Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
United States, the last empire?
And Then There Was One Imperial Gigantism and the Decline of Planet Earth By Tom Engelhardt It stretched from the Caspian to the Baltic Sea, from the middle of Europe to the Kurile Islands in the Pacific, from Siberia to Central Asia. Its nuclear arsenal held 45,000 warheads, and its military had five million troops under arms. There had been nothing like it in Eurasia since the Mongols conquered China, took parts of Central Asia and the Iranian plateau, and rode ... Full Story
The US has destroyed Iraq
"My Children Have No Future" In the lead-up to the war in Iraq, President George W. Bush made a promise. “The Iraqi people can be certain of this,” he said. “The United States is committed to helping them build a better future.” A decade later, his successor, Barack Obama, seemed to suggest the U.S. had kept its end of the bargain. On the 10th anniversary of the invasion, he lauded U.S. troops who, he insisted, gave the Iraqi people "an opportunity to forge ... Full Story
Why did Bush invade Iraq?
Have We Ever Gotten to the Bottom of Exactly 'Why' Bush and the Neocons Disastrously Invaded Iraq? The true purpose of the Iraq invasion remains opaque. Here's a theory why. March 22, 2013 | By Robert Perry A decade after President George W. Bush ordered the unprovoked invasion of Iraq, one of the enduring mysteries has been why. There was the rationale sold to a frightened American people in 2002-2003 – that Saddam Hussein was plotting to attack them with WMDs – ... Full Story
Iraq Veteran to die for our sins
The Crucifixion of Thomas Young Tomas Young is the face of war they do not want you to see. March 11, 2013 | By Chris Hedges I flew to Kansas City last week to see Tomas Young. Young was paralyzed in Iraq in 2004. He is now receiving hospice care at his home. I knew him by reputation and the movie documentary “Body of War.”He was one of the first veterans to publicly oppose the war in Iraq. He fought as long and as hard as he could against the war that crippled ... Full Story
The Iraq War: Who Got It Wrong
March 11, 2013 By Jason Sattler The shock of 9/11 and the rapid appearance of success in ousting the Taliban presented George W. Bush with political power few U.S. presidents have enjoyed. Bush’s approval rating shot up to an astounding 90 percent in the aftermath of the largest-ever terror attack on Americans. Less than a year later, the Republican Party picked up eight House seats and control of the Senate — one of the few times in history the president’s party ... Full Story
The Iraq War: Who Got It Right
By Jason Sattler On August 27, 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars that explicitly laid out the case to invade Iraq based on an assumption that “Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.” Cheney’s speech conflated the threat presented by Saddam Hussein with al Qaeda, as he had been doing since the 9/11 attacks, arguing for a sudden shift in American policy from containment and deterrence to preemption. In doing so, the Bush ... Full Story
Bush’s Great Foreign Policy Disaster
The Worst Mistake in U.S. History America Will Never Recover from Bush's Great Foreign Policy Disaster By Peter Van Buren in Tom's Dispatch Ten years ago, George Bush made a decision that this country will regret for a very long time. Iraq: Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com March 7, 2013 | I was there. And “there” was nowhere. And nowhere was the place to be if you wanted to see the signs of end times for the American Empire up close. It was the place to be if ... Full Story
New details of US War Crimes in Iraq
From Empire Burlesque A Low, Dishonest Decade: New Details for the Iraq War Crime Mosaic Written by Chris Floyd Thursday, 07 March 2013 Torturing an Iraqi prisoner The truth-telling of the imprisoned Bradley Manning continues to bear rich fruit, even as he faces a lifetime in prison for acting on principle to save innocent lives and prevent his country from staining itself further with war crimes. This week, the Guardian released a special investigation into the ... Full Story
Generals Run Amuck
Tomgram: William Astore, Generals Behaving Badly Posted by William Astore He was “an ascetic who... usually eats just one meal a day, in the evening, to avoid sluggishness. He is known for operating on a few hours' sleep and for running to and from work while listening to audio books on an iPod... an encyclopedic, even obsessive, knowledge about the lives of terrorists... a warrior-scholar, comfortable with diplomats, politicians..." Those ... Full Story
Petraeus: The hero that never was
From the photos you would think General David Petraeus was a genuine hero. The left side of his jacket is filled with ribbons that make him look like a true warrior. Looks can be deceiving, only one of those ribbons is attached to a medal for action, the Bronze Star (with V device) and there is some question about how he earned that, See: "Petraeus Allegedly Earned A Bronze Star For Combat Valor 'Without Firing his Rifle'". The others are service ribbons or medals awarded for good staff work ... Full Story
