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By Ann Patchett
By Shalom Auslander
$19
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Need more evidence that our military is stretched too thin? Its ranks reportedly are now being filled with the kind of military ambassadors particularly unsuited to the task of winning foreign hearts and minds.
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The 21-year-old former Army private first class was recently discharged because of a “personality disorder.” Four other members of his former platoon are also implicated in the killing of the Iraqis and are being held at a U.S. base in Iraq.
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Nir Rosen
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By Nir Rosen — Truthdig contributor Nir Rosen presents an oral history of a U.S Army Special Forces soldier who describes how he and his unit created more insurgents than they killed in Iraq.
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Truthdig contributor Nir Rosen, an American reporter who has lived for the last three years in Iraq and who can pass as Middle Eastern, describes what it’s like to live under the boot of a culturally callous—and sometimes criminal—occupying force in Iraq.
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The American Sociological Review has found that Americans have a third fewer close friends and confidants than just two decades ago—a huge shift, statistically speaking. What to make of it? Uhhh, take your guess: suburbs vs. urban living, iPods vs. conversations….
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From AmericanProspect.org
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That’s the call from Michael Tomasky in a cover story for the American Prospect. He means republicans with a small ‘r’—defenders of the idea of a republic that serves the common good. Tomasky writes: “What the Democrats still don?t have is a philosophy, a big idea that unites their proposals and converts them from a hodgepodge of narrow and specific fixes into a vision for society.”
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Weak employment gains in May (only 75,000 net new jobs) may be a sign of a faltering economy. According to NYT: “Anything below about 150,000 net new jobs a month is regarded as too slow to keep up with population growth, so in effect, workers are losing ground.” (story | job report)
Posted on Jun 2, 2006
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AP / Fraidoon Pooyaa
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A traffic incident in the Afghan capital led to rumors of an American-on-Afghan massacre. Massive riots ensued. Bitter resentment of occupying U.S. forces has been laid bare. “Today has set us back 10 years,” said a NATO-employed Afghani security worker.
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From aei.org
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It seems Bush has a thing for “Karls” as policy advisors. On the heels of Karl Rove’s departure from his policy-advising position at the White House, the president has chosen Karl Zinsmeister, editor in chief of the magazine published by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. He has had some eyebrow-raising things to say on the subject of race over the years. (Biographical info on Zinsmeister here.)
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Iranian officials are furiously working diplomatic back channeles to open a dialogue with the U.S. (Apparently the Iranian’s president’s 18-page letter to Bush opened the floodgates.)
The significance of this? For 25 years Iran has enforced a taboo against making overtures to “The Great Satan.”
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The journalist posed as a potential recruit and mingled with a cavalcade of zombie-like followers, among other oddities. “I have rarely felt more fearful for my sanity,” she writes.
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From The Onion
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From super-size coffins to super-reinforced beds to resorts for those afraid to be seen in bathing suits, the number of products and services for America’s obese is growing rapidly.
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From Interventionmag.com
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Just 12 days into April, 33 soldiers have been killed—a figure that surpasses American military deaths for all of March. For several months, U.S. soldiers’ deaths had been on the wane, but they now are rising quickly, especially in the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
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The New York Times reports that many Middle Eastern countries that made moves toward democracy are now pulling back, emboldened to ignore Bush’s demands in the wake of the Iraq debacle.
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By Norman Solomon — Weeks after a British magazine published a long article by two American professors titled “The Israel Lobby,” the outrage continues to howl through mainstream U.S. media.
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Powell
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By Robert Scheer — “This is a moment of truth for America. It is time to acknowledge that we need the immigrant workers as much as they need us, and to begin to treat them with the respect they deserve.”
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Now that 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured in Iraq have hit the web, armchair analysts have their work cut out for them.
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Shiite officials say that American-led forces killed many civilians in a raid on a mosque complex on Sunday. The U.S. has promised a full investigation.
Posted on Mar 27, 2006
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The U.S. has apparently just told Iraq that it should no longer expect American dollars to aid in the country’s reconstruction—rather, Iraq must rely on its own revenues.
Did anyone know this was coming?
