Tag Archives: Iraq

War and peace in the Middle East

The United States has declared its involvement in the war in Iraq over (Thom Shanker & Michael S. Schmidt, “U.S. War in Iraq Declared Officially Over,” New York Times, 15 December 2011): The United States military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday even as violence continues to plague the country […]

Gates channels Vizzini

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has warned against getting involved in future land wars in Asia (Thom Shanker, “Gates Warns Against Any More Wars Like Iraq or Afghanistan,” New York Times, 25 February 2011): Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise […]

The human cost of war

The human cost of war sometimes seems like just one more statistic. But what’s at stake is lost lives and broken families. Ernie Regehr discussed the grim task of calculating war deaths on his Disarming Conflict blog earlier this week (“Counting the War Dead,” Disarming Conflict, 7 February 2011). Tabulating the human cost of war […]

Activist coalition vows to oppose Obama as long as he supports the war

An American activist coalition, War is a Crime, is circulating a petition opposing President Obama’s renomination until he ends the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, reverses a number of draconian war policies, and drastically cuts military spending.  The list has grown to include the names of many activists, professors, journalists, and politicians. The petition criticizes […]