Najaf, Iraq. (And you do not need to know Arabic to understand the picture.) 

News from the other country that "Bush" had "liberated": The United Nations should withdraw all its personnel from Afghanistan as the country has become too dangerous to work in, the UN staff union has said.

United States army medics have been accused of being complicit in the abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison.

"US deal 'wrecks Middle East peace' ": What Middle East "peace".

"The East is to be opened and transformed, whether we will it or not; the standards of the West are to be imposed upon it; nations and peoples who have stood still the centuries through are to be quickened and to be made part of the universal world of commerce and of ideas. ..."
Woodrow Wilson, as cited in John Judis' The Folly of Empire.

Guantanamo's military trials are condemned as grossly unfair.

This is from the pen of Pentagon propagandist/New York Times correspondent John Burns on the career of Iraqi puppet prime minister/car bomber/Saddam's former assassin/embezzler-in-Yemen: "Due process was not always his métier, as Iraqis who knew him as a young medical student on the Baghdad University campus in the 1970's recall. Then, these people say, Dr. Allawi, who qualified as a neurosurgeon, was a zealot for Mr. Hussein's ruling Baath Party, a man who carried a gun, threatened fellow students and was feared as a regime enforcer. His reputation as a hard man was one reason, perhaps the main one, he became a protégé in exile of the Central Intelligence Agency, and then the favored American candidate for prime minister of the interim government appointed in the spring, shortly before Iraq regained sovereignty on June 28."

"I got the impression that US interrogators and CIA officers have not a clue about what they are doing. Their questions were shallow and indicated serious ignorance of the Iraqi scene."

This is Zionism: Palestinian child shot in Nablus.

The Iron Sheik is receiving good press.

The Gut Feeling of an Israeli Historian:
When US media want to learn about the Middle East, they often turn to Israeli "experts." They believe that Israelis are better equipped to explain those Arab "savages" to the superior master race. For analysis on Iraq, the media often turn to Israeli historian Amatzia Baram. In fact, in today's New York Times, there is an interview with Baram. (I will not link it out of respect for you). But what the New York Times does not tell you is this: Baram has been consistently wrong on Iraq before (and after) the war. This is what Baram had told The Ottowa Citizen in October 7, 2002: "To my mind, Saddam Hussein is very dangerous to America," said University of Haifa professor Amatzia Baram, who spoke at the Temple Israel on Prince of Wales Drive last night. "Once he becomes a nuclear power, and this could happen in two years or so ... my analysis is that you have a nuclear war in the Middle East very soon," said the professor. "He has a number of missiles that he could send to Israel tipped with non-conventional weapons, chemical and biological," said Mr. Baram..." Baram had also said this to the Jerusalem Post on October 16, 2002 : "There is a definite link between al-Qaida and the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, according to Prof. Amatzia Baram, of the University of Haifa's Department of Middle East History, an expert on Iraqi affairs."I can prove that there is very close ideological affinity and political cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida. I cannot prove that this has overflowed into operational cooperation, although my gut feeling says this is the case, and also that Saddam Hussein probably knew beforehand about the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington."

"liberated"--face down. (Kufa, Iraq)

Kashan carpet (second half of 16th century; Safavid) 

The US can fight two wars of "liberation" simultaneously: "U.S. soldiers opened fire on a pickup truck that failed to stop at a checkpoint in central Ghazni province in Afghanistan, killing a man and two women and critically injuring two other people, the military said Sunday."

Residents of Baghdad slum remain defiant in the face of U.S. sweep.

That is what the Middle East needs: the pontification of a spoiled royal brat.

For those who care, I will be speaking about my book on LA's KPFK on Monday at 8:00AM (Pacific Time). You may listen live.

Gypsies say Olympic hosts pushing them aside.

'You are slaves, die like slaves': Darfur refugees tell of Janjaweed killing spree.

US forces do not seem to be able to stop "liberating" Iraqi people. This group of Iraqis was "liberated" in Najaf.

Our Country is a Graveyard by Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish (my translation):
Gentlemen, you have transformed
our country into a graveyard
You have planted bullets in our heads,
and organized massacres
Gentlemen, nothing passes like that
without account
All what you have done
to our people is
registered in notebooks

Stuck in an airport...for 16 years.

Egyptian cleric warns US of Najaf

Iraqi civilians killed in latest clashes.

There is nothing better for a wild administration than an ignorant populace (or 54 % of them at least): More than half of Americans, 54%, continue to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or a programme to develop them before the United States invaded last year.

Hizbullah and Al-Qaeda: Friends or foes? (thanks Haytham)

...and now this clown: "Amend International Law To Allow Preemptive Strike on Iran," by ALAN DERSHOWITZ. (thanks Nader)

Iraqi footballers' fury at Bush: Iraq's successful Olympic football team has launched an outspoken attack on US President George W Bush.

A Princely Hawking Party in the Mountains ( ca. 1575) 

Israeli soldiers kill a 60-year- old Palestinian

Relatives of Palestinian Ahmad AlHams who was killed by Israeli soldiers yesterday.

White Texas Lawmaker Fights His Former Maid for Custody of Her Infant Son, Who Is Black

U.S. Now Said to Support Growth for Some West Bank Settlements

Sudan admits aiding Arab militias

This is Zionism. Israel destroyed their house in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. 

If you do not find WMDs in Iraq, and you have to write a report, what do you do? Well, you can speculate on the origins of the universe.

News from "liberated" Iraq: 'Death after death, blood after blood'

"Spending by presidential and congressional candidates and the national party committees that support them already tops $1 billion for the 2004 election cycle, with more than two months of campaigning to go."

How the News Media Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Rumsfeld (thanks Norman)

I received this message from an anonymous college student who is attending the Republican Convention:
"I got a call this morning from the Washington Center (the group that I'm going to the convention through) and they said we might get to go into the hall on 'Youth Day' and that the Secret Service needed to know the race of everyone who wanted to come in."

For those who care, I taped a one-hour video (and audio) interview with David Barsamian yesterday. Check here for information. Barsamian is the best prepared journalist there is.

For those who care, I can be heard on Flashpoint live (taped as I will be in my car driving toward SF) at 5:00PM (Pacific Time) this afternoon.

Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp, (Detached folio from an illustrated manuscript, ca. 1520-22)

U.S. Poverty Likely Rose in 2003, Income Gap Wider.

Unwilling participants: Iraqi soccer players angered by Bush campaign ads.