Neocon Mea Culpas

Staff / Truthdig Feb 20, 2006 Francis Fukuyama, one of the leading neocon intellectuals who argued the case for the Iraq war, admits in a blockbuster N.Y. Times Magazine essay that it is "very hard to see how [the removal of Saddam Hussein, and a few spillover benefits] justify the blood and treasure that the United States has spent." Andrew Sullivan, another leading pro-war conservative, echoes Fukuyama's comment and points out three areas where neocons were tragically wrong. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Shooting Party (a perspective from the right)

Staff / Truthdig Feb 18, 2006 As I understand the profound concern of the ever-alert White House reporters, they smell a constitutional crisis because the shooting party failed to alert the media of the accidental shooting down in Corpus Christi, Texas. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

‘Syriana 2’

Staff / Truthdig Feb 18, 2006 China is set to plumb Iranian oil fields in a $100-billion deal, complicating U.S. efforts to isolate Tehran and providing Iran more money to pursue its nuclear ambitions. Can someone please call Stephen Gaghan to figure this one out for us? Or maybe this is a case for Truthdig's Orville Schell, who knows a thing or two about China? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Girl Will Hang for Killing Would-Be Rapist

Staff / Truthdig Feb 17, 2006 An 18-year-old Iranian has been sentenced to death for killing one of three men who were trying to rape her and her niece The Nation sheds light on this shocking travesty Before you work up a xenophobic rage, remember that right here in America we execute the underage and mentally retarded. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Jews Fight Fire with Satire

Staff / Truthdig Feb 16, 2006 In the wake of an Iranian newspaper's cartoon contest to mock the Holocaust, an Israeli cartoonist is asking Jewish artists to draw anti-Semitic cartoons themselves. We wonder: Is this sort of like African Americans reclaiming the N-word as their own? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Steamed Rice

Staff / Truthdig Feb 16, 2006 The secretary of state gets a grilling when she requests $75 million from the Senate for democracy-building activities in Iran. Most of the money would go toward round-the-clock TV programming in Farsi. And while that's probably not a bad idea, it's hard to imagine that any amount of TV would meaningfully distract attention from the spectacle of the American occupation of Iraq. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iraqi Shiites Nominate Jafari as Prime Minister

Staff / Truthdig Feb 13, 2006 The largely ineffectual interim leader is now set to take formal control of the country. He is backed by theocratic Shiites in Iran and the rabidly anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr in Iraq. A theocratic state, virulently hostile to U.S. interests? Right now Ahmad Chalabi is almost starting to look good in comparison. | story Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iran Threatens to Retaliate on Nuclear Issue

Staff / Truthdig Feb 2, 2006 In his first-ever interview with a Western publication, Iran's foreign minister vows immediate retaliation over a move to refer his nation's nuclear weapons activities to the United Nations Security Council | storyWell, at least we can count on the support of the newly pro-West Iraqi government to back us up if things get messy next-door Oh, wait . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

U.S. Role as Iran’s Nuclear Midwife Is Noted

Staff / Truthdig Jan 31, 2006 A Brown University professor writes: "Every aspect of Iran's current nuclear development was approved and encouraged by Washington in the 1970s." | column Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

In Iraq, It Keeps Getting Worse and Worse

Staff / Truthdig Jan 23, 2006 The rebuilding of Iraq was hobbled and mismanaged from the get-go, according to an official history of the program leaked to the New York Times | story The Kurds, in exchange for a quasi-autonomous secular state of their own, will allow Shiite theocracy to dominate the rest of the country Hardly the neocon fantasy of a secular, united and American-friendly Iraqlatimescom/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-alliance22jan22,0,6427404story?coll=la-home-world" title="story">storyMeanwhile, a mass exodus of Iraq's professional, educated class is resulting in a brain drain, just when the country needs its thinkers mostwashingtonpostcom/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201112html" title="story">storyAlso, an influential cleric who has led uprisings against the US says that his militia would defend Iran if it was attacked | story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iraqi Voting Tally Deals Deathblow to Neocon Fantasies

Blair Golson / Truthdig Jan 20, 2006 The parliamentary results are confirmed: Shiites will dominate both the Sunnis and the Kurds in Iraq So while the US tries to intimidate Iran over its nukes, Iranian-bred theocratic Shiites--those most hostile to our interests--are in the ascendancy in Iraq So much for the neocons' "Field of Dreams" scenario for creating democracy in Iraq: "If you break it, they will come" | storyAlso, read Juan Cole on how Bush created a theocracy in Iraq | columnAnd read Robert Scheer on Iran's victory in Iraqcom/eartotheground/item/irans_victory_in_iraq/" title="item">itemUpdate: A former Pentagon analyst is sentenced to 12 years-plus for leaking confidential documents in an attempt to get the U to take the threat of Iran more seriously | storyUpdate No 2: Iran and Iraq are already linking arms on the construction of electricity facilities . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iran Has Us Over a Barrel–Of Oil

Staff / Truthdig Jan 20, 2006 This New York Times piece spells out how fiendishly hard it's going to be to threaten Iran over its nukes while simultaneously guzzling its oil. | storyIt's sort of like admonishing a drug dealer for selling heroin to kids, and then scoring a dime bag of blow for yourself. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )