CIA Concerned US War on Terror is Missing Root Causes

The US Central Intelligence Agency has warned that US counterterrorist operations around the world may not eliminate the threat of future attacks because they fail to address the root causes of terrorism, according to new documents.

In an unusual display of candor, the CIA pointed out that continued instability in Afghanistan, challenges facing Saudi rulers and the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict were likely to fuel radicalism in the Muslim world.
[more]

Hady Hassan Omar's Detention

Hady Hassan Omar had made up his mind. He was going to kill himself if he wasn't released by New Year's Eve.

It wouldn't be easy. Three cameras recorded his every move. The lights in his cell weren't turned off for weeks at a time. And the guards watching him through the plate-glass wall were rotated round the clock. He would lie under his prison-issue blanket for as many as 20 hours a day. It was the only privacy he could get.
[more]

thanks to BookNotes

Is The World Over A Barrel?

In Washington, the official concealment of the oil factor reveals its importance to U.S. rulers who back an attack on Iraq. The U.S. economy, now wobbling after booming last decade, in part needs more and cheaper oil for growth to resume. Under a market economy, growth is to profits what air is to people—essential. Enter Iraq. The nation of 23 million human beings has the world’s second-largest estimated crude oil reserves. Moreover, boosting Iraq’s oil production could also weaken OPEC’s power. It’s safe to assume that this, too, is a goal of U.S. rulers. Saudi Arabia is OPEC’s leading oil producer. Currently, some in Washington are less than thrilled with Saudi elites. For U.S. rulers, a tighter grip over Persian Gulf oil production could also serve to beat down the German-led European Union and Japan as the global economy stagnates. Likewise on the home front in a time of economic stagnation, a U.S. war against Iraq looms as a hammer to pound the U.S. working class into further political obedience.
[more]

Remapping the Middle East
Whose War Is It This Time?

As the Bush Administration beats the war trumpets against Iraq, a remarkable similarity can be discerned between the Middle East today and eighty years ago. The important question is whether the United States is likely to succeed in reshaping the strategic landscape in this troubled region more than did the British. There is a legacy of imperial domination, trickery, un-kept promises, and double-speak, all of which have combined to undermine the notion that any progress or healthy transformation, could ever emanate from dealing with the West, be that at the military, diplomatic, or economic levels.
[more]

And last, but not least, a fine rant by Tom Tomorrow.

War and peace

The New York Times downplayed the DC antiwar march, noting vaguely that "thousands of protesters marched through Washington's streets," while the Washington Post gave a more accurate accounting of 100,000 Americans from all walks of life coming together to oppose the Administration's march to war. I'm not sure how the former fits into the conspiratorial worldview of the anti-Raines crowd, but the latter paper presumably had no choice but to present a more accurate picture, given that many of its readers would have actually witnessed the event firsthand.
[more]