by Chris Floyd 

Barack Obama has announced that all American troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. This was presented as America honorably adhering to the agreement signed years ago by the Bush Administration.

At the same time, White House and Pentagon spinners were planting stories to make clear that the United States had fully intended to continue its military presence in Iraq past the deadline, but was thwarted by the Iraqis' unconscionable refusal to allow American forces to commit crimes with impunity -- and immunity -- on Iraqi soil.

by Mark Dunn 

Amnesty International, the Nobel Prize-winning human rights group, wants former U.S. president George W. Bush arrested and charged with torture when he visits British Columbia next week.

Amnesty officials -- armed with reams of documents they say support the incarceration of the former most-powerful man in the world -- brushed aside suggestions Wednesday's news conference was a publicity stunt. They did acknowledge, however, that Justice Minister Rob Nicholson would likely ignore their demands.

"A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the United Nations convention against torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights," the group's Susan Lee said.

By Chris Floyd  

Five years ago, I wrote several articles about a horrific massacre of Iraqi civilians in Ishaqi. Credible evidence and eyewitness testimony indicated that American soldiers, in the course of a raid, had executed unarmed civilians -- including several small children -- then called in an airstrike to destroy the house, and the evidence of these murders.

At the time, these articles were criticized by some for putting the "worst case" construction on the evidence. After all, in the "fog of war" -- that clapped-out rhetorical trope which has hidden a multitude of sins down through the years -- who could know what really happened? Yeah, some mistakes might or might not have been made -- crossfire, collateral damage, etc. -- but surely no one could believe that American soldiers would deliberately do such a thing. My take -- and that of this blog's co-founder, Rich Kastelein, who put together a devastating flash film on the incident -- was just the usual overblown, knee-jerk, anti-war hissy fit, etc.

But thanks to a recent WikiLeaks revelation, we now know that at least two other groups of knee-jerk, anti-war freaks were also pursuing the "worst-case" interpretation of the massacre: UN investigators, who delivered a detailed report on the evidence to the American occupation forces -- and the invaders themselves. It turns out that American authorities regarded the UN evidence very seriously; so seriously that they took immediate, decisive action .... to cover it all up.

By Chris Floyd

There was a raid in Ishaqi last week. Armed men crept upon the sleeping houses in the dead of night. Armed men stirring in the darkness, in a land still open, like a flayed wound, to violent death and chaos from every direction, many years after the savage act of aggression that first tore the country to pieces.

They crept toward the houses. They said nothing, gave no warning, could not be clearly seen, did not identify themselves. “Thieves!” someone shouted. Someone grabbed a rifle – one kept ready at hand to guard the sleeping family – and fired a shot to scare away the raiders.

By Kenneth J. Theisen 

On Thursday, June 9th Leon Panetta, the current CIA Chief and incoming Department of War Chief, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraq will request that the U.S. keep its occupation force in the country beyond this year. This should come as no surprise to readers of this site. 

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