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Olmert Says Israel Must Withdraw from Palestinian Territories

Olmert Says Israel Must Withdraw from Palestinian Territories

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that Israel must withdraw from the West Bank and dismissed the thought of an Israeli attack on Iran, the New York Times reports. Olmert remains the interim prime minister after resigning to fight charges of corruption. “What I am saying to you now has…

Pakistan Appoints New Spy Chief

Pakistan Appoints New Spy Chief

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Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the head of the Pakistani Army, appointed Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha as head of Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, the New York Times reports. The New ISI chief will be dealing directly with Washington in how Pakistan will be involved in the U.S. “war…

Violence in Iraq Down Dramatically from Last Year: Pentagon

Violence in Iraq Down Dramatically from Last Year: Pentagon

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According to U.S. military figures, the level violence in Iraq has been reduced by 83% from last year. To arrive at this figure, the Pentagon compared the first three weeks of Ramadan this year, which began on September 1st (evening of August 31st on the Muslim calendar) with the same period last…

Pretexts for War

Pretexts for War

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The use of force in international relations is a common practice in the world today, as it has historically been, with the responsible party never failing to claim some noble cause or worthy justification for its actions. Such declarations of benevolence aside, the reasons publicly stated as pretext for wars…

On Torture

On Torture

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The question of whether torture is ever justified in interrogations can be approached from several different angles: Is it effective? Is it legal? Is it moral? The use of torture in interrogation is a highly effective method to achieve one specific aim: to obtain false confessions. Any trained professional in…

Supporting Our Troops

Supporting Our Troops

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“Support Our Troops” means different things to different people. Those of us who have opposed the war have frequently been accused of not supporting the troops. My response is always the same: I supported the troops before the war by pointing out to people the fact that their government was…

Iran in the Crosshairs

Iran in the Crosshairs

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The IAEA's latest report on Iran's nuclear program was circulated to the Board of Governors this week. It has not been released to the general public, but it is widely being hailed as a damning condemnation of Iran by the mainstream media.…

Russia’s Motives in Georgia

Russia’s Motives in Georgia

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Russia’s stated motives for intervening in Georgia were that it was acting to end Georgia’s use of military force to retake the autonomous territory of South Ossetia and to challenge U.S. efforts to dominate regions, including former Soviet-bloc countries, which Russia considers to to be within its own sphere of…

Iraq: The Logic for Withdrawal

Iraq: The Logic for Withdrawal

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Just as the arguments for invading Iraq in the first place were based on easily demonstrable lies and deceptions, so are the justifications given for continuing the occupation premised upon patent falsehoods.…

Winning the Peace in Iraq

Winning the Peace in Iraq

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The suggestion that it is up to U.S. military forces to "win the peace" in Iraq is an absurdity.…

Why the U.S. Must End the Occupation of Iraq

Why the U.S. Must End the Occupation of Iraq

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An examination of the arguments employed to convince Americans that U.S. must remain the occupying power in Iraq reveals that not only is there no truth to sustain them, but that the facts point to just the opposite conclusion.…

9/11 and the “War on Terrorism”: Facts and Myths

9/11 and the “War on Terrorism”: Facts and Myths

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A recent article in the New York Times explains how many Arabs in the Middle East accept rumors about the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent war on terrorism as conventional wisdom, while at the same time both failing to see that behind many rumors lies at least an element…

Pakistan’s Zardari Takes Oath of Office

Pakistan’s Zardari Takes Oath of Office

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Asif Ali Zardari, who won the presidential election over the weekend, was sworn in today. In the election on Saturday, members the parliament and provincial assemblies voted on who would replace Perez Musharraf, who resigned last month, as president of Pakistan. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice responded positively to…

Cellphone Images Back Afghan Claims of U.S. Massacre

Cellphone Images Back Afghan Claims of U.S. Massacre

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Video evidence has emerged supporting local villagers’ claims that a U.S. airstrike last month killed a great number of civilians, contradicting the Pentagon’s claim that it was a legitimate strike resulting in few civilian casualties. The Pentagon has been in full damage control mode since being accused of killing 90…

Spinning Iraq

Spinning Iraq

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A recent op-ed in the New York Times flips reality on its head to support the argument that the U.S. should take its sweet time in withdrawing forces from Iraq, which is indicative of the nature of how government officials parroted and echoed by the media have twisted the facts…

Crashed Jet Carrying Cocaine Linked to CIA

Crashed Jet Carrying Cocaine Linked to CIA

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A number of jets connected to drug-trafficking, including a Gulfstream II carrying more than 3 tons of cocaine that crashed in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico last year, have been linked to the CIA.…

Pakistan Condemns U.S. Attack on Its Soil

Pakistan Condemns U.S. Attack on Its Soil

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Washington sends a clear message to Pakistan with attack that it had better accept the U.S.'s role in the world, in which it may do as it pleases with impunity.…

Pentagon Investigation of Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan at Odds With Other Accounts

Pentagon Investigation of Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan at Odds With Other Accounts

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The Pentagon issued a statement on Tuesday denying that scores of civilians had been killed in an airstrike in the village of Azizabad in Herat province, Afghanistan. The August 22 airstrike killed as many as 90 civilians, according to Afghan officials. President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, and U.N. officials…

U.S. Denies Civilian Death Count in Afghan Air Strike

U.S. Denies Civilian Death Count in Afghan Air Strike

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The U.S. has denied that it killed 90 civilians in an airstrike in Herat province in Afghanistan on August 21. President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and United Nations officials have said that there is “convincing evidence” that the airstrike killed at least 90 civilians, including 60 children. The Pentagon…