..the Pentagon confirmed it was authorising use of “non-lethal” gases of the type used in last October’s disastrous Moscow theatre siege – a move that has already provoked accusations of hypocrisy by a country that claims to be at war to prevent chemical weapons being used. From theindependent, and commented on in Taking The Gloves [...]
The Bush crowd’s brazen Big Lie technique was much in evidence in Donald Rumsfeld’s “Meet the Press” appearance this past Sunday. When Tim Russert began to ask the Defense Secretary about the “bombing of Baghdad,” Rummy interrupted him and exploded. “We were not bombing Baghdad,” insisted the man running the war, but “greater Baghdad” and [...]
But there is growing evidence that Americans are reluctantly and sometimes unintentionally becoming party to many of the feuds and armed disputes in Afghanistan, which remain a serious obstacle to establishing peace and central government rule. This month, U.S. warplanes attacked Afghan militiamen loyal to warlord Bacha Khan after the men opened fire on a [...]
The following is a quote from an anti-war article Mark Twain submitted in 1905 to Harper’s Bazaar to express his outrage at military intervention in the Philippines. It wasn’t published until 1916. It was cited today in a must-read article by Gary Willis in the NY Times Magazine section, about the role of religion in [...]
There has been a big increase in traffic to this site since the war started. FYI: If you came here from StandDown, then you are probably only seeing my posts about the war. Even though that is about 90% of what is getting blogged these days, you should use the “All Today’s KNW Posts” link [...]
From the Guardian UK: Jay Garner, the retired US general who will oversee humanitarian relief and reconstruction in postwar Iraq, is president of an arms company that provides crucial technical support to missile systems vital to the US invasion of the country. Garner’s business background is causing serious concerns at the United Nations and among [...]
I don’t usually read Maureen Dowd, but some times she is right on target: Why is all this a surprise again? I know our hawks avoided serving in Vietnam, but didn’t they, like, read about it?
Seymour Hersh does it again: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon planners that substantially more troops and armor would be needed to fight a war in Iraq, New Yorker Magazine reported. In an article for its April 7 edition, which goes on sale on Monday, the weekly said Rumsfeld insisted at least [...]
The Texas-style admissions policies supported by the President only work because of how segregated Texas schools are: Texas-style plans achieve significant diversity only if high schools are highly segregated. It is disingenuous to claim that these plans are not racially conscious. They may prevent universities from considering race in individual cases, but they accept — [...]
This is a great post about the Washington Post’s columnist, Charles Krauthammer. It shows the arguments he is using to support war in Iraq, and the arguments he made against Clinton’s involvement in Haiti. Very revealing. (Thanks to Atrios, for the link.)