A former top official there presented misleading reports to President Bush and Vice President Cheney and others. That official is the former undersecretary of defense, Douglas Feith. We'll hear from him in a moment.
We hear over and over again that it "takes 60 votes to get something serious done in the Senate." That is a lot of malarkey. It takes only one senator to begin a filibuster against any bill. And then only 41 votes to uphold that filibuster
When the full history of bogus WMD propaganda is written, a few individuals and agencies in our government will stand out for having tried to be rational voices during the administration’s juggernaut PR campaign to invade Iraq. Among these is the Bur
A special unit run by former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's top policy aide inappropriately produced "alternative" intelligence reports that wrongly concluded that Saddam Hussein's regime had cooperated with al-Qaida, a P
Several US officers said the Iraqis, especially representatives of the Shiite-run Interior Ministry, played down the threat posed by the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army. They blamed much of the violence against Sunnis on fringe elements.
The Pentagon is ramping up its bombing campaign in Afghanistan as it plans a major offensive against the resurgent Taliban in the spring.
Close-air-support missions flown by U.S. Air Force pilots increased nearly 80% in the first five weeks of 200
The reins to the U.S. military effort in Iraq were handed Saturday to Gen. David Petraeus, whose plan to bring more soldiers into Baghdad hinges on the gamble that it will buy time for the beleaguered Iraqi government to cement control of the country
The Pentagon plans to extend its buildup of several thousand combat troops in Afghanistan, initially announced as lasting until late spring, well into next year, a senior U.S. military official said. Anticipate a renewed offensive this spring by the
"The bottom line is that intelligence relating to the Iraq-al-Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq. The inspector general's repo
As with so much else in the blood-soaked annals of the Bush Administration's disastrous Babylonian Conquest, it appears this neat story masks a far grimmer, grubbier truth: a mass slaughter of civilians, caught in the toxic fog of hair-trigger te
Saudi Arabia is watching with fear as the US debates whether to stay in Iraq or leave. For while Washington may walk away from Iraq if President Bush's so-called surge plan fails, Saudi Arabia, which shares a more than 500-mile border with Iraq,
Very odd that the Washington Post is the only source being cited for the IG's OSP report, given that someone (cough) had followed this story for years. So here is a roundup of the intel cooked, which would seemingly be illegal, but appears not to
Vladimir Putin threw down the gauntlet to the west in a confrontational speech on Saturday, attacking what he called "illegal" US unilateral military action and arguing it had made the world more dangerous. To a shocked audience that includ
[especially when authored by Cheney & crew] A "very damning" report by the Defense Department's inspector general depicts a Pentagon that purposely manipulated intelligence in an effort to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida in the runup to
U.S. helicopters targeting insurgents mistakenly killed at least five allied Kurdish militiamen in the northern city of Mosul. The military also reported three more American soldiers killed in combat, pushing the U.S. death toll to 33 in the first ei
Pat Buchanan underscores the recent Iran news and opinion presented here on Freedoms Phoenix. Of note is the transfer of control to StratCom which could imply a "massive" arial offensive against Iran.
Debkafile, an Israeli news source known for big hits as well as big misses, is reporting that Iranian missles were supplied to SUNNI insurgents in Iraq last month (before the rash of recent helicopter downings).
China's growing ties with Russia in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have cut across US ambitions to dominate the Middle East and Central Asia. In Asia, Latin America and Africa, Beijing is engaged in extending its influence, offering
The number of wounded in the wars is around 23,000. That number only accounts for those wounded in combat. When troops from those wars who were wounded in other ways are counted, the number more than doubles, to about 53,000.
More American troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months — at least 334 through Jan. 31 — than in any comparable stretch since the war began. Not since the bloody battle for Fallujah in 2004 has the death toll spiked so high.
(2 years ago Douglas Herman walked us through the chronology of War with Iran. And I'm afraid that chaos, death, destruction and economic collapse of the dollar is a predicted and desired side-effect for known and unknown reasons)
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has been confronted in congress over the US administration's failure to provide firm evidence for Iran's alleged nuclear weapons development.
Russia is planning to buy new intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines and possibly aircraft carriers as part of an ambitious military programme, it emerged yesterday. (Bet the Military Industrial Complex is happy,... or worse)
Many of the Iraqi soldiers hesitated, waiting for someone to tell them what to do. They stood to the side watching the action, their weapons at their sides.
Our strategy in Iraq has long been based on training homegrown security forces there. What happens if the Iraqi soldiers and police we stand up have their own agenda, not that of a unified Iraq but that of tearing apart the country.
By Brian Doherty and Angela Keaton - "I could see that Saddam was bad for you. You weren’t happy with him. He was abusive, he was controlling, and there’s no way you were better off with him than with me..."
A secret air war is being waged in Iraq -- often in and around that country's populations centers -- about which we can find out little. The US military keeps information on the munitions expended in its air effort under tight wraps, refusing to