New York Times Is Now Telling Bigger Lies Than Iraq WMDs and More Effectively

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, April 11, 2023

The New York Times routinely tells bigger lies than the clumsy nonsense it published about weapons in Iraq. Here’s an example. This package of lies is called “Liberals Have a Blind Spot on Defense” but mentions nothing related to defense. It simply pretends that militarism is defensive by applying that word and by lying that “we face simultaneous and growing military threats from Russia and China.” Seriously? Where?

The U.S. military budget read more

Iraq and 15 Lessons We Never Learned

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, March 17, 2023

The peace movement did a great many things right in the first decade of this millennium, some of which we’ve forgotten. It also fell short in many ways. I want to highlight the lessons I think we’ve most failed to learn and suggest how we might benefit from them today.

  1. We formed uncomfortably large coalitions. We brought together war abolitionists with
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What Did the Peace Movement Do During the Destruction of Iraq?

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 26, 2023

This March 19th will be 20 years since the horrific evil of Shock and Awe. For many years, we held protest demonstrations on that date in Washington D.C. and many other places. Some of these events were large, some small. Some were exciting because they combined permitted “family safe” rallies with street blocking, and brought everyone into the streets when they saw that the very last thing the police wanted was to arrest anyone. These were read more

Talk World Radio: Now That War Victims and Burn Pits Matter, Meet Iraqis Who Live Near Burn Pits

AUDIO:

Talk World Radio is recorded as audio and video on Riverside.fm — except when it can’t be and then it’s Zoom. Here is this week’s video and all the videos on Youtube.

VIDEO:

This week on Talk World Radio, we’re talking about burn pits. Our guest Kali Rubaii is an assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, researching the environmental health impacts of war. She did research among farmers from Anbar, Iraq, in 2014 and 2015, documenting the environmental read more

Democrats need backbone on militarism to win in 2020: Iran is NOT Responsible for US Dead in Iraq

By John Grant

Who exactly is responsible for US casualties in Iraq during the Iraq War? The question has been raised thanks to President Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian General Qessim Suleimani.

On January 13, the New York Times published a front-page story about a lawsuit filed against Iran in federal court by US veterans and veteran families; it charges Iran with wounding or killing these men. The crux of the lawsuit is that the explosive devices that killed and maimed these read more

Rogue president, rogue nation: Trump Tells Iraq Order US Troops Out and I’ll Freeze Your Central Bank’s Account at the Fed

By Dave Lindorff

President Trump’s actions in the Middle East are becoming increasingly unhinged.

A week ago, he nearly triggered a catastrophic war between Iran and the US when, acting seemingly on a whim or in response to the advice of two of his nuttier advisors, fundamentalist Christian “Rapture” believers Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, he ordered the assassination by drone of the commander of Iran’s military, Qassem Suleimani.

Fortunately for American troops, sailors and pilots, and for read more

Opening Pandora’s Box in Iraq: Trump Hit on Iranian Commander Puts a Target on His Own and Top US Generals’ Backs

By Dave Lindorff

As far back as at least the American Revolution, there was an unwritten rule among combatants that you don’t kill the commander in the field of battle. That’s why generals could be seen directing their troops while sitting astride a horse behind the front lines —easy targets for anyone equipped with a rifled barrel on their long gun to pick off.  The reason they felt relatively safe doing so was that it was that both sides understood that if commanding officers were read more

Camp Bucca, Abu Ghraib and the Rise of Extremism in Iraq

October 28, 2019

Yesterday morning, President Trump announced the death of Abu Bakr Al- Baghdadi and three of his children.

President Trump said Al-Baghdadi, the founder of ISIS, was fleeing U.S. military forces, in a tunnel, and then killed himself by detonating a suicide vest he wore.

In 2004, Al-Baghdadi had been captured by U.S. forces and, for ten months, imprisoned in both Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca.

I visited Camp Bucca in January, 2004 when, still under construction, the Camp was a network read more