Richard Bruce Cheney

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thirteen years after the illegal US invasion of Iraq, it is worth considering its full impact on this country and on the region. Bush-Cheneyism had a number of key pillars, among which these were prominent: 1. Aggressive unilateral warfare, with the domestic advantage of making the […]

Bush Sr. Blames Neocons for Ruining W.’s Presidency: Is he Warning Jeb?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In interviews given for a new biography, George H. W. Bush, 91 lets loose against Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, whom he clearly blames for many of the failures of the presidency his son, George W. Bush. But if you attend carefully to what he said, […]

Featured

With Ahmad Chalabi’s Death, Passing of an Age of Lies

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Ahmad Chalabi (1944-2015) died of a heart attack in Iraq on Tuesday. Clarence Darrow, the great trial lawyer and orator, said, “I’ve never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.” I don’t get any satisfaction from this obituary. In the first Star […]

Yes, George W. Bush bears some Responsibility for US Vulnerability on 9/11

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Donald Trump-Jeb Bush tiff over whether George W. Bush “kept us safe” is another example of how Donald Trump is better than Karl Rove at politics. Rove had some success with his doctrine of attacking people on their strengths. Like a spiteful child, Trump attacks […]

How Bush/Cheney’s War Plans delayed an Iran Deal for a Decade

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | – – OXFORD (IPS) – When negotiations between Iran and the European “Troika” broke down, the reformist government of Mohammad Khatami was discredited in the eyes of the Iranian electorate which had seen the futility of negotiating with the West. Despite Iran’s support for the U.S. invasion […]

Foreign Policy

Why Dick Cheney is just as wrong about Iran as he was about Iraq

By William Beeman | (Informed Comment) | – – There are so many lies in Dick Cheney’s address to the AEI that one hardly knows where to begin in refuting them. He claims that the “international community” has called for the complete cessation of uranium enrichment by Iran. The “international community” apparently consists of Israel […]

Memo to Jeb Bush: It was W’s Surge that created ISIL, not Hillary

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Jeb Bush very unwisely went after Hillary Clinton last night on the grounds that her Iraq policies gave us Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). Bush may think he is cleverly pulling a Karl Rove, attacking his opponent on her strong point (foreign policy), as Rove swiftboated John Kerry […]

2007: Progress Continues in Ramadi, Mullen Notes During Visit