General (retired) Antonio Taguba speaks about his report.
(From The New Yorker this month, via Senator Andrew Bartlett.)

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh

I'd been in the Army thirty-two years by then, and it was the ( Read more... )

Australia has about 1400 armed forces personnel in and around Iraq as part of the US-led Coalition. Some people think it's time they came home. It seems like Australia has a choice between three options:

1. leave before the US forces do
2. Stay and eventually withdraw in step with the US
3. Stay beyond the point where (most) US forces have left

( Read more... )

Along with acmarita, I've been thinking about Australia's military presence in Iraq.

According to Australian Department of Defence information at http://www.defence.gov.au/, as at 13 November, there are about 1350 Australian military personnel involved in Operation Catalyst, Australia's "contribution to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq." (The ( Read more... )

From Time magazine, 10 November: "Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse"
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.htmlGermany prosecutors acting on behalf of 12 Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisoners charge him and eleven others with, er, something, possibly "war crimes and related offenses ( Read more... )

The Emperor's inquisitor says:

Asked in the radio interview whether he would agree that the debate over terrorist interrogations and water boarding was "a little silly", Mr Cheney responded: "I do agree". (Financial Times, 27 October 2006)

I wonder, in a morbid way, just how much useful information KSM provided before and after water boarding.

One episode from Denver: I took the bus from The Mall back to 16th Street. As it pulled up, I didn't have time to check the route against the various maps and timetables plastered on the bus shelter, so I asked the driver "Does this bus go to 16th Street". Yes it did, I fumbled with change to buy a ticket, sat down, and thought no more of it ( Read more... )

At the LA Times today: "How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball'".

I, for one, fell for the mobile truck story in Powell presentation. If he's showing us this detail about the trucks, what else must they know, I thought. Boy, was I wrong!

A long time ago I'd wondered "where is the army of doctors and construction engineers? where are the air-transportable, be-there-in-24-hours mobile field hospitals? where are the reservists who are plumbers, electricians, and generally useful people to get a troubled nation back on its feet?"

A few months ago, James Fallows tried to explain in ( Read more... )

"Blueprint for a Mess", by David Rieff, and published in the New York Times
on November 2, 2003 is a sad description of the disappointing morass Uncle Sam seems to have created for himself in Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/magazine/02IRAQ.html

I find myself in two minds this morning. Watching Channel Nine's Today show, I'm struck by the nationalism their coverage excludes. Talk of "heroes" and "sacrifices", it's grand and stirring stuff. Premiers lay wreathes, flanked by boy scouts. Long live the Empire. I wonder if Australians have always taken this stuff more seriously than the ( Read more... )