by Tom Engelhardt
Honestly, if there’s an afterlife, then the soul of Osama bin Laden, whose body was consigned to the waves by the U.S. Navy back in 2011, must be swimming happily with the dolphins and sharks. At the cost of the sort of spare change that Donald Trump recently offered aides and former campaign officials for their legal troubles in the Russia investigation (on which he’s unlikely to deliver) — a mere $400,000 to $500,000 — bin Laden managed to launch the American war on
Across the western world, countries have succumbed to pressure and incrementally introduced the paraphernalia of a security state. Albeit without the promised security and massive breaches of privacy and other hard won human rights. The rise of the security state has implications across the planet from austerity measures, the militarisation of police forces and copious amounts of tax dollars funnelled into the Military Industrial Complex. This, we are told, is needed to fight the farcical
If you want to change a group of terrorists who have killed American overseas into something that appears to be much more benign, all you have to do is pay off the right people in Washington. With enough money, you can even open a nice plush lobbying office on Pennsylvania Avenue in the District of Columbia, not too far from the White House and Capitol Hill.
One-time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been rightly blamed for the ill-conceived and badly bungled “regime change” in Libya in
The US’ only answer to terrorism is violence against violence, but that’s like trying to eradicate diseases by killing patients; a more constructive approach is needed, says Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research.
A report released under the Freedom of Information Act shows the US has been simulating an invasion of West Africa in response to an imaginary terror attack on American soil.
The latest Pentagon project was designed to train those who
A strong smell of blood and flesh permeated the Imam Zaman mosque in Kabul on Saturday hours after dozens of Shia worshippers were slaughtered by a suicide bomber during evening prayers.
Broken glass and dust covered the red carpet, soaked in the blood of the men, women and children who had been praying on Friday when the attacker blew himself up, causing carnage in the cavernous prayer hall.
At least 56 people were killed and dozens wounded in the assault claimed by the Islamic State group
Howard Dean was never one of us. Dean, a former governor, first became famous as a progressive hero in 2004, before serving as the Democratic National Committee Chair from 2005 to 2009. What has he done since then? Why, turned lobbyist. The last several years have been kind to Dean’s bottom line, but not his followers. The former Governor and DNC honcho opposes single-payer and called the Iranian Revolution Guard a terrorist organization. What can we make of such a decreased paragon?
We
Jihadist acts of terror
Indeed, a group of jihadist terrorists attacked New York's World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. The aim of the attack, which involved driving a bomb-laden truck into the basement of the complex, was to bring down both towers of the Trade Center.
That mission wasn't accomplished, but the explosion did kill six people.
The mastermind of that 1993 attack was Ramzi Yousef, whose uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, known as KSM, would go on to be the operational
As I argue in my recently published policy analysis here at Cato, the American-led war on terror has clearly failed. Unfortunately, rather than accept the obvious fact that the campaign was badly misguided and focusing homeland security efforts in more fruitful areas, the Trump administration appears ready to embrace, and perhaps even to escalate, the American commitment in the Middle East. Though President Trump himself has frequently voiced concerns about nation building in Iraq and the
American policymakers and pundits have an unfortunate history of embracing odious foreign political movements that purport to be democratic. During the Cold War, embarrassing episodes included Washington’s support for the Nicaraguan Contras and Jonas Savimbi’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola. The post–Cold War era provides ample evidence that influential Americans have not learned appropriate lessons from those earlier blunders. The Clinton administration made common cause
What were a Saudi prince, a former Republican House Speaker and a former Democratic vice-presidential candidate doing together in a suburb of Paris last weekend?
Would you be surprised to discover that Prince Turki Bin Faisal, Newt Gingrich and Joe Lieberman were speaking on behalf of a group of Iranian exiles that was officially designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the United States government between 1997 and 2012?
Iran hawks long ago fell head over heels for the Mojahedin-e
The Washington Times reports on the latest Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) rally:
Thousands of supporters of an Iranian dissident group rallied here Saturday for the overthrow of Tehran’s theocratic regime at an event that featured speeches by several Trump administration allies — including Newt Gingrich and Rudolph W. Giuliani — as well as the former head of Saudi intelligence.
Gingrich and Giuliani and the other Americans that appeared at the rally have been shilling for the MEK for years
An Iranian analyst says Tehran-Paris relations need to be redefined after the French capital recently hosted the annual gathering of the notorious anti-Iran terrorist group MKO.
The editor-in-chief of the Iranian Diplomacy news website has, in an analytical piece, talked about the recent gathering of the terrorist Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK) in the French capital of Paris.
Sergei Barseghian has underlined the need for a redefinition of Tehran-Paris ties given the
As some friends say, it would be good if we named the period from the 7th to 12th of Tir [28th of June to 3th of July] "The Week of American Human Rights". In this period, the true nature of American human rights was revealed in our country.
Everyone should know that today, the country needs to know the enemy. We should know the enemy. We should know our global enemies who try to beautify themselves and put it on display with all sorts of media and propaganda cosmetics. We should know
A week before the Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) holds its annual regime change rally at Villepinte in Paris next Saturday, Belgian MEP Gérard Deprez, Chair of the Friends of a Free Iran in the European Parliament has issued a statement which he claims has been signed by 265 parliamentarians. As well as expressing concern over the role of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the statement also mentions “Rouhani’s minister of justice is a self-confessed murderer who was a member of the Death
As a former member of the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organization (MEK), I followed the news of terrorist attacks on Tehran with shame, guilt and anger.
My shame and guilt stem from having been involved in such attacks in the past as a member of the MEK. My anger springs from what I see as the MEK’s ongoing influence in these current attacks. Based on my inside knowledge of the MEK I believe this organization has now helped the most notorious terror organization in the world to attack our
The European Parliament started its plenary session last week with a minute of silence to honor the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in London and Tehran. In this way, the EP has joined a number of other institutions, as well as leaders of the EU and its member states, in offering sympathy to the Iranian people.
For a country like Iran, which cannot boast of an abundance of international support and empathy, such a gesture from a leading Western institution was extremely valuable. The
On Thursday, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) praised the recent Islamic State attack in Tehran as a “good thing” and suggested that maybe the United States should work with the militant organization.
Rohrabacher’s entire line of reasoning for why the United States should work with a militant group accused of human rights violations and war crimes like ethnic cleansing is astonishing. Here it is verbatim:
“We have recently seen an attack on Iran, and the Iranian government, the mullahs, believe
On Wednesday June 7 two groups of terrorists staged stunning attacks in Tehran, Iran. Three of the terrorists attacked the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Revolution. One terrorist blew himself up, another was killed by the security forces, and a third one, apparently a woman, was arrested. At the same time, three other terrorists entered the Majles [parliament] building and took several people hostage, but were eventually killed by the security forces
It took 14 hours after terrorist attacks abroad before Donald Trump assumed his now standard roll as the bull in a china shop. What was Trump’s vile response to grieving Iranians after terrorists struck Iran’s parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, killing and injuring dozens? You deserved it. Thus, his thesis on terrorism is as follows: “We must condemn all terrorist acts and eliminate them wherever they strike. Unless we don’t like you. In which case, you got what was coming to
In the past, I had a well-informed Israeli source who confirmed Israeli participation in assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and explosions at missile bases. Unfortunately, this source passed away some time ago. So what I write here will be based on informed speculation.
Who gains from the rather spectacular terror attack on two of Iran’s most secure and hallowed institutions: the Majlis and Ayayollah Khomeni’s tomb? Of course, the Islamic State (IS) group, which has claimed