Division of the Bosnian [Muslim] Army), made a fatal error last week. He let...

read more

Big Brother & the Internet

I suppose the oft-bleated excuse that "9/11 changed everything" will be blamed for why the man who warned against Big Brother has become Big Brother. Here's then-Sen. John Ashcroft's thoughts on the Internet and the Bill of Rights back in 1997. There is a concern that...

read more

Back in the USSA

In today's "Best of the Web," James Taranto pokes fun at Mikhail Gorbachev for finally admitting the obvious about the Soviet war on Afghanistan; now, I'll poke fun at Taranto for failing to see the obvious parallels: The Soviet Union's 10-year invasion of Afghanistan...

read more

The Amiriyah Shelter bombing

"Riverbend" is the alias of a 24-year-old Iraqi woman who started her own blog, Baghdad Burning, back in August of last year to write about her day-to-day experiences and thoughts in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion. In her entry for February 15th, 2004, she speaks...

read more

Authors speak out on Iraq

Many thanks to the Guardian(UK) for putting together this fascinating collage of opinions on the Iraqi War in their article True Colors. It's an interesting read. In 1937 WH Auden and Stephen Spender asked 150 writers for their views on the Spanish Civil War. The...

read more

Travels in the South – Iraq

James Longley recently traveled to Nasiriyah filming the story of a sheik in Moqtada Sadr's religious-political movement. This is a narrative of his journey, with a side trip to Al-Garraf, a nearby town. There is only one full-time doctor working in the medical center...

read more

When Did Saddam Hussein Become a Dictator?

He was apparently just first among equals back in 1991, when the U.S. government deliberately destroyed Iraq's infrastructure: Among the justifications offered now [shortly after Gulf War I], particularly by the Air Force in recent briefings, is that Iraqi civilians...

read more

Feb. 13, 1945 – Dresden

I am not linking to this horrific article to discuss the politics of the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, fifty-nine years years ago today. I am linking to it to illustrate that war is always the most terrible method nations can resort to in settling their...

read more