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N. Korea, Iraq, Foley Anything in Common? Now with the North Korea crisis erupting, it strikes me that there are some similarities among Bush’s crises. In all three cases–North Korea, Iraq and Foleygate– the Republican establishment knew something was wrong but failed or declined to address the problem. And the reason for the inaction was […]

Brother of Iraqi VP Killed 4 US Troops Killed 57 Bodies found in Baghdad Reuters reports that 4 US GIs were announced killed by Iraqi guerrillas on Monday. Since the beginning of October, guerrillas have killed 33 US soldiers and Marines. Gunmen dressed in police uniforms killed the brother of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi […]

100 Tortured Each Day in Iraq Situation Worse than Under Saddam Andras Riedlemayer writes: ‘ The UN Special Rapporteur for Torture, Manfred Nowak, was interviewed about Iraq for German public broadcaster ARD’s news magazine program “Tagesschau”. He had some blunt and disturbing things to say . . . English translation by yrs. truly; link to […]

Rubin on Afghanistan Just in case anyone has forgotten, there is a war going on in Afghanistan, too. Barnett Rubin doesn’t think it is going well.

Lebanon War MIT’s electronic journal on the Middle East has a special issue on the Lebanon war. (Warning, .pdf).

9 US Troops Announced Killed; US/ Mahdi Army Clashes in Diwaniyah; Hundreds of Iraqi Police Made Sick by Meal Altogether, the US military announced the deaths of 9 US troops over the weekend on Sunday. Four US troops were announced killed by a roadside bomb on Sunday. The NYT says, that in addition, “The military […]

Tony Judt Talk Cancelled after Pressure from Israel Lobby There was a virtual news blackout on the debate at Cooper Union recently on the influence of the Israel Lobby. The video of the debate, which included John Mearsheimber, Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk and Rashid Khalidi, is now available on the Web. Despite the widespread interest […]

Blunkett Blames Cheney, Rumsfeld Baker Commission to accept 3-region Solution? 40 Killed; Tal Afar Bombed WaPo reports, ‘Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since . . . November 2004, [and] the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The sharp increase in […]

VP Abdul Mahdi: US Military Part of Problem; 4,000 Iraq police killed in past 2 years The deaths of two more US Marines were announced on Friday. Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi said on Friday that the lack of a Status of Forces Agreement is among the main reasons for political gridlock in Iraq. The […]