be just

The president's real goal in Iraq : "The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that the Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such flimsy evidence. The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on; something was missing. In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into place. As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions. This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity...

Once-Banned Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan on His First Visit to US in Six Years, President Obama and Why Muslims Should Make Their Voices Heard : "Once-Banned Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan on His First Visit to US in Six Years, President Obama and Why Muslims Should Make Their Voices Heard"

Ogaden Today Media and News Information Journal-Daily News From Ogaden ,Ethiopia and Somalia.. - News: Ethiopian rebel group agrees to lay down arms Leaders of the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF) had, after talks with the government, "accepted totally to abide by the constitution of Ethiopia and operate legally and abandon the armed struggle," Bereket told a press conference.

The WikiLeaks Video and Terrorist Blowback by Jacob G. Hornberger I can’t improve on Glenn Greenwald’s analysis of the WikiLeaks video depicting the slaughter of Iraqi citizens. See here and here and here . However, there is one part of the WikiLeaks video that I wish to address — the reaction of the helicopter pilots upon learning that there were two children who were shot and injured during the melee. Their reaction, in fact, perfectly exemplifies the mindset that has long characterized U.S. officials, including those in the Pentagon. When the pilots discovered that they had shot the two Iraqi kids, here was their exchange: “Well it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.” “That’s right.” No remorse, no anguish, no regret, no concern. Just callous indifference to the possibility that the lives of two innocent children might have just been snuffed out.

Doug Bandow: Blowback: The Lessons of the Moscow Bombings for America The horrid attacks of 9/11 led to the cry: Why do they hate us? The recent bombings in the Moscow subway remind us that terrorism is most often a political tool used to advance political ends. Of course, after 9/11 President George W. Bush and his neoconservative supporters reassured Americans: we were attacked because we are beautiful. Evil, nasty, mean foreigners hate Americans because we are free, fabulous, nice, selfless, and all-around good guys, busily spreading freedom, liberty, capitalism, democracy, and the hallowed American way around the world. Many Americans preferred to accept this explanation than to reflect on the sometimes less beautiful actions of our government. To seek an explanation was not to excuse the inexcusable: monstrous, murderous attacks on civilians. But understanding what motivated people to kill could help prevent future killing.

Shamed Abu Ghraib Military Police Unit to Be Sent Back to Iraq -- News from Antiwar.com Six years after the scandal that shocked the nation and left seven members of the group convicted of mistreatment of Abu Ghraib detainees , the 372nd Military Police Company will soon be sent back to Iraq.

Behind the Afghan Fraud by Conn Hallinan -- Antiwar.com Certainly our allies seem to have concluded that the Americans are on an exit path. Talking with the Taliban The Hamid Karzai government and the United Nations have opened talks with some of the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Islamic Party. Pakistan — correctly concluding it was being cut out of the peace talks — swept up 14 senior Taliban officials, including the organization’s number-two man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar . The Pakistanis claim they’re simply aiding the U.S. war effort. But the former head of the UN mission to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, bitterly denounced the arrests as nothing more than effort to derail the ongoing negotiations.

The War Profiteers - Judge Rules Marine Must Stand Trial Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the sole remaining defendant in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians during the height of the Iraq war, was ordered to court-martial Friday on manslaughter, aggravated assault and related charges. The order came from Lt. Col. David Jones, a military judge who turned aside an effort by Wuterich's attorneys to dismiss the charges because of unlawful command influence. Wuterich, 30, said he was upset and disappointed, but "happy to see a trial date and that this will be over soon." "These past five years have been a long five years," he said of the Nov. 19, 2005, slayings that occurred in the city of Haditha after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing one Marine and injuring two others. "It's tough being the last guy going through this, but I'm confident everything will turn out how it should."