The US invasion and occupation of Iraq 2003-2011 threw that country into civil war and long-term guerrilla insurgency. Once an insurgency begins, it often lasts 15 years, so Iraq may well not settle down for another decade. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki came to Washington yesterday asking for a substantial increase in military aid, including nice […]
Archives for October 2013
Pakistani family testifies to empty room on Hill about US Drone that killed Granny
Congressman Alan Grayson held a hearing on the Hill on Tuesday on civilian deaths in US drone strikes. A Pakistani family, the Ur Rahmans, testified on the death by drone of their grandmother while she was tending her garden. Nine-year-old Nabila Ur Rahman was injured in the strike that killed he grandmother. It was a […]
Elites Stick together against Us: Feinstein Slams NSA Merkel Tap
The Snowden revelations that the National Security Agency was scooping up hundreds of millions of American cell phone records that show who they call and where they are was met with a big yawn in official Washington, D.C. If you are a feudal lord, you want to know what the peasants are up to. The […]
Against Demonizing Syria’s Refugees (Seeley)
Nicholas Seeley writes in a guest column for Informed Comment On a sunny fall afternoon, Abdullah joined me for lunch in the sitting room of my apartment in Amman, Jordan, and told me his story. He hails from a small town in southern Syria, a cousin to some of the families I’ve become friends with […]
No Woman, No Drive (Saudi Satire Video)
Hisham Fageeh’s satirical take on a Bob Marley classic: and, ITN reports on this weekend’s protests and interviews Saudi women activists:
America’s Secret 4th Branch of Government: The NSA kept even Obama in the Dark
The revelation from the Snowden Papers that the National Security Agency had German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal cell phone under surveillance has produced a central fallout. Dueling leaks over the international embarrassment have forced the White House to a key admission: President Barack Obama did not know what the NSA was up to. Ever since […]
The World’s Fate hangs on Obama’s Keystone XL Decision (McKibben)
The great Bill McKibben writes at Tomdispatch.com: As the battle over the Keystone XL pipeline has worn on — and it’s now well over two years old — it’s illuminated the Obama presidency like no other issue. It offers the president not just a choice of policies, but a choice of friends, worldviews, styles. It’s […]
The American Quagmire in Afghanistan by the Numbers (21,565 US Troops Dead or Wounded)
Number of US military personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001: 2,150 Number of US service members wounded in Afghanistan badly enough to go to hospital since 2001: 19,415 Current annual cost of keeping a US soldier in Afghanistan: $2.1 million Number of US troops now in Afghanistan: roughly 51,000 Annual average unemployment rate for Iraq […]
Saudi Arabia forces Women to Cancel Driving Protest, Asserts Authoritarianism in Region
A key group of Saudi feminists have called off their planned protests for Saturday against Saudi Arabia’s bizarre ban on women driving. (Some individuals may go ahead). They did so in response to dire threats from the Saudi Interior Ministry (i.e. secret police) of condign punishment against women who got behind the wheel today, and […]
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