I just came across this statistic, reported by the Guardian, source – US military –
The army reported 2,781 deserters in 2003 and 1,470 in the first five months of this year, according to Lieutenant Colonel John Jessup, who collects army desertion data for the Pentagon. This makes up less than 1% of the enlisted soldiers; [...]
Turkey moved against the Kurdish separatist rebels in Northern Iraq today, killing eleven PKK rebels. Two Turks were killed in the action.
Turkey has long threatened to take out the PKK themselves, after it became clear that American promises to “deal with” the rebels wereall talk and no action.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul reiterated a call [...]
It took him a little more than the 24 hours one emailer predicted, but G.W. has indeed waffled on yesterday’s proclamation that we can’t win the terror war.
In his best impersonation of Matt Hasselbeck, George has now promised a victory he can’t possibly deliver. The question yet remains, will it be a costly interception, [...]
George W. Bush was on the Today Show today.
During the course of talking about how we mustn’t dare end the war on terror… ever, because it’d make us look weak, he was asked “Can we win?”.
In a rare moment of candor, Bush admitted no, “I don’t think you can win it”.
Of course, just because the [...]
My anarchodar must have failed. Well, at least some good has come of the Bush presidency.
In the Forward magazine, John Kerry makes it clear that his Mideast foreign policy will closely follow the policy of Likud.
He promises to interfere all over the region. Except in one area: he opposes international efforts to oppose The Wall, citing Israeli sovereignty.
He promises to spend US tax money to tackle anti-Israel propaganda.
He promises [...]
From the New York Times:
The F.B.I. is investigating a Pentagon official on suspicion of passing secrets to Israel, government officials said on Friday.
The espionage investigation has focused on an official who works in the office of Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, officials who have been briefed about the investigation said. [...]
Reuters:
- The FBI believes Israel has a spy at the very highest level of the Pentagon who may have sought to influence U.S. policy on Iran and Iraq, CBS News reported on Friday.
The Israeli embassy immediately denied the report.
“The FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to … roll up someone [...]
I hadn’t even originally planned on doing a blog entry this week, but I can’t pass up a chance like this:
Timeline on Jonathan “call me Jack” Idema:
July 7: Three Americans and four Afghans arrested for operating private prison
July 8:One of these men is identified as Jack Idema. An early report from Afghan officials says Afghan [...]
THE UNPOLITICAL ANIMAL: How political science understands voters
The most widely known fact about George H. W. Bush in the 1992 election was that he hated broccoli. Eighty-six per cent of likely voters in that election knew that the Bushes’ dog’s name was Millie; only fifteen per cent knew that Bush and Clinton both favored the [...]
NPR’s All Things Considered recently completed a six-part series on the relationship between the West and Middle East. On top of being a good historical overview, the series essentially demonstrates the ill-effects of “blowback.” The last part of the series concludes that American intervention is to blame for Islamic terrorism targeting the [...]
When I put up my last post, I was worried that the punchline – a reference to Rush Limbaugh’s comparison of Abu Ghraib torture to fraternity pranks – might be a little overplayed. Thank God for torture prober James Schlesinger, who again invoked this appalling analogy at today’s press conference:
“There was sadism on [...]
