Beating the War Addiction of the Five Point Plan
May 26, 2004Given Bush’s history as an alcoholic and born-again Christian, I suppose it is fitting he proposed a “five point plan” to address his failings in Iraq. Of course, there was little new in the speech, he was clearly only speaking to his voting block to give them something to believe in. United for Peace and…
Africa establishes its own Security Council
May 25, 2004The African Union is reported to have established it’s own Peace and Security Council to deal with issues related to African conflict.
Torture Commander Evasive
May 24, 2004Major General Geoffrey Millers testimony has been called into question by members of the Senate inquiry investigating the prisoner torture. Miller was the former commander of Guantanamo Bay and responsible for implementing the torture of prisoners there and now put in to replace Brigadier General Janis Karpinski after it was found she allowed his orders…
Control Room
May 24, 2004Just saw Control Room, an excellent documentary examining the nature of subjectivity in news reporting. From the co-director of startup.com, it is an investigation of staff at al-Jazeera, the now well known Arabic satellite TV channel. It is telling how this gulf war has repeated the rise in position of a TV network in the…
A Marine Speaks Out
May 24, 2004Courtesy of Jill, an interview with a Marine NCO, honourably discharged after serving in Iraq. He relates experiences firing on unarmed civilians when driving motor vehicles and firing on unarmed demonstrators. It is worth noting that reports in the New York Times of U.S.
Enforcing the Geneva Conventions
May 21, 2004With the giant jellyfish starting to revert to it’s role of stenographer in the prison abuse scandal, reporting the MP’s getting sent down, but not pushing how high it goes, it’s worth noting there are knowledgeable sites that continue to tackle the full breadth of the issue.
The Bush-house in a Nutshell
May 21, 2004I struggle to sum up the Bush administrations behaviour any more succinctly than this It is a pattern of wishful thinking, blinding moral outrage, willful ignorance of foreign cultures, a naive faith in American triumphalism, a contempt for the messy compromises of diplomacy, and a knee-jerk refusal to do anything the way the Clinton administration…
Bush’s Christian Zionist Polity
May 19, 2004Further confirmation that the Bush-house policy is beholden to apocalyptic Christians. Note that the NSC Near East and North African Affairs director Elliott Abrams was convicted of masterminding the illegal Iran-Contra scandal and only escaped jail because of Bush I’s pardon.
Cole on Gay Marriage, Smith on Evangelicals and their Votes
May 18, 2004Juan Cole has a well written piece considering issues of gay marriage and homophobia in Islamic countries.
Hicks claim of Torture
May 14, 2004One of the Australian citizens held at Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks has been claimed to have been tortured by his Australian lawyer Stephen Kenny.