I feel that our strategies in Afghanistan are not pursing goals that are worthy of sacrificing our young men and women or spending the billions we’re doing there,” Hoh said. “I believe that the people we are fighting there are … Continue reading →

In Britain earlier this month, a two-judge High Court panel rejected arguments made first by the Bush team and now by the Obama team and decided to make public seven redacted paragraphs in American intelligence documents relating to torture allegations … Continue reading →

KABUL – Terrified U.N. workers scrambled over the roof or leaped from windows to escape choking smoke and gunfire after being awakened at dawn Wednesday when Taliban militants wearing police uniforms stormed a residential hotel packed with foreigners. The assault, … Continue reading →

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Suspected militants exploded a car bomb in a market crowded with women and children Wednesday, killing 100 people and turning shops selling wedding dresses, toys and jewelry into a mass of burning debris and bodies. Full article.

Americans have tended to watch with a remarkable (I think frightening) degree of passivity as crises of all sorts have gripped the country and sent millions of lives into tailspins. Where people once might have deluged their elected representatives with … Continue reading →

The bigger story is that the Taliban are not, in fact, gone from Swat, so even the stated goal of the mission has actually not been accomplished. The Pakistani Army’s new counter-insurgency strategy is to arm local militias to fight … Continue reading →

brilliant brilliant interview on afghanistan: “more troops, more drone attacks, more death squads – more taliban we will be facing, however unpopular they might be” (dan ellsberg, who precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the pentagon … Continue reading →

tariq ali rocks.

After the 9/11 attacks, we were told the solution to terrorism was to have citizens spy on each other, and not to, say, elect a competent government. That’s when TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) was born, an initiative to … Continue reading →

we finally get to hear from the man himself – goldstone interviewed by bill moyers. watch interview.

Hersh considers the worsening situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as the principal test of the Obama presidency, which will require the cooperation of the top military brass. Obama must face up to the military, Hersh said. “He’s either going to … Continue reading →

The blasts, one from a car bomb and the other possibly a truck bomb, targeted the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Governorate in central Baghdad. Both buildings are close to the Foreign Ministry and Finance Ministry, which were blown up … Continue reading →

After hearing testimony from 27 victims and expert witnesses, the tribunal ruled that Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and their families are entitled to full compensation from the US government and the companies that manufactured and supplied the chemical. The judgment … Continue reading →

Aid agencies describe the situation as catastrophic, warning that recruitment is on the rise. The children go through a terrifying ordeal. Almost immediately they are trained to kill. One tactic favoured by the militia is to force the child to … Continue reading →

Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, 27, of the Royal Logistic Corps, said the presence of British forces in one of the world’s poorest countries was making the situation worse. “It is distressing to disobey orders, but when Britain follows America in … Continue reading →

LOVE him…

Washington, DC, October 22, 2009 – On behalf of a coalition of U.S. and international musicians, including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Tom Morello and Jackson Browne, the National Security Archive today filed a series of FOIA petitions requesting the full declassification … Continue reading →

PhD economist Faber states: How am I so sure about this final collapse? Of all the questions I have about the future, this is the easiest one to answer. Once a society becomes successful it becomes arrogant, righteous, overconfident, corrupt, … Continue reading →

If technology has transformed warfare into a spectacle of shock and awe, its contribution to the cause of dissent has been no less remarkable. It has enabled solidarities across borders and facilitated networks and forums dedicated to impartial communication of … Continue reading →

What is important here is that the judge is saying that violations of war crimes can be committed by private people or corporations,” says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He said Ellis’s ruling is “an affirmation … Continue reading →

So, the CIA, in 1999, set up an investment arm called In-Q-Tel that sort of makes investments in technologies that the spy agencies would like to see grow. And their latest investment is in this company called Visible, which basically … Continue reading →

mark danner is too soft on obama but there’s some v intelligent analysis here – on torture, the war on terror and afghanistan. watch interview.

Since taking office, President Obama has sanctioned at least 41 Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in Pakistan that have killed between 326 and 538 people, many of them, critics say, “innocent bystanders, including children,” according to a published report. Based … Continue reading →

sad statistic for the only super power of the world. A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government’s official figure. Full … Continue reading →

The university on the outskirts of the capital has more than 18,000 students, nearly half of them women. Many of the students come from abroad, including around 700 from China. It is a seat of Islamic learning, but most of … Continue reading →

Afghanistan is seen as an “empty space.” The U.S. seeks to re-establish Afghanistan as an empty buffer state at minimum cost (by which I mean few soldiers’ bodies and a few dollars). All the talk about democracy and girls’ schools … Continue reading →

THE U.S. bears responsibility for the suffering in Waziristan and other parts of Pakistan. In an attempt to create a little more maneuverability for itself in Afghanistan, the U.S. government has literally put a down payment on permanent Pakistani instability. … Continue reading →

In their judgment last August, the judges made it clear that they were appalled by the global torture program in which they had found themselves unexpectedly immersed. In one of the most extraordinary stories in the “War on Terror,” Mohamed, … Continue reading →

Eight Years of Horror Perpetrated agaisnt the people of Afghanistan Lecture given on October 15, 2009 at a public forum with Zoya of RAWA, “Afghanistan: Resisting Occupation and Fundamentalism,” organized by United for Justice with Peace and the Afghan Women’s … Continue reading →

In this clip from “The Warning,” airing Tues, Oct. 20, FRONTLINE traces back to the Clinton Administration and the pro-business, anti-regulation powerbrokers Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, and the man referred to as “The Wizard,” Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan … Continue reading →

These projections reveal a staggering audacity – not Obama’s audacity of hope but an audacity of martial commitment. A fifty- to 100-year military campaign – the subtitle of Kilcullen’s book is Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big … Continue reading →

The joint U.S-Indian operation is emblematic of unprecedented military cooperation between the two nuclear nations over the past few years, in fact a strategic military partnership whose major purposes are to supplant Russia as India’s decades-long main defense ally and … Continue reading →

how awful is this: A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA – about one in seven – are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read … Continue reading →

On 15 July, Washington finalised a deal with Colombia that gives the US seven giant military bases. “The idea,” reported the Associated Press, “is to make Colombia a regional hub for Pentagon operations; nearly half the continent can be covered … Continue reading →

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban’s main stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday, officials said, in the country’s toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency. The United … Continue reading →

Using a meet-and-greet at a Democratic fundraiser Thursday night, Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans hand delivered a petition to President Barack Obama allegedly signed by Afghani women who want an end to the war in their country. Full article.

aren’t we supposed to bring women’s rights to afghanistan? “Nearly one-third of a nationwide sample of women veterans who sought health care through the Veterans Administration said they experience rape or attempted rape during their service. Of that group, 37 … Continue reading →

Because depleted uranium is indiscriminate on the environment and the health of all citizens of the world it should be banned from this planet in perpetuity, forever. Full article.

An Iraqi doctor has told Sky News the number of babies born with deformities in the heavily-bombed area of Fallujah is still on the increase. Full article and video.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A wave of attacks against top security installations over the last several days demonstrated that the Taliban, Al Qaeda and militant groups once nurtured by the government are tightening an alliance aimed at bringing down the Pakistani … Continue reading →

The agreement was reached at a meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held here on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Mr Putin said his country would support Pakistan’s request for full … Continue reading →

Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB). These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq … Continue reading →

The synchronized attacks in Lahore appeared to be timed ahead of a planned offensive by the Pakistani Army against the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, and may have been intended to send an ominous signal that the … Continue reading →