Leigh M. Smith

Juan Cole has included the full text of the U.S/British proposed U.N resolution concerning the future of Iraq. A particular section caught my eye in light of my previous proposal for the U.S. to withdraw immediately: 3. Endorses the proposed timetable for Iraq’s political transition to democratic government including: (a) formation of a sovereign Interim…

A site I hadn’t discovered previously which covers the plight of the approximately 700 prisoners detained and probably tortured at Guantanamo Bay is cageprisoners.com. This includes monitoring of press releases concerning the Australian detainees David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib.

Given Bush’s history as an alcoholic and born-again Christian, I suppose it is fitting he proposed a “five point plan” to address his failings in Iraq. Of course, there was little new in the speech, he was clearly only speaking to his voting block to give them something to believe in. United for Peace and…

The African Union is reported to have established it’s own Peace and Security Council to deal with issues related to African conflict.

Major General Geoffrey Millers testimony has been called into question by members of the Senate inquiry investigating the prisoner torture. Miller was the former commander of Guantanamo Bay and responsible for implementing the torture of prisoners there and now put in to replace Brigadier General Janis Karpinski after it was found she allowed his orders…

Courtesy of Jill, an interview with a Marine NCO, honourably discharged after serving in Iraq. He relates experiences firing on unarmed civilians when driving motor vehicles and firing on unarmed demonstrators. It is worth noting that reports in the New York Times of U.S.

With the giant jellyfish starting to revert to it’s role of stenographer in the prison abuse scandal, reporting the MP’s getting sent down, but not pushing how high it goes, it’s worth noting there are knowledgeable sites that continue to tackle the full breadth of the issue.

I struggle to sum up the Bush administrations behaviour any more succinctly than this It is a pattern of wishful thinking, blinding moral outrage, willful ignorance of foreign cultures, a naive faith in American triumphalism, a contempt for the messy compromises of diplomacy, and a knee-jerk refusal to do anything the way the Clinton administration…

Further confirmation that the Bush-house policy is beholden to apocalyptic Christians. Note that the NSC Near East and North African Affairs director Elliott Abrams was convicted of masterminding the illegal Iran-Contra scandal and only escaped jail because of Bush I’s pardon.