This week's WPR column considers the rhetoric of war against Iran: The case for attacking Iran relies overwhelmingly on the concept of uncertainty. We don’t know if the Iranians want to build a bomb, or whether they can build a bomb, or when they might...
Iraq
We are now out of Iraq, at least sort of. So now everyone can start putting their bad memories of the American occupation behind them, right? Of course, Americans forgot.
A few outliers aside, Republicans have stumbling over themselves to critique Obama for the withdrawal from Iraq, despite that fact that this position polls very badly. Some thoughts: 1. As.
Why did anti-Iraq War protests never reach the crescendo of their anti-Vietnam predecessors? There's been some decent scholarly work on the determinants of public support for wars, but as a very quick cut this seems about right: Instead of curing the Vietnam Syndrome or its...
Rodger Payne highlights a contradiction between Mitch McConnell's roles as GOP leader and US Senator from Kentucky: Dick Cheney's memoir apparently verifies an interesting political point from George W. Bush's.
Interesting article on why the Iraqi Air Force didn't fight in 2003: Rather than being afraid to fight in 2003 as the Americans initially speculated, Iraq was simply following the.
It's kind of a minor point, but if a Democratic Senator made a similar error (especially in the context of arguing for military disengagement) I suspect that we'd hear no end of rage and mockery from the right wing milblogger crew. I'd also add that...
Michael Lind asks if anyone in America believes in the rule of law? It's a good question, but his response to it reveals it's a much tougher one to answer.
I gave up on the Lancet fight a long time ago; I can't remember now whether the flurry of allegations and counter-allegations about error and fraud raised sufficient question in.
There's obviously much of interest in the Wikileaks Iraq release; for the moment the Iran stuff holds the bulk of my attention: But the field reports disclosed by WikiLeaks, which were never intended to be made public, underscore the seriousness with which Iran’s role has...
Depressing but true: Well the latest Wikileaks disclosures ought to shut them up for good (it won’t, of course). “Our” side has both committed war crimes directly and has acquiesced,.
Like I say, every country has its neocons: In his first interview since his capture after the fall of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's former top deputy Tariq Aziz tells the Guardian.