U.S. and the World
Babylon Damaged by Saddam, U.S. Troops and KBR
It’s a wonder there’s anything left at all of historic Babylon, after more than a century of ruinous encroachment on the ancient city’s remains by Europeans, Iraqis, and American soldiers and contractors.
The center of the Babylonian Dynasty, ... read more
Former Guantánamo Prisoner: Politician or Terrorist?
According to the Department of Defense, Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil needs to be watched because he is a potential terrorist threat, even after being released from his six-year stint at Guantánamo Bay. But high-level officials in Afghanistan disagree... read more
The Other Enemies in Afghanistan: Heat and 120-Pound Backpacks
Americans sweating beside the barbeque on the Fourth of July had nothing on U.S. Marines humping their way through southern Afghanistan on the nation’s birthday. As if carrying field packs weighing between 50-120 pounds on a three-day march wasn’t... read more
Suicide Attack in Pakistan Targeted Nuclear Workers
Officials in Pakistan tried downplaying a suicide attack last Thursday that targeted employees of the country’s nuclear weapons program. The attack involved a single bomber riding atop an explosives-packed motorcycle that rammed into a bus carryin... read more
Here We Go Again: Obama Administration Pushes Iran-Taliban Link without Evidence
Picking up where the Bush administration left off, U.S. officials have been claiming in recent months that Iran has been helping the Taliban in Afghanistan—an assertion not backed up by hard evidence and downplayed by others fighting the war.
... read more
Guantánamo Prisoner Released to Country He Doesn’t Know
Unlike most people his age who have spent the past seven years growing up and going to school, Mohamed el-Gharani endured the majority of his time as a teenager at Guantánamo Bay. Perhaps the youngest of all the detainees held at the U.S. prison, ... read more
Honduran Coup Leaders Trained in the U.S.
No wonder the military in Honduras was so fast and efficient in overthrowing leftist President Manuel Zelaya last weekend. Two of the coup’s top leaders were trained at the infamous School of the Americas, which has a long reputation for training ... read more
A Funeral for Korean War Veteran 58 Years after Death
Better late than never. Nearly 60 years after his death in the Korean War, Sergeant First Class Lincoln “Cliff” May received the funeral he deserved in Plainville, Connecticut, at West Cemetery. May, then 22 years old and engaged to be married, wa... read more
Saudi Government Armed Warlord Who Killed 18 U.S. Soldiers in Black Hawk Down Battle
Mohamed Farah Aideed, the Somali warlord who became Public Enemy No. 1 in the United States in the early 1990s, received arms and other aid from one of Saudi Arabia’s leading charities, according to a recently discovered Defense Department intelli... read more
U.S. Words and Actions Clash in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Shortly after taking command of the military campaign in Afghanistan, U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal pledged American forces would be more selective and careful in the use of airstrikes against the Taliban in order to reduce the number of ci... read more
Can North Korea Really Strike Hawaii?
Regardless of the public declarations by Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the Obama administration will bolster defenses to protect Hawaii from a possible North Korean missile launch on July 4, the United States has nothing to worry about. Nort... read more
Iraq to Celebrate U.S. Withdrawal with Public Holiday
Let the festivities begin! Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has declared June 29 a national holiday in Iraq to celebrate the withdrawal of American forces from Iraqi cities. In accordance with the security agreement Washington signed late last year ... read more
Who’s Using Which Drugs?: International
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has issued its annual report on illegal drug use around the world. Although national figures are hard to compare because of varying methods of research, there are some revealing statistics relating to t... read more
Tortured by al-Qaeda, Imprisoned by Taliban…and at Guantánamo
Of the hundreds of detainees imprisoned by the United States on suspicions of being terrorists, it might be difficult to find a case more unfair than that of Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al-Janko. The Syrian-Kurd was in Afghanistan in 2000 and wound up... read more
Sentenced to Prison for Praying
The repressive tactics of Burma’s military junta have gone so far that people can now go to jail for simply praying. Two supporters of imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were sentenced last week to 18 months in prison after leading othe... read more
Peru Revokes US Trade Agreement Laws after Deadly Clashes with Amazon Tribes
Weeks of violent protests in Peru have ended after the government agreed to revoke two key elements of a free trade agreement with the United States that threatened to open up the country’s Amazonian forests to foreign oil and mineral interests. I... read more