contributions

by Simon Tisdall
Henry Waxman is an awkward customer. For 30 years, this California congressman has probed, badgered and embarrassed US administrations of every hue.
As the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives’ government reform committee, Congress’s principal standing investigative panel, he is a difficult man to ignore.
Right now, Mr Waxman has a question on Iraq. In fact, he has several - and in typically robust fashion, he is demanding answers. What he wants to know is (…)

By Alan Ramsey
John Dimitri Negroponte has a birthday today, his 65th. He has been a warrior from the dark side a long time. Almost 40 years ago, when the Menzies government committed Australian troops to the American military and political tragedy of Vietnam, Negroponte was a young "political affairs officer" at the United States embassy (1964-68) in what was then Saigon.
Twenty years later Negroponte was the Reagan administration’s odious envoy (1981-85) in Honduras and a key figure in (…)

Four U.S. Marines were killed in action in separate incidents in Anbar Province , a Sunni-dominated area west of Baghdad , the military said Tuesday.
Two Marines were killed Tuesday while conducting "security and stability operations" in the province, the military said.
Another Marine was killed in action Monday and a fourth died of wounds received in action Monday in Anbar, the military said in a statement.
The military declined to identify the Marines until it notified the next of (…)

Another Campaign of Misinformation? Leaked 9/11 Report Cites New Evidence That Iran Cooperated with al-Qaeda Before Attacks
Leaked accounts of the final 9/11 Commission report due out this Thursday says the Commission has uncovered evidence suggesting that between eight and ten of the 9/11 hijackers passed through Iran in the year prior to the attacks. We speak with Middle East and Iran Expert at Baruch College Ervand Abrahamian. [Includes transcript] The final report of the bipartisan (…)

Simon Tisdall
Henry Waxman is an awkward customer. For 30 years, this California congressman has probed, badgered and embarrassed US administrations of every hue. As the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives’ government reform committee, Congress’s principal standing investigative panel, he is a difficult man to ignore.
Right now, Mr Waxman has a question on Iraq. In fact, he has several - and in typically robust fashion, he is demanding answers. What he wants to know is (…)

Iraq is ready to retaliate against countries it accuses of supporting violence wracking the country, the country’s defense minister warned Tuesday.
Hazim al-Shaalan mentioned no countries by name but accused old foe Iran of "blatant interference." Iraq has also complained in the past about guerrilla fighters entering the country from Syria.
"We are prepared to move the arena of the attacks on Iraq’s honor and its rights to those countries," he was quoted as saying by the London-based (…)

By William Rivers Pitt
The biggest story of the Iraq war is not about missing weapons of mass destruction, or about deep-cover CIA officers getting their covers blown by vengeful White House agents, or even about 896 dead American soldiers. These have been covered to one degree or another, and then summarily dismissed, by the American mainstream news media. The biggest story of the Iraq war has not enjoyed any coverage in America, though it has been exploding across the international news (…)

Jordan’s Islamic Action Front protested Monday against Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s official visit to Amman, the first leg on an Arab tour.
A statement by the largest opposition party accused Allawi’s interim government of being an illegitimate administration collaborating with U.S.-led occupation forces.
The Islamic party also urged the Jordanian government to end any dealings with Allawi’s government and to stop offering support "that boosts his authoritarian rule and control (…)

A member of the regional council of Basra city has been shot dead along with two bodyguards, a council spokesman said.
Hazim Tawfiq al-Ainachi was assassinated at a checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city on Tuesday, he said.
"At the checkpoint, there were some people wearing police uniforms who asked the driver to stop. Then they opened fire," the spokesman said, adding that another man in the car was wounded.
Al-Ainachi’s son, Isam, said: "My father was killed as he was leaving home (…)

by Doug Struck
There was an explosion. A deep crater proved it. Beyond that, the facts were murky.
The blast outside a police station Monday morning in Baghdad illustrated how, in this land of confusion, there is seldom a version of the truth that is accepted by everyone. Of those at the scene, each person left with his or her own version.
In a few minutes, a suicide vehicle bombing was somehow turned into an insidious air attack by U.S. planes. As the crowd was swept up in that (…)