(By Juan Cole) Among the charges in former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s memoirs against Barack Obama is that the latter did not trust his generals, did not adopt the Afghanistan War as his own, and was skeptical of the Pentagon plan for a troop escalation and a big counter-insurgency push. It is now forgotten […]
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Pakistan
Top Ten Things Bob Gates was Wrong about, Some Criminal
(By Juan Cole) Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in his new memoir is said to have slammed Vice President Joe Biden for having been consistently “wrong” on foreign policy matters over the past four decades. Gates’s petty gossip about his former colleagues should put an end to the pusillanimous Democratic Party tradition of appointing […]
The Year in Drone Strikes: As Many as 35 Civilians Dead, 5 Children
(By Alice K Ross and Jack Serle) In 2013 the number of drone strikes to hit Pakistan fell to the lowest levels of Obama’s presidency: 27 strikes reportedly hit the country’s tribal areas, down from a peak of 128 in 2010. And for the first time since Pakistan strikes started in 2004, there were no […]
The Politics of War Casualty Counts, from the “GWOT” to Syria
(By Michael Munk) Counting the casualties of war is a highly political exercise. We recall the competition for promotion and decoration between US military commanders in Vietnam for Vietcong “body counts.” When these were widely exposed as false or misleading (labeling civilians as fighters), the same military announced “we don’t do body counts” in the […]
Former Pakistan Dictator suffers “heart problem” on Way to Treason Trial
(by AFP) Musharraf suffers ‘heart problem’ on way to treason hearing (via AFP) Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was rushed to hospital Thursday after suffering a “heart problem” on his way to court, in the latest dramatic twist in his treason trial. The 70-year-old had been summoned to the special tribunal in… — […]
The Year in Review: JibJab on 2013
JibJab’s 2013 Year in Review (To the tune of “Give my Regards to Broadway!”)
How many American Weddings would have to get hit by Drones before they were Banned?
(By Tom Engelhardt) The headline — “Bride and Boom!” — was spectacular, if you think killing people in distant lands is a blast and a half. Of course, you have to imagine that smirk line in giant black letters with a monstrous exclamation point covering most of the bottom third of the front page of […]
Sec. Hagel threatens to cut $1.6 bn Pakistan aid b/c Drone Protests Blocking NATO Convoys
by Sarah Lazare U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel threatened Pakistani [leaders] on Monday with cutting off up to $1.6 billion in aid if the country's mass protests against U.S. drone strikes continue, Pentagon officials said, according to The New York Times. The warning came after nonviolent blockades in protest of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan […]
Are British Spies Complicit in US Drone Strikes? Court of Appeals Takes Case
by Jack Serle An unprecedented attempt to discover if British officials are complicit in the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan reached the Court of Appeal this week. The case is brought by Noor Khan, a Pakistani tribesman whose father was among over 40 civilians killed in a March 2011 drone strike. Khan’s lawyers are attempting […]