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Iraq: Remembering Those Responsible

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Truthout Published 1 January 2012: Also at Common Dreams, Transnational.org, Peace and Justice Post and ZNetwork
The formal withdrawal of US troops from Iraq this month has led to a whole series of retrospectives on the invasion and the eight and a half years of occupation that followed as well as a host of unanswered questions.. of critical importance at this juncture is that we not allow the narratives on the war to understate its tragic consequences or those responsible for the war — both Republicans and Democrats — to escape their responsibility…

Leaving Iraq (audio)

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KQED Forum 15 December 2011
The U.S. military engagement in Iraq is almost over, following the orderly exit of tens of thousands of American troops from the country. Just a few thousand soldiers remain, and those are expected to be gone in two and a half weeks, leaving behind some U.S. advisers and contractors. In this hour, we discuss what’s next for Iraq, and the political, economic and social impact of the pull-out.
Guests:

  • John Arquilla, professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School Michael Nacht, Thomas and Alison Schneider professor of public policy at UC Berkeley
  • Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and chair of middle eastern studies at the University of San Francisco
  • Stephen Farrell, foreign correspondent for The New York Times
  • Jane Wales, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council. Former director of the National Security Council.

Obama Ad Condemns Israel Aid Opponents

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Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies
December 14, 2011 and at Common Dreams.
An ad on my Facebook page from barackobama.com reads, “Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich say they would start foreign aid to Israel at zero. Reject their extreme plan now!”
This struck me as odd for two reasons: First, it is disingenuous and misleading… Secondly, millions of Americans—particularly younger voters—support zeroing out aid to Israel on human rights grounds.

Obama to Aid Uzbek Dictatorship

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Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies November 9, 2011, By Stephen Zunes. Also: Eurasia Review, Truthout, Huffington Post, Antiwar.com and Scott Horton Show: The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, in a move initiated by the Obama administration, has voted to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan, one of the most brutal and repressive regimes on the planet…

Congress and Its Colonialist Agenda

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Truthout & Salem News (Oregon) July 15. 2011
Up until the mid-20th century, Western attitudes regarding national freedom essentially went like this: the independence of white Western nations (Great Britain, France, the United States etc.) was a given. Independence for nonwhite, non-Western nations (such as those in Africa, the Middle East and Asia), however, could only be under conditions granted by the occupying powers. The time at which these nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be reached through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and representatives