Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, Thomas E. Ricks, meet David Sirota. Sirota, meet the other three people in the United States who regret the 40 years of conscription-free living Americans have enjoyed.
Much has been made of the Obama administration’s decision to set up shop in Jordan under the pretense of containing the Syrian conflict and of training so-called moderate elements in the Syrian rebel opposition.
By Julie Webb-Pullman | Palestine Chronicle | May 6 2013
While the United States peddled the threat of chemical weapon use to justify its arming of the ‘opposition’ in Syria, Israel destroyed a chemical research facility near Damascus which was allegedly developing such weapons – thus unleashing every single potentially-poisonous particle on the Syrian public.
IN THIS ISSUE
This week’s top news:
Hagel: US Considering Arming Syria Rebels: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel became the first US official to admit that the administration is "rethinking" its previous decision not to arm Syria’s rebels directly, though he insisted that no decision had been made and this was just one option being considered.
A recent New York Times article ascribing the label “isolationist” to those skeptical of military intervention in Syria and North Korea has generated a flurry of commentary about the overall foreign policy debate.
Matt Duss summarizes the controversy well:
In the past few days, two different Atlantic writers have worried that drones are a “sexy” subject which often overshadow other issues. Now, Andrew Cohen’s article isn’t really about war or drones. It’s a reminder that it’s not only Anwar al-Awlaki who didn’t get due process. Thousands of other Americans aren’t getting theirs either.
I am pleased to introduce the latest addition to the Antiwar.com staff, our new Contributing Editor, Lucy Steigerwald.
Lucy was previously an Associate Editor at Reason magazine, where she wrote on issues ranging from drones, the drug war, the US justice system, politics, the warfare state, and everything in between. Before that, Lucy worked briefly at the Pittsburgh City Paper.
Jeremy Scahill’s new book, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield, is sort of like approaching a dark cavity in an old tree. How many of us would instinctively cry out, “I don’t want to look – there will be creepy crawly things in there and I’m better off not knowing!” Life is filled with [...]
Drones are the weapon of choice for fighting undeclared wars all over the Middle East. Surveillance drones are on the cusp of becoming that for U.S. government and law enforcement officials as they continue their efforts to observe everyone as much as and as often as possible.
