Antiwar.com Blog

The November 21 Iraq Weekly Status Report, published by the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs of the US Department of State:

Senior military commanders now portray the intransigence of Iraq’s Shiite dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaida terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias. Several U.S. military officials have expressed growing concern over the Iraqi government’s failure to capitalize on sharp declines in attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. A window of opportunity has opened for the government to reach out to its former foes, said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq, but “it’s unclear how long that window is going to be open.”

[audio:http://wiredispatch.com/scott/07_11_21_parry.mp3]

Investigative reporter Robert Parry, of ConsortiumNews.com and author of Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, discusses the Iran-Contra model for running the government, the failure of Colin Powell and allies to adequately stand up to Cheney and the neocons, the current state of the situation in Iraq, the rules of engagement, the second phase of the El Salvador option, the weakness of al Qaeda’s position in Iraq, the occupation’s benefit to them, the purpose behind the policy of backing the Ba’athists at the same time as the Maliki (Da’wa/SCIRI) government, the Bush administration’s bogus theory of unlimited power and technologies of control, the possibility that Iraqis may eventually tire of fighting and accept occupation, the neocons’ belief that it’s time to expand their triumph to Pakistan, the history of the mujahedeen’s CIA -backed war against the Russians in Afghanistan, the U.S. policy of ignoring Pakistan’s drive to obtain nuclear weapons in the 1980s, the impossibility of the Kagan/O’Hanlon plan for invasion, the neocon s’ history and mentality, their exaggeration of the Soviet threat as the USSR was falling apart, their taking of credit for it when it did and Adm. Fallon’s recent statement to the Financial Times against war with Iran.

MP3 here. (44:05)

Robert Parry, who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek, runs ConsortiumNews.com, and is the author of Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and the brand new Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush.

Australian voters kicked Prime Minister John Howard out of office yesterday.  Howard was even more of a groveler to Bush than Tony Blair. 

One step Bush took to try to help Howard win reelection was to release Australian David Hicks from Guantanamo earlier this year.  As part of the deal for his release, Hicks had to promise to keep his mouth shut about how he was tortured until after the Australian election – and to sign a statement swearing he was not abused while at Gitmo.  The  release deal stunk to high heaven, but it was typical of the candor & ethics of the Global War on Terror.

Here’s the segment on Hicks’s case from a story I wrote in July for the American Conservative:

The torture of David Hicks, an Australian seized in Afghanistan and sent to Gitmo in early 2002, became an international cause célèbre. Hicks, who joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, a terrorist organization supported by the U.S. government, before fighting alongside the Taliban, was sexually assaulted, beaten with a rifle butt, kept in isolation in the dark for 244 days, prohibited from sleeping for long periods, threatened with firearms during interrogations, and psychologically tormented.

He was one of the first people tried by the Gitmo military tribunals. Though former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once called him one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world, after Hicks agreed to plead guilty to material support of terrorism, he was sentenced to nine months confinement—a typical sentence for a misdemeanor in most states. As part of his plea agreement, Hicks was obliged to declare that he “had never been illegally treated by any person or persons while in the custody and control of the United States” and to swear that his guilty plea was made voluntarily, despite all the beatings he had received.

[audio:http://wiredispatch.com/scott/07_11_21_levy.mp3]

Former Israeli diplomat Daniel Levy, now at the New America Foundation, discusses the upcoming Annapolis peace conference, the letter from the American establishment to Bush and Rice urging them to make real progress toward a two-state solution, the negative consequences of current American policy, the failure of the “roadmap to peace,” the lack of a real strategic purpose behind the occupation of the West Bank and Golan Heights, U.S. intervention to the detriment of an Israeli/Syrian peace deal, the blown opportunity to work with Hamas and the consequences, the effect of the neocons’ “Clean Break” doctrine on current policy, the contemptible myth that the origin of America and Israel’s problems in the Middle East are rooted in radical Islam rather than real grievances about circumstances here on earth and his belief that the U.S. should remain involved, but should start getting it right.

MP3 here. (33:30)

Daniel Levy is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Policy Initiative of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. He was the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative and directed policy planning and international efforts at the Geneva Campaign Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Previously, Mr. Levy served as senior policy adviser to former Israeli Minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin, and under the Barak government he worked in the prime minister’s office as a special adviser and head of the Jerusalem Affairs unit. He was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Taba negotiations with the Palestinians in January 2001, and of the negotiating team for the “Oslo B” Agreement from May to September 1995, under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

As a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation, Mr. Levy seeks to encourage thought-provoking debate and offer strategic solutions for resolving the long-running conflicts in the Middle East, core among them the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has published extensively in a broad range of publications including Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post, The Boston Globe, United Press International, The American Prospect, the International Herald Tribune, The Evening Standard (London), and the blog TPMCafe.

[audio:http://wiredispatch.com/charles/aw111607ericmargolis.mp3]

Eric Margolis, foreign correspondent for Sun National Media in Canada, discusses the turmoil in Pakistan, the Pakistani population’s growing hatred for the United States for propping up their dictatorship and growing belief that the U.S. is waging a war on Islam itself, Musharraf’s relationship with the Pakistani Army, Benazir Bhutto’s People’s Party, the possibility of a power-sharing arrangement, their conflict with India over Kashmir, American backing of various terrorists against Iran and the catastrophe that is Iraq.

MP3 here. (20:56)

Award winning author, columnist, and broadcaster Eric S. Margolis has covered 14 wars and is a leading authority on military affairs, the Middle East, South Asia, and Islamic movements. He is the author of War at the Top of the World. See his website.

[audio:http://wiredispatch.com/scott/07_11_20_porter.mp3]

Gareth Porter discusses the Israeli attack on Syria and how its purpose was to intimidate Iran and frame North Korea, John Bolton’s blustering, the failure of the U.S.’s abduction of Iranians in Iraq policy to provide any evidence of their involvement in the killing of Americans there, and Iran’s recent offer to move their uranium enrichment to Switzerland.

MP3 here. (13:38)

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on U.S. national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005.

Dr. Porter was both a Vietnam specialist and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam War and was Co-Director of Indochina Resource Center in Washington. Dr. Porter taught international studies at City College of New York and American University. He was the first Academic Director for Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Washington Semester program at American University.