Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report

• Story Highlights
• Army history of Iraq war’s first two years says U.S. was unprepared for chaos
• U.S.-led coalition didn’t have enough troops after Saddam Hussein’s fall, report says
• “This is a recipe for disaster,” one general recalls saying of one decision

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General Accuses WH of War Crimes

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, June 18, 2008; 12:44 PM

The two-star general who led an Army investigation into the horrific detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib has accused the Bush administration of war crimes and is calling for accountability.

In his 2004 report on Abu Ghraib, then-Major General Anthony Taguba concluded that “numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees.” He called the abuse “systemic and illegal.” And, as Seymour M. Hersh reported in the New Yorker, he was rewarded for his honesty by being forced into retirement. (more…)

By MARJORIE COHN

After the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited opinion upholding habeas corpus rights for the Guantánamo detainees, I was invited to appear on The O’Reilly Factor with guest host Laura Ingraham. Although she is a lawyer and former law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, Ingraham has no use for our judicial branch of government, noting that the justices are “unelected.” (more…)

Wajahat Ali

“I’m absolutely deluged with requests right now, but I really would like to do this interview, I just don’t know when,” replied the 79 year old, prolific author, linguist, scholar and political dissident to the first of my many emails over a six-month correspondence. Noam Chomsky is the most cited, and perhaps most controversial, leading living public intellectual according to the 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll. Although mainstream media refuses him airtime, The New York Times states Chomsky remains one of the most “influential” intellectuals alive, constantly sought by students, Universities, activists, academic symposiums, and even world leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. (more…)

[In honor of the end of the Bush Administration, I share with you this piece from 2004 written after the invasion of Iraq. Starring Hall of Famers Bush II, Colin Powell and Ashcroft.]

By Wajahat Ali

Characters:

[G.B] (Kind of hyper, a little dumb, like Yosemite Sam)

[C.P] (Kind of calm and repressed emotions – much like Smithers or Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons)

Locations:

An Office that might be Oval.

Also a prestigious Hall.

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