McCain is arguing for offshore drilling to lower US petroleum prices in the “short term.” It is all a big lie, and a dangerous one at that. Our marine environment and our fisheries are already at risk. And the devastation in Wisconsin, Iowa and Mississipi from extreme weather events like flooding is where the US, […]
Archives for June 2008
Massive Bomb Burns Market, Kills, Wounds 126; US Soldier Killed Near Hilla; Debaathification Law Never Implemented
Guerrillas detonated a massive bomb in a Shiite market in north Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 51 and injuring 75. The bomb levelled a two-story building and set ablaze 20 shops. (Courtesy Farsnews). McClatchy says that US military sources suspect a rogue Shiite group of being responsible for the bombing, speculating that the blast may have […]
Sadr won’t Oppose US Crackdown on Militia; Al-Musawi Denies Mahdi Army Disbanded; Demands National Referendum on SOFA
Two bombings near a university in Baghdad killed 2 and wounded 23 persons on Monday. 3 GIs were announced killed on Monday in separate incidents. Some 15 Iraqis were estimated killed in political violence, with 43 wounded. The Sadr Movement says it will not oppose the planned military operation in Amara as long as the […]
McClatchy Guantanamo Guards Abused Known Innocents
John McCain’s attack on the Supreme Court for upholding the right of Habeas Corpus even for Guantanamo detainees was self-serving and hypocritical. But it was also ethically wrong, because the Guantanamo system is ethically wrong. Tom Lasseter of McClatchy reports that the news service has done extensive interviewing with 66 prisoners released from Guantanamo and […]
Sadr Movement Will Back Independents;
Salah al-Ubaidi, a spokesman for the Sadr Movement, says that it will not boycott the fall provincial elections, exactly. The Movement will not run candidates under its own name, but will rather have some Sadrists run on other party lists, and will through support behind independents. This strategy is similar to that of the Muslim […]
Karzai Theatens Pursuit into Pakistan
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday threatened to send Afghan troops on hot pursuit of Taliban readicals right into Pakistani territory. That threat doesn’t strike me as a good development for the US in Afghanistan.
2 Killed, 45 Injured in Bombings Saturday; Sadr To Appoint Special Ops Commanders; Sadrists Withdraw from Provincial Elections
A female suicide bomber injured 34 soccer fans and police in the town of Qara Tappah in Diyala Province, 75 miles northeast of Baghdad. The fans had poured into the street after watching Iraq beat China in a sports cafe. Likely this was an attack by a radical Sunni Arab cell on a largely Kurdish […]
Massive Guerrilla attack in Afghanistan; 4 Marines Killed
Breaking News: Guerrillas in western Afghanistan deployed a roadside bomb to kill 4 US Marines on Saturday. Pushtun guerrillas mounting an insurgency against the Karzai government and against NATO troops in the Pushtun areas of Afghanistan staged a daring prison break on Friday. They set off bombs at a prison in Qandahar, killing 15 prison […]
Al-Maliki: May ask US Troops to Leave; Al-Sadr Forms Special Groups to Fight Occupation
First, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that negotiations between Iraq and the Bush administration over a status of forces agreement were at an impasse. He said that the US was asking Iraq to give up too much sovereignty. Earlier this week he had met with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who warned him against giving […]