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Two separate claims of American soldiers murdering Iraqi civilians have arisen. One report involves the alleged killing of 15 people, including a 3-year-old girl; the second involves the alleged murder of 11, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant.
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The Federal Reserve finds that the average family has only about $3,800 in the bank, no retirement account and no stocks or bonds, and can’t pay off a $2,200 credit card balance.
Pretty grim…. But don’t fear. Tax cuts for the rich will make everything all better.
Posted on Mar 5, 2006
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By Andy Borowitz — According to the strategy being mulled, President Bush would simply declare victory over obesity and announce a plan to withdraw most low-carb products from supermarket shelves by the end of 2006. (satire)
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A New York Times reporter writes: “Four years after the Taliban were ousted from power by the American military, their presence is bigger and more menacing than ever, say police and government officials, village elders, farmers and aid workers across southern Afghanistan.”
Posted on Mar 3, 2006
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Only nine Democrats and one Independent voted against the most sweeping abridgement of American freedoms in a generation.
Some of the heroes: Jim Jeffords, Russ Feingold, Robert Byrd…
Some of the villains: Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Barack Obama…
Check out the bottom of this AP story for the full list.
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The spinmeister in chief gave the Arab country advice on how to allay concerns about its pending takeover of major U.S. ports. (Clinton did this at the same time his wife was railing against the deal—just in case anyone mistakenly assumes that the N.Y. senator takes all her cues from the ex-prez.)
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Fox via CNN
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OK, OK, we know that it’s a waste of breath of get exercised over the ignorance educational quirks of the American populace, but get this: Only one in four people can name more than one First Amendment freedom, while half of people in a poll can name at least two “Simpsons” family members.
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From weekly.ahram.org.eg
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Moqtada al-Sadr, who led two deadly uprisings against American troops, now controls enough seats in the Iraqi parliament to be a puppet master. Read the New York Times profile, or check out Truthdig’s Robert Scheer on the ominous implications of Sadr’s ascendancy.
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Illustration by Jennifer Grey
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Sir Ian McKellen says, “It is very, very, very difficult for an American [gay] actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality.” | story
This is exactly what Truthdig’s Larry Gross was getting at in “Year of the Queer: Hollywood and Homosexuality.”
Posted on Feb 13, 2006
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Investigators eavesdropping on Americans in overseas calls have dismissed nearly all of them as suspects, according to the Washington Post. This is huge, because “a search cannot be judged ‘reasonable’ if it is based on evidence that experience shows to be unreliable.”
Meanwhile, feisty Russ Feingold, a Democratic senator, takes the attorney general to the cleaners for lying to him a year ago about Bush’s surveillance activities. Gonzales shoots back, “I was telling the truth then. I’m telling the truth now.” | story
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From Tom Toles / Washington Post
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All six Joint Chiefs of Staff write a very rare letter to the editor of the Washington Post, protesting an editorial cartoon by Tom Toles, which they say demeans wounded American soldiers. | story (Broken by AMERICAblog)
Well, despite the fact that Toles has a valid satirical point to make about the Pentagon’s overextension of troops in the field, we have to wonder: With the insurgency gaining strength every day, and reconstruction efforts crippled by high-level incompetency, this cartoon is what’s upsetting our nation’s military leadership?
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In at least two instances, American forces have seized wives of insurgents as a means of “leverage.” | story
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Sketchy U.S. operators of “tough love” schools skirt American regulations by operating in other countries. Sorta like sketchy U.S. corporations that skirt American taxes by having mailboxes in other countries. AlterNet’s got the goods.
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An audit of American rebuilding projects in Iraq turns up millions of dollars stuffed into footlockers, a U.S. soldier gambling away Iraqi money, and other inspiring tales of the same ilk. | story
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AP
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The American interrogator sat on the general’s chest and covered up his mouth—both of which were apparently approved techniques. The defense claimed that the actions did not directly cause the general’s death. | story
We can’t help but suspect that much of the Arab world might come to a different conclusion.
Posted on Jan 24, 2006
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Intensifying U.S. air raids in Iraq keep down American casualties but take the lives of many Iraqi civilians. Full story.
Posted on Jan 4, 2006
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