Iraq

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 […]

Afghanistan

The Horrors of Peace for the US Elite: Bashing ‘Isolationism,’ Blaming it for War (Bacevich)

Juan Cole

Andrew J. Bacevich writes at Tomdispatch.com: The abiding defect of U.S. foreign policy? It’s isolationism, my friend. Purporting to steer clear of war, isolationism fosters it. Isolationism impedes the spread of democracy. It inhibits trade and therefore prosperity. It allows evildoers to get away with murder. Isolationists prevent the United States from accomplishing its providentially […]

Iraq War

The American Genocide Against Iraq: 4% of Population Dead as result of US sanctions, wars

Juan Cole

A new household survey of Iraqis has projected the civilian death toll from the Bush administration’s invasion and occupation of Iraq at roughly 450,000. Passive information-gathering techniques like logging deaths in the Western press have produced estimates closer to 150,000, but such techniques have been proven to miss a lot of people. (To my knowledge […]

Egypt

Day of Division in Middle East: Bloody Clashes in Egypt, Iraq

Juan Cole

Sunday was another bloody day in the Middle East. In Egypt, the establishment commemorated the success of the Egyptian army 40 years ago in crossing the Suez Canal and taking back most of the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian territory occupied by Israel in 1967. But the commemorations, which were lively and joyous in Tahrir Square and […]

Afghanistan

Dear President Obama: Some American Exceptionalism is nothing to be Proud Of (Engelhardt)

Juan Cole

Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com “But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never […]

Iran

US Protected Iraq at UN from Iranian Charges of Chemical Weapons Use

Juan Cole

Reprint edn., from my article in Truthdig, where you can find the hyperlinks giving the documentation. I thought these findings by Joyce Battle from the documents she FOIA’ed ad posted at the National Security Archive worth revisiting given the current controversy over Syrian use of chemical weapons: In the 1970s, Iraq under Baath Party dictator […]

Iraq War

Alleged Torturers sue Abu Ghraib Torture Victims (Lazare)

Juan Cole

Sarah Lazare writes at Commondreams ‘Defense’ contractor CACI International has taken the shocking step of suing four former Abu Ghraib detainees who are seeking redress in U.S. courts for the company’s role in [allegedly] torturing, humiliating and dehumanizing them, with the U.S. corporation recently requesting that the judge order the plaintiffs—- all of whom are […]

Afghanistan

Has Military Suppression of Political Islam ever Worked?

Juan Cole

The Egyptian military’s obvious determination to crush the Muslim Brotherhood involves serious human rights violations, apparent in the appalling scenes of the siege of members in a mosque on Saturday. A separate question, which any political pragmatist would ask, is, can it work? If we look at long term attempts to limit political expressions of […]

Afghanistan

How we lost our Constitution somewhere in Iraq and came back without it to Try Manning (van Buren)

Juan Cole

Peter Van Buren writes at Tomdispatch.com On July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress created the first whistleblower protection law, stating “that it is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds, or misdemeanors committed by any […]