The Republican Party convention in St. Paul gave us two American film narratives in an attempt to shift the national political debate away from issues and accountability to personalities and fluffy ideals. Former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan let the strategy slip in an unguarded open mike moment. Asked if Sarah Palin is the most […]
Archives for September 2008
US Raid on Pakistan leaves 30 Dead; Pakistan Government Protests; 3 Canadian Troops killed in Afghanistan
US ground troops conducted a raid into Pakistan’s tribal areas leaving an estimated 20 dead. The governor of the North-West Frontier Province, Owais Ahmed Ghani, said that the raid was ‘outrageous,” and the government charged that women and children were among the dead. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry called US ambassador Ann Patterson in for an […]
7 Killed by US in FriendlyFire; China Deal to Gross $55 bn for Iraq
The US killed 7 Iraqi troops in a friendly fire incident on Wednesday. What do you want to bet the incident gets brought up at the talks between the US and Iraq on a security agreement? The Iraqi government has presented new proposals in its negotiations with the United States over a bilateral security agreement. […]
Noonan on Palin: They Blew It!
One thing is what conservative pundits are saying in public about the McCain-Palin ticket. Another thing is what they think in private. Thanks to an accidental open-mike moment, we know the latter with regard to Mike Murphy and former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan. It turns out that they really think the choice of Palin […]
Bombings in Mosul, Baghdad kill 11; Maliki’s Conflict with Kurds Deepens; Anbar Sheikhs Angered by US Handover
DPA reports that “Seven people were killed in a car bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul city Tuesday . . . a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the eastern al-Quds neighbourhood, killing seven people and wounding seven. . . In Baghdad twin attacks that targeted police […]
CNN Does its Job, McCain Punishes It
Campbell Brown of CNN asks McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds some hard questions about Sarah Palin’s national security experience and refuses to let him get away with illogical and self-contradictory answers. John McCain was furious (and no one can be furious the way he can) and cancelled his planned interview on CNN in a fit of […]
Amy Goodman Manhandled, Arrested for Protesting Arrest of News Staff
Thousands of protesters rallied against the Iraq War at the Republican Convention on Monday. The thousands of protesters were almost all peaceful. I had US cable news on all day off and on, and never saw anything on it about the protests. Some teenager was pregnant, which is not their business or mine, but that […]
US Turns over Al-Anbar; Is al-Maliki Too Cocky?
The US has handed over security duties in al-Anbar Province to Iraqi troops and police. Maj. Gen. John Kelly warns,however,that al-Anbar needs an infusion from the central government of cash for reconstruction if the province is to avoid going into insurgency yet again. McClatchy reports on fears of American officials that Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki […]
Mills: The Dangerous Myth of Energy Independence
Robin M. Mills writes in an op-ed for IC A pernicious myth has recently re-emerged: that oil is ‘running out’, that global production will soon peak and enter inexorable decline. What is the proper response to ‘peak oil’ – to attempt energy self-sufficiency, or to take military control of oil producing regions before the Chinese […